UConn completes perfect season
Huskies go out with one last blowout
ST. LOUIS – Unbeaten, unchallenged and national champions.
After one last blowout, Connecticut could finally exhale and take its place in basketball history.
Tina Charles had 25 points and grabbed 19 rebounds Tuesday night as UConn routed Louisville 76-54 and captured the Huskies’ sixth title.
“I’m so overwhelmed how I feel about the way it ended,” Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said a few minutes after he helped cut down the nets at the Scottrade Center and was carried off the court. “This is the first time since the brackets came out I didn’t feel like I’m going to get sick, physically sick, thinking about everything that was ahead of us.”
It wasn’t just that Connecticut claimed another championship. It was how they did it.
UConn won every one of its 39 games by double digits, a first in college basketball.
“This is first time we can stop and enjoy the win for more than a couple of days,” said senior guard Renee Montgomery, with a championship net dangling around her neck. “We’re always looking to the future. Now we have time to enjoy this win and all the other ones.”
Charles was the star of the final victory. She commanded both ends of the floor and Louisville, which lost badly to UConn for the third time this season, had no one who could stop her.
Auriemma had said before the tournament that his junior center would be the key to UConn winning the title. A year after he benched her in the NCAAs for inconsistent play, Charles delivered.
“I’m really happy for her,” Auriemma said.
Charles was 11 for 13 from the field, and fell just one rebound short of becoming only the second player in a championship game to have at least 20 points and 20 rebounds. She was named the outstanding player of the Final Four.
Maya Moore and Montgomery each added 18 points for the Huskies.
Angel McCoughtry finished off her stellar career for Louisville with 23 points. Candyce Bingham was the only other Cardinal in double figures with 10 points as Louisville (34-5) shot a dismal 31 percent from the floor.
“We have nothing to be disappointed about,” McCoughtry said. “We’re going to hold our heads up high and we’re grateful to be here. We have so much to be proud of.”
The victory put the Huskies in the same class as UConn’s other unbeaten teams, in 1995 and 2002. Besides Connecticut, only Tennessee and Texas have run through a season without a loss. The title was Connecticut’s first since 2004.