SAN ANTONIO — The defensive game plan was solid, the execution perfect. Stanford kept Maya Moore, Tina Charles and the entire Connecticut team from scoring for a stretch of 10 minutes, 37 seconds.
And it still wasn’t enough. The Cardinal was missing too many shots of its own.
Stanford gave up just 12 points in the first half of the national championship game Tuesday night, but scored only 20. The meager lead wasn’t enough to withstand an inevitable second-half run by mighty UConn.
The result: a 53-47 loss, the Huskies’ 78th consecutive victory and second straight title, and an agonizing feeling of what might have been for Stanford.
“It was there for the taking,” coach Tara VanDerveer said. “It’s very disappointing and it’s very frustrating.”
The six-point margin was the closest UConn has come to losing in its unprecedented back-to-back run. Still, that’s not enough solace for a team that won a school-record 36 games and had the longest winning streak in school history end at 27.
Center Jayne Appel ended her standout career without a point, missing all 12 of her shots while playing in obvious pain. UConn eventually sagged off her and upped its pressure on the team’s new star, sophomore Nnemkadi Ogwumike, pestering her into 5-of-14 shooting. She had only 11 points after scoring 38 in the semifinals.
Stanford put UConn in its biggest hole of the season (nine points) and made the Huskies play from behind for longer than they had all season (19:07). The Cardinal gave up the fewest points allowed in any half of a women’s Final Four game — but also had the fewest points by a team that had ever been leading at the half. Making only 8-of-31 shots left Stanford ahead by just a few baskets, a dangerous thing against Connecticut.
“(Allowing only) 12 points in the first half was extremely helpful for us, but we weren’t able to capitalize,” said Kayla Pedersen, who proved to be Stanford’s most productive player with 15 points and 17 rebounds. “We kept fighting, kept fighting and things weren’t falling for us.”
The Cardinal opened the second half 0-of-7, and 1-of-12.
By the time JJ Hones made a 3-pointer for Stanford’s second basket of the second half, the Huskies already were on their way, having just ripped off a 17-2 run.
