Moore to the Rescue

On a night when defense prevailed and neither gang could shoot straight, the 6-0 junior guard/forward had 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead Connecticut (39-0) to a 53-47 win against Stanford (36-2) for an unprecedented second consecutive undefeated season.

“Maya Moore was the difference,” said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. “If she’s on our team, we win. She really stepped up and made big plays for them.”

The Huskies needed someone to make plays after trailing 20-12 at halftime. The program with the two longest streaks in the women’s game – UConn also had a 70-game streak this decade – earned a dubious record Tuesday with the lowest first half point total in Final Four history after shooting 5-for-29 (17.2%). Even Moore got into the act, firing an air ball from 15 feet.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, ever,” said Auriemma. “There was a point where it looked like we may never score again. … And I looked at the scoreboard and realized they were in the same situation. It’s 20-12 and I didn’t feel so bad. As bad as we played, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. There was hope for us. I didn’t know what kind of hope.”

Hope came in the form of three-time All-American Moore heating up in the second half, hitting seven of 10 shots and scoring 18 points. She had 13 during a 21-5 run that gave the Huskies a 33-25 lead with 9:00 left. Her three-pointer from the top of the key gave the Huskies the lead for good at 23-22 with 14:27 left.

“That was a big momentum pusher,” Moore said of the three, set up by a kick-out pass from center Tina Charles. “There was a defender right in my face, running to contest it. I just rose up and shot it. And it went in and everybody had a little bounce to them.”

Besides threes, Moore scored on pull-ups, bank shots and acrobatic layups. The Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four looked like ex-Huskie now WNBA superstar Diana Taurasi, who took the school to three titles in 2002-04.

“Diana’s the only one who resembled that at all,” Auriemma said. “It is what great players do, and they do it at the most pressure-packed times. That’s what makes them who they area. That’s what makes them great. Maya is a great scorer. You get that reputation by scoring points under pressure. And she certainly did that.”

She had help from Charles, who along with Moore received player of the year awards this season. The 6-3 senior, expected to be the No. 1 draft choice in Thursday’s WNBA draft, finished with nine points and 11 rebounds.

Stanford got 15 points and 17 rebounds from Kayla Pedersen and 11 points and 13 rebounds from Nneka Ogwumike. All-American center Jayne Appel, bothered by a late-season ankle sprain that was aggravated in the second half Tuesday, hobbled much of the game, shot 0-for-12, failed to score and had seven rebounds.

VanDerveer, whose team was the last to beat UConn, in the 2008 Final Four semis, noted “the game was there for the taking. It’s very disappointing. And it’s very frustrating. I think what’s hardest is Jayne having such a great career at Stanford. I’m just sad for her to go out on this kind of game.”

Stanford had the scant consolation of being the only team to lose by less than double figures during UConn’s record streak. The 18-9 lead Stanford held in the first half was the most UConn has trailed in the last two seasons.

Such facts only magnify the magnitude of the streak. “There’s so many things that could go wrong along the way,” said Auriemma, whose seven NCAA titles rank behind only the eight of Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. “It’s just unexplainable that that many things could go that right for 78 straight games and you would win.”

Similarly four unbeaten teams is also mind numbing. Auriemma declined to compare his unbeaten teams:

“If you make me look back at what we’ve done, I’m almost incredulous that it actually happened because I can’t imagine having done it. It’s almost like it never happened. I know it’s in the record books, but I am so astounded that it’s happened. Four undefeated teams? It’s just too hard to comprehend, you know. It really is. It really, really is.”

Next on the milestone list is the 88 games in a row won by the UCLA men, coached by John Wooden and led by Bill Walton, from 1971-74. UConn loses starters Charles and Kalana Greene and will have a challenging schedule next season that includes its Final Four victims, Stanford and Baylor.

“I’m not looking at it as a goal,” Auriemma said of 88. “If we’re fortunate and it ever happens, I’ll be astounded again like I am now.”

The Huskies will have Moore next season. Not that she was thinking of next season Tuesday night.

“We’re just on cloud nine right now,” she said. “I don’t see myself going to sleep anytime soon.”