uconn (38-1) beat notre dame 63-53 on tuesday to win the 2015 ncaa championship. the hard-fought victory was their third consecutive title, and tenth overall for the teams' storied franchise. they've never lost a title game, and dominated notre dame (36-3) by 20 points in last year's finals.
huskies coach geno auriemma tied ucla legend john wooden with 10 ncaa titles. "obviously it's a very significant number because that's the number that's been out there and people want to talk about it. 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 it's own right," auriemma said.
uconn forward breanna stewart was named most outstanding player for the third straight year. the two-time ap player of the year became the first women to achieve that distinction. she finished with 15 rebounds, eight points and four blocks. "we had to work hard for this one. this is one of the hardest things we've had to do since i've been here," stewart said. her goal is to win four championships.
kaleena mosqueda-lewis and moriah jefferson led the huskies with 15 points each. both players earned all-american honors this year. the senior mosqueda-lewis set an all-time ncaa record with 392 three-point field goals in uconn's final four victory against maryland on saturday.
notre dame all-american jewell lloyd shot poorly and scored just 12 points. coach muffet mcgraw led the irish to the championship game two straight years, and four of the last five seasons: but they lost each one. notre dame won it's lone title in 2001. mcgraw said, "it was a great accomplishment to get here. it was disappointing we weren't able to play our game."
the connecticut-notre dame matchup was just the second time in the history of the tournament the same teams played in two consecutive finals. uconn beat tennessee in 2003 and 2004. it was also the 55th meeting between the top two teams in the ap poll - the #1 team holds a 34-21 edge. notre dame beat uconn by 18 points earlier this season, but not last night, when it mattered most.
i am
- mark j. tuggle
- harlem, usa
- same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment