The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/6/09 Section: March Madness

Media Credit: Ryan Sayers Senior guard Renee Montgomery hugs coach Geno Auriemma after the Huskies defeat the Stanford Cardinal 83-64 last night.

ST. LOUIS - The No. 1 women's basketball team did something Sunday night that it could not do last season: advance to the national title game by defeating No. 2 Stanford. The Huskies won 83-64.

It was a game that some media called the true national championship, claiming it would be the only true test to the undefeated squad, though head coach Geno Auriemma appeared to disagree.

As it was, the Huskies advanced to their first national title game since 2004, avenging last year's loss to the Cardinal and retaining their perfect season.

To Auriemma, the win was no more satisfying than if he had faced and defeated the other two teams in the Final Four. Rather, he said that he had a lot of respect for Stanford head coach Tara Vanderveer and her recruits.

"The feelings are more about I don't want this team to come up short," he said. "I don't want them to stop playing. I wanted them to be in the championship game. Who we had to play to get there was really not even an afterthought. I was more scared and more nervous rather than looking for some satisfaction for beating them."

By halftime, UConn was up by 13. It was as close as Stanford would get from that point on.

The Huskies opened up the second half on a 21-4 run in 7:06. Maya Moore, the National Player of the Year, scored 11 points in the first 7:55. She ended with 24 points.

"We did not shoot the ball well at all," Vanderveer said. "We struggled turning the ball over. We worked very hard defensively, and were in great position and took away a lot of the things we need to do. They still made some shots."

Renee Montgomery took control of the offense and led her team with 26 points. Anytime the Cardinal tried to get on a run, she answered with a basket.

But she, too, said that the Stanford loss last year was not the only loss in her mind when it came to the NCAA tournament. She said the losses to Duke in 2006 and LSU in 2007 were also fresh in her mind.

Sophomore forward Maya Moore, however, had only experienced last year's Final Four loss.

Continued...

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