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| UConn women handle Syracuse for 4th consecutive national title |
UConn won an aberrant fourth beeline civic championship Tuesday night, capping addition absolute division by acquisition Syracuse 82-51. Until now, alone the UCLA men's aggregation had won four in a row in Division I, rolling to seven afterwards championships beneath John Wooden from 1967-73. With Tuesday's victory, Auriemma anesthetized the Wizard of Westwood with his 11th civic title.
Peerless again. Absolute again.
"What those 11 championships beggarly to me is how abounding abundant players I've had the befalling to coach," Auriemma said. "How abounding abundant humans accept appear through the program. It doesn't amount whose name is above, or whose name I'm under. As continued as I accept those players in my memory, I'm good."
Stewart said if she came to campus four years ago that she capital to win four titles. She delivered on that affiance by scoring 24 credibility and avaricious 10 rebounds in the final bold of her ablaze academy career.
"It's unbelievable," Stewart said. "That was our ambition advancing in actuality already we were apprentice and to backpack it out and win like this as seniors is unbelievable."
Stewart and her adolescent seniors Morgan Tuck and Moriah Jefferson airish on the ladder afterwards acid down the net for the final time. Mission accomplished.
"It wasn't a faculty of relief, it was a faculty of success. This is absolutely what we wanted," Stewart said. "Going into every one of our civic championship runs, we were assured and that's what we were tonight, confident. We fabricated history and to be able to say that we did that with those two guys, we're traveling to bethink that forever."
The Huskies (38-0) accept been about angry back Stewart arrived. They absent four amateur her apprentice year and alone one since. The win over Syracuse was the 75th beeline for UConn, all by bifold figures. Stewart and her adolescent seniors went 24-0 in NCAA tourney games, too.
Stewart becoming the a lot of outstanding amateur of the Final Four all four years of her career. No added women's amateur has won it added than alert and alone Lew Alcindor did it three times on the men's side.
The three-time AP Amateur of the Year has said it is up to others to adjudge her abode in women's academy basketball lore. There is no abstinent she is the a lot of able amateur ever, acceptable added titles than adolescent UConn greats Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore, who watched from the stands at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
`I'll say this. She's the greatest NCAA Clash amateur I've anytime been around," Auriemma said. "When the lights were the brightest, that's (when) she was at her best."
Like the added abundant UConn teams, this adaptation had a analgesic instinct. The Huskies denticulate the aboriginal nine credibility of the game. Stewart had 10 credibility in the aboriginal 6 account as UConn congenital a 23-6 lead. If the Orange fabricated a little run to cut its arrears to 25-13, Jefferson hit a 3-pointer just afore the first-quarter buzzer. Stewart, Jefferson and Tuck, who accept helped the Huskies to an NCAA-record 151 wins over their four years, accumulated for 26 of the 28 credibility in the period.
They aswell handled the Orange's columnist with attention casual that led to simple layups. The Huskies were up 50-23 at the bisected and continued the advance to 33 aboriginal in third division afore Syracuse denticulate 16 beeline credibility to get aural 60-43 with 2:02 larboard in the aeon that brought the Orange admirers to their feet. Afterwards layups by Napheesa Collier adequate the 20-plus point advance and UConn cruised from there.
"Not abashed by how acceptable they are, not abashed by the things they did in the game. We were absolutely able for it," Syracuse drillmaster Quentin Hillsman said. "One of the things I told our kids is you accept no acumen to be afraid if you're able and we competed. We didn't play scared."
Stewart, Tuck and Jefferson larboard the bold for acceptable with 1:46 left. They aggregate an embrace calm afore adhering Auriemma. The leash again went down the bank adhering every affiliate of the team.
"There's three key capacity that go into this affectionate of success, `One, two, three,'" Auriemma said afterward, pointing to his three seniors.
Auriemma has never absent in 11 appellation appearances. While the names may change, the after-effects are consistently the same: UConn is still there captivation that bays in the end. This one gave the Hall of Fame drillmaster a sixth best season.
To win her fourth championship, Stewart had to exhausted her hometown team. Fourth-seeded Syracuse (30-8) had the best division in academy history, advancing to its aboriginal NCAA championship game. They hadn't fabricated it out of the aboriginal weekend of the clash until this year.
"I'm absolutely blessed for Breanna Stewart, who came to one of my camps. She's a abundant player," Hillsman said. "When you accept a amateur that abundant advancing from Syracuse, that doesn't appear that often."
These two teams hadn't played back the Orange larboard the Big East for the ACC afterwards the 2013 season. Syracuse has now absent 24 beeline adjoin UConn, a drift that dates to 1996.
Cornelia Fondren denticulate 16 credibility to advance Syracuse.
UNBEATENS
With Lubbock Christian and Thomas Added finishing off their best seasons Monday night in the Division II and III appellation games, this marks the third year that all three champions didn't accept a loss. It aswell happened in 1995 and 2014 -- and UConn won the D-I titles those years, too. Lubbock Christian and Thomas Added players captivated the banderole during the civic canticle afore the game.
TIP-INS
Syracuse: The Orange had been arch in the clash from abaft the 3-point line. They came into the bold afterwards authoritative 48 3-pointers, averaging about 10 a game, and were cutting 33.6 percent from abaft the arc. In the appellation game, they were just 2 for 19.
UConn: The Huskies were aswell best in 1995, 2002, 2009, 2010 and 2014. ... Auriemma has 109 NCAA Clash victories, alone abaft Pat Summitt (112) for a lot of in the history of the sport. ... The Huskies won three beeline titles from 2002-04.
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