Connecticut Women Set New NCAA Record With 71st Straight Win

Sports News - March 9th, 2010 - Written By Bryan Cross

The Connecticut Huskies broke their own NCAA mark for winning, with a victory over Notre Dame last night in the semifinals of Big East Conference tournament, 59-44. With the win, the team notched their 71st consecutive victory, and set a new women's college basketball record. It wasn't easy however.

The Huskies struggled all night from the floor, but were led by their two top players in Tina Charles, who had 16 points, and Maya Moore, who finished with 11.

Following the end of the game, no one would have known that this group of young women just eclipsed one of the great records in college sports. They were very cordial to Notre Dame, didn't jump up and down. It was business as usual. They echoed the personality of their head coach, Geno Auriemma.

"I can't think anything is more important than winning and playing in the Big East championship for these kids," Auriemma said following the game.

The Huskies broke their own record from 2001-2003, in which Connecticut won 70-straight under Auriemma. That team's streak came to a close in the Big East tournament to Villanova. This team however, have taken winning to a new level.

During the streak, they have won every game by at least 10 points. Despite difficult shooting night, they found a way to play shut-down defense.

The 59 points scored by the Huskies is the fewest amount of points put up by the team during the history-making streak.

They never trailed however. In fact, they have hardly trailed in the last 71 games. Connecticut has been behind only 86 minutes along the way. That's 86 minutes out of 2,840 minutes played.

Notre Dame was able to keep the contest close throughout the entire first half, as the score was 25-22 headlining to the locker room. Coming out of the break, Connecticut was able to slowly grind down the Irish on both sides of the floor, and steadily increased their lead.

While the team is aware of what they have accomplished, they also know that they strive for bigger goals.

"After the season, the last game we play we can look back and see what we've done," said Huskie Kalana Greene. "You don't want to celebrate about wins. We don't plan on our season being over any time soon."

Auriemma has built a basketball dynasty at Connecticut, and when asked which team he thought was the best, the coach still favors the 2002 Huskie team.

"I think that group would beat this group," Auriemma remarked in an interview. "But that's not important because they'll never have to play each other."

Notre Dame has had a history of stopping phenomenal streaks. The football team ended Oklahoma's 47-game winning streak back in the 1950's, the men's basketball team stopped John Wooden's UCLA team's 88-game streak, and a 92-game streak for the North Carolina women's soccer team was halted as well.

Monday night however, no streak was broken.

The Irish now must prepare for the NCAA tournament. They came in ranked 6th in the country. Three of the five losses endured by Notre Dame this season have come to Connecticut.

"We got embarrassed the first two games and wanted to play to our potential today," said Notre Dame guard Skylar Diggins. "We had little lapses. They are a great team and we know that."

College Basketball Betting Lines strongly favor Connecticut to claim another National title under Auriemma, according to Bodog. The Huskies will receive a No.1 seed, while the Irish in spite of the loss should receive a high bid as well.