No. 3 Louisville fell to No. 1 Connecticut 68-48 in front of a record attendance of 22,163 on senior night at the KFC YUM! Center.
Breanna Stewart led the Huskies with 22 points, 14 rebounds, and four blocks.
The Cardinals (28-3) started the game on a 7-0 run, the Huskies (30-0) largest deficit of the season. Louisville started the game 9 of 12 from the field, but after the hot start shot just 11 of 41 for the remainder of the game.
“We got some really good looks,” U of L Head Coach Jeff Walz said. “We did a great job the first ten minutes at the offensive end.”
UConn weathered the early scoring burst from Louisville as Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis hit three three-pointers in the first half. She finished with 13 points.
“I knew at some point our defense would get settled down and at some point they were going to stop shooting 70 percent from the floor. You just know you just got to ride it out and wait,” Connecticut Head Coach Geno Auriemma said.
Sara Hammond’s two made free throws at the 11:57 mark in the first half gave Louisville their final lead of the game. After the 22-21 Cardinal lead, UConn went on an 11-0 run to take control of the game.
Tia Gibbs led Louisville scorers with 16 points. Hammond was the only other Cardinal player in double figures with 12 points.
UConn out-rebounded Louisville 47 to 30, and limited the Cardinals to just two second chance points.
“We got some really good stops and then just could not come up with a rebound, and this is a team that we had talked about. When a shot goes up you’ve got to put a body on somebody, everybody does, because they team rebound at the offensive end,” Walz said.
