NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Connecticut Huskies are back in a very familiar position, undefeated and playing for a national championship.
They’ll be going for an unprecedented ninth national championship after Breanna Stewart scored 18 points and the Huskies advanced to another title game with a 75-56 win against Stanford on Sunday night.
It wasn’t easy early, though the Huskies (39-0) did their part and set up the highly anticipated championship showdown of undefeated teams.
They will square off against Notre Dame, an 87-61 winner over Maryland, on Tuesday night in the title game. It will be the first women’s national title game between unbeaten teams.
“It wouldn’t be any fun if you didn’t beat teams that were any good,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said of the matchup with Notre Dame. “I think women’s basketball needs rivalries like this, teams that aspire to be great and want to win championships.”
The Huskies also won their 45th straight game after overcoming another sluggish start. Stewart, the Associated Press player of the year, missed her first four shots and UConn was up just 28-24 at halftime.
But Connecticut settled down and put the Cardinal away in the second half, outscoring them 47-32. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis found her shooting stroke, scoring all of her 15 points in the second half.
Bria Hartley added 13 points for UConn and Stefanie Dolson and Moriah Jefferson each finished with 10.
Stanford (33-4) lost its third national semifinal since reaching the 2010 championship against UConn, which the Huskies also won. All-American Chiney Ogwumike finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Amber Orrange scored 16 points, and Lili Thompson had 12.
In the first semifinal, Kayla McBride scored 28 points to lead Notre Dame over Maryland.
“She was truly special,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. “She was having fun out there and that was the key. She was hitting shots from all over.”
The Irish (37-0) made the title game for the third time in four years and are looking for their first championship since 2001.
Notre Dame played without senior Natalie Achonwa, who suffered a torn ACL in the regional final victory over Baylor.
McGraw, who was the Associated Press coach of the year, was concerned coming into the game about her team’s ability to rebound against the bigger Terrapins without Achonwa.
The Irish dominated the Terrapins (28-7) on the boards, outrebounding them in record fashion. Notre Dame had a 50-21 rebounding advantage, including a 19-4 mark on the offensive end. It was the widest rebounding margin in a Final Four game, shattering the previous mark of 19 set by Louisiana Tech in 1989.
“It means a lot as a senior,” McBride said. “I’m so proud of this team. We went through a lot of adversity, especially after losing ‘Ace’. We’re going to go in and look at the film and be ready for the game.”
Notre Dame also befuddled Maryland on defense, forcing the Terps into turnovers and poor shots with ever-changing defenses. Thomas, who finished with 14 points, was constantly double-teamed and rarely got good looks at the basket.