It was UConn Huskies women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma’s 60th birthday on Sunday. So what did his team get for him on his special day?

Well they got him a win despite a sloppy start.

Breanna Stewart led five Huskies in double figures to help them to an easy 87-44 win over the Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Gampel Pavilion.

UConn improves to 35-0 while the Lady Panthers finish their season at 14-18.

Stewart had a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the No. 1 seed. Bria Hartley added 16 points while Moriah Jefferson had 14 points.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had 13 points and eight rebounds. Stefanie Dolson rounded out the Huskies in double digits with 11 points, six rebounds and six assists.

LaReahn Washington led the Lady Panthers with 13 points. Alexus Parker had nine points while Asha Hampton-Finch had six points. Larissa Scott led Prairie View A&M with eight rebounds.

Despite their moments of carelessness early on, the Huskies raced out to a 15-0 lead before Gabrielle Scott put the  Lady Panthers on the board with a jumper. UConn followed that up with an 8-0 run.

Things finally clicked for the Huskies as they continued to build their lead the rest of the half. They would enjoy a 32 point halftime lead as it was more of the same in the second half.

UConn will take on the St. Joseph’s Hawks in the Second Round on Tuesday night. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.

UConn Huskies vs Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers 2014 NCAA Tournament First Round box score

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photo credit: cloe poisson – hartford courant

Things weren’t looking too bright for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team in the first half on Saturday night in the Third Round of the 2014 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

They were trailing by 10 points and their leader, Shabazz Napier, was sitting on the bench with two fouls.

But instead of falling behind even further, the No. 7 seeded Huskies started their comeback against the No. 2 seed, the Villanova Wildcats. And in the second half, it was Napier who provided the spark.

Napier’s big second half of 21 points helped UConn to a 77-65 win over their former Big East rivals Villanova to advance to the Sweet 16.

The Huskies improve to 28-8 on the season while the Wildcats finish up at 29-5.

Napier finished the game with 25 points to lead all scorers. Lasan Kromah came off the bench to add 12 points for UConn while DeAndre Daniels, Ryan Boatright and Terrence Samuel all had 11 points.

Niels Giffey led the Huskies with 11 rebounds while scoring just four points.

Ryan Arcidiacono paced the Wildcats with 18 points and six assists.  James Bell added 14 points while Darrun Hillard had 13. JayVaughn Pinkston finished with 11 points. Daniel Ochefu led them with eight rebounds and had four points.

Villanova got out of the gates quickly as they opened up on a 9-2 run. They would build their lead to 10 points at 19-9 when Napier headed to the bench.

Then the Wildcats went cold and the Huskies mounted their comeback behind Samuels, Daniels and Kromah. It was Kromah’s three pointer that gave them their first lead at 23-20. A Giffey layup would make it 25-20 but Villanova scored the final four points of the half to trail by one.

In the second half, the teams exchanged the lead until a Daniels layup with put the Huskies up for good at 37-36. They would continue to build their lead as Napier began to take over.

He would hit two three pointers in a row to extend UConn’s lead to 11 at 51-40. Villanova would get no closer than five points the rest of the way.

UConn will be back in action on Friday night at Madison Square Garden when they’ll take on the winner of Sunday’s game between the Iowa State Cyclones and North Carolina Tar Heels.

UConn Huskies vs Villanova Wildcats 2014 NCAA Tournament 3rd Round box score

Here are the postgame quotes from UConn Huskies head coach Kevin Ollie and his players.

Here are the postgame quotes from Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright and his players.

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photo credit: stephen dunn – hartford courant

Here are videos from the various testing and drills that the former student-athletes from the UConn Huskies football team did during their NFL Pro Day at the Burton Family Football Complex in Storrs, CT on Tuesday, March 14, 2014.

(rather than embed 34 videos, I created a playlist of all of them)

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After falling to the UConn Huskies women's basketball team last Monday night on their Senior Night, the Louisville Cardinals said they would be out for retribution the next time the two teams met.

As we all thought, that next matchup would come in finals of the American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament. And let's just say, the Cardinals didn't exact revenge. They really didn't even come close.

UConn got out of the gates quickly with the first eight points and never looked back in a 72-52 win over Louisville in front of 8,034 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT to win the inaugural AAC Tournament and earn an automatic NCAA bid on Monday night.

The Huskies will enter the NCAA Tournament at 34-0 while Louisville will wait to see if they'll be a No. 1 or No. 2 seed after finishing at 30-4. Three of those four losses were to UConn.

Breanna Stewart, who picked up AAC Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament award, had a great game with 20 points, nine rebounds, six assists, four blocked shots and two steals. Bria Hartley added 16 points and six assists while Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had 13 points.

Stefanie Dolson rounded out the Huskies in double digits with a double-double of 10 points and a season-high 16 rebounds.

Shoni Schimmel paced the Cardinals with 20 points and had seven rebounds. Asia Taylor added seven points and eight rebounds while Jude Schimmel and Tia Gibbs both had six points.

After UConn got out to that early lead, the Cardinals battled back to make it 13-8. The Huskies countered with a 14-2 run to go up by 17 points but their was no quit in Louisville as they went on a 10-1 run of their own to cut the lead back to eight.

Apparently Stewart had seen enough of Louisville being close as her old fashioned three point play kicked off a 12-2 run to close out the half with UConn enjoying an 18 point lead.

The Cardinals never really threatened the Huskies in the second half.

There's the real possibility that these two teams could meet up in the NCAA Regionals if Louisville isn't given a No. 1 seed because of one of the regionals will be on the Cardinals home court at the KFC Yum! Center. We all know Geno Auriemma doesn't want this and I'm sure Jeff Walz won't either.

Hopefully, the NCAA will either give the Cardinals a No. 1 seed or send UConn to a different bracket. It would be better for the game of women's basketball if that were to happen.

Both teams will found out their destination next Monday (3/17) during the NCAA Selection Show.

UConn Huskies vs Louisville Cardinals AAC Tournament Finals 3/10/14 box score

Here are the postgame quotes from UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and Louisville head coach Jeff Walz.

Here are UConn's postgame notes as well as Louisville's.

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

photo credit:  the american; cloe poisson – hartford courant