Women’s final clash of titans

SAN ANTONIO – Connecticut has won ’em all this season, and Stanford has won ’em all except a game against the Huskies.

So it’s only fitting that the women’s national championship comes down to a rematch between them.

UConn will be going for its 78th consecutive win and a second straight unbeaten season, which has never happened in women’s college basketball. Not that the Huskies need reasons to be confident, but it can only help knowing they’ve already beaten the Cardinal once this season and in the Final Four last year.

Then again, Stanford has some good vibes, too.

The Cardinal gave UConn its toughest game this season, losing by 12. Stanford also was the last team to beat Connecticut, back in the 2008 national semifinals. Plus, there’s the fun of being the underdog – even one that’s 36-1 and whose star, Nnemkadi Ogwumike, is coming off the second-most points in Final Four history.

“I think our team will bring confidence, knowing that we’ve improved a lot, and I think our team will be excited,” said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, seeking her program’s first title since 1992.

This will be the sixth time the women’s championship is decided by teams that finished the regular season 1-2 in the Associated Press poll. It last happened in 2002, also at the Alamodome.