Big East Regular Season Title – ?
Undefeated Regular Season – ?
Big East Tournament Title – ?
NCAA Title – TBD
Undefeated Season – TBD
If there was any doubt as to who the best team in women’s basketball was, the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team showed everyone why they are the best team in the land right now.
Maya Moore had 28 points, taking home Big East Most Outstanding Player honors, to lead the No. 1 Huskies to a 75-36 whooping of the No. 5 Louisville Cardinals to win their second straight Big East Women’s Tournament title and 5th in the last 6 years.
It’s 15th time the Huskies (33-0) have won the Big East title and they will be a No. 1 seed when the brackets are announced on Monday night. For the Cardinals (29-4), a No. 2 seed is mostly like in the cards for them.
Moore added 5 rebounds and 3 blocks while Tina Charles added a double-double of 21 points and 15 rebounds. Renee Montgomery added 7 points and 5 assists while Kalana Greene and Tiffany Hayes chipped in with 6 points each.
After scoring 66 points in the first two games the Cardinals played, All-American Angel McCoughtry was held to 9 points, which led her team. Candyce Bingham added 6 points and 7 rebounds while Monique Reid also had 6 points.
UConn got out of the gates quickly again racing out to a 9-0 lead before McCoughtry hit a 3-pointer. The Huskies extended that run to 18-4 before Becky Burke hit another three-pointer with 11:59 to go in the half.
The Huskies then used a 15-2 run to open up a 24 point lead at 33-9. UConn kept pushing the ball and hitting there shots while Louisville couldn’t buy a basket and increased the lead to 31 points at 50-19. The Cardinals did score the last 5 points of the half to cut UConn’s lead to 50-24.
Part of the reason why the Cardinals fell behind by so much is the fact that they shot 25% (7-of-28) while UConn shot 58.6% (17-of-29).
Things didn’t get any better for the Cardinals in the second half as it took them 8:03 to score and by that point the game was out of reach at 65-25. When Moore left the game with 7:52 to go, she had more points (28) than Louisville did (27).
Everyone expected Louisville to play better but the one difference is that UConn didn’t have any trouble with their first two opponents and were able to rest their starters while the Cardinals first game went into double overtime. And their game against Pittsburgh on Monday night went down to the wire. I’m sure they won’t make excuses but that’s just one reason why they lost. The other reason, UConn was the better on this night like they have been all season long.
It’s a statement win by the Huskies who have announced to the world of women’s college basketball that you will have to play your absolute best for 40 minutes to beat us. And the scary part is that might not even be good enough.
Notes and musings:
Louisville Cardinals vs UConn Huskies Big East Women’s Tournament Championship Game box score
The starters were Renee Montgomery, Tiffany Hayes, Kalana Greene, Maya Moore and Tina Charles.
All-Tournament Team
- Angel McCoughtry, Louisville, Sr., F
- Tina Charles, Connecticut, Jr., C
- Candyce Bingham, Louisville, Sr., F
- Kalana Greene, Connecticut, Jr., G
- Shavonte Zellous, Pittsburgh, R-Sr., G
Most Outstanding Player
- Maya Moore, Connecticut, So., F
UConn held Louisville to a BIG EAST Championship game low of 36 points.
UConn claims both the Big East Regular Season and Tournament titles in the same season for the 13th time in the program’s history and the second consecutive season.
UConn moves to 15-4 all-time in Big East Tournament Championship games.
The UConn senior class improves to 133-11 overall and has claimed a total of three Big East regular season and three Big East Championship titles.
Maya Moore’s 28 points marked her 32nd game this season with double-figure points and her 68th in 71 career games; Maya Moore’s 28 points marked her 12th game this season with 20 or more points and her 25th this season.
Tina Charles’ 21 points marked her 11th consecutive game with double-figure points and her 29th this season.
UConn has not trailed at the half in 33 games this season.
UConn’s 50 points in the first half were the most it has scored against a Big East opponent this season.
