What started as a close matchup between the No. 3 and No. 4 Big East foes ended in a 72-59 Notre Dame win – their first at the XL center and first outright Big East title for both the team and head coach Muffet McGraw.
The first half was all about Stefanie Dolson and Tiffany Hayes. Dolson recorded 12 points and six rebounds at the end the first 20 minutes, finishing the game with 18.
“There was a body language in her I hadn’t seen her in months and she kept that for the whole game,” Auriemma said. “But, it seems that every time someone steps up someone else backs down.”
Hayes had scored 15 in nearly 11 minutes of play, and finished the half with 18. She scored only four more in the second.
Bria Hartley started off the second half with a three but the game slowly slipped away from UConn as the Fighting Irish continued to steal and outrebound them by a 42-31 margin.
With 12 minutes left in the game, the two were tied at 51-51 before Notre Dame went on a run that ultimately decided the game. With five minutes to play, the Huskies fell to a 10-point deficit and couldn’t find their way back up.
“The story of the game was written in that stretch,” Auriemma said. “The whole game we were fighting an uphill battle.”
With three minutes left, Auriemma pulled his starters.
“How many punches are we going to take before we throw a few ourselves?” Auriemma said. “We have to play smart, hard and unselfish to overcome the lack of ability we have in comparison to teams like Notre Dame.”
Although the Huskies were shooting well for the majority of the game, they were struggling to keep the ball in possession on the perimeter as Notre Dame capitalized on the Huskies’ 18 turnovers, scoring 23 points.
Notre Dame guard Natalie Novosel led her team with 21 points, while Skylar Diggins tallied 20 and sophomore guard Kayla McBride tallied 12.
“When one of us hits a shot we all seem to. It’s contagious,” Novosel said.
“We wanted to step out of the shadows of UConn and it feels great,” Diggins said. It was an amazing team effort.”
Remarking on the amount of turnovers the Huskies are still facing during this last game of the season, senior guard Tiffany Hayes said, “That step was supposed to be over in December. It’s now February. If we want to be in the Final Four we can’t be doing that.”
Seemingly at a loss for words, Dolson simply said, “We didn’t play Connecticut basketball.”
The lingering question of the absence of fight in the UConn basketball team showed itself in last night’s loss. Auriemma isn’t sure where it is, and he’s not convinced they have it.
Hayes, though realizing the team’s lack of fight tonight, is confident it’s there – somewhere.
“We have to fight back when we get down,” she said. “I know we have the fight; I’ve seen it in practice and games we just need to learn to dig down and use it.”
The Fighting Irish, now 15-1 in the Big East, will have the No. 1 bid in the tournament that will be held at the XL Center. UConn ends its regular season with a 13-3 conference record and 26-4 overall. They finish third behind St. John’s.
The Big East tournament begins Friday and runs through the weekend with the championship game scheduled for Tuesday night.