UConn Dominates Notre Dame And Wins NCAA Women’s National Championship

Photo © Mike Carlson/Getty Images.

Love or hate Geno Auriemma, people cannot argue with success. Yesterday, the UConn Huskies took on the Fighting Irish for the NCAA Women’s National Championship and it went exactly how most expected. Geno walked away with his tenth National Championship, tying John Wooden for most all-time in NCAA history.

“Obviously, it’s a very significant number because that’s the number that’s been out there and people want to talk about it,” Auriemma stated. “I’ll be the first to say I’m not John Wooden, and I got a bunch of friends who’d tell you I’m right, I’m not. As I said the other day, I just think what we’ve done here in the last 20 years is pretty remarkable in its own right.”

It is safe to say that no one has been as dominant as the Huskies over the last fifteen seasons, winning nine championships in that time span — including three consecutive between 2013-15. And no one knows that better than Notre Dame; Coach Muffet McGraw has taken her team to four out of the last five national championships and have lost back-to-back years to UConn.

While Notre Dame kept it fairly close in the first — only walking into halftime with a seven point deficit — they could not keep the Huskies’ booming offense quiet forever. After Irish’s Brianna Turner was able to hit some baskets to keep the score close, UConn was able to pull away on the shoulders of Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who put the game back into double digit territory, essentially sealing the victory deep in the second half.

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On top of this, the Huskies were carried defensively by Breanna Stewart, who walked away with the most outstanding player of the Final Four award. In 39 minutes, she had 15 total rebounds — 12 of those defensive — eight points and four blocks.

Now, it is important to note that with this victory, Geno has further cemented himself as one of the greatest coaches in NCAA history. And he has created one of the greatest sports dynasties of all-time. Even when losing key players, he has been able to thoroughly dominate the field, over the last fifteen years, unlike any other team in a major sport.

“I just know that in our sport, from 1995 to today, what we’ve done against our peers is as good if not better than anybody else has done in their sport against their peers,” Auriemma commented. “I don’t care whether it’s harder in that sport.”

The Huskies defeated Notre Dame 63-53.