Women's NCAA Tournament | Stanford to face Tennessee in final

TAMPA, Fla. — Candice Wiggins refused to let Stanford lose to Connecticut. Not again.

The Cardinal standout continued her electrifying run through the NCAA basketball tournament, scoring 25 points and grabbing 13 rebounds while getting help from Kayla Pedersen and JJ Hones as Stanford defeated Connecticut 82-73 in Sunday's national semifinals.

Back in the Women's Final Four for the first time in 11 years, the Cardinal (35-3) avenged an early season loss to the Huskies (36-2) and advanced to Tuesday night's title game, where it will put a 23-game winning streak on the line against Tennessee — a 47-46 winner over Louisiana State in the second semifinal.

Wiggins typically leads the Cardinal through pregame huddles. Her message this time focused on teammates' smarts and how far they had come since losing 66-54 on Nov. 22 in the first meeting between the teams.

"We failed the midterm, but we're going to take this final," guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude recalled Wiggins saying.

Wiggins was a little more specific.

"We got killed by Connecticut back in November, just absolutely killed. And, you know, they changed the whole dynamic of our team," Wiggins said.

"So we grouped before the game and we said, 'Let's see how much better we've gotten. This is a test for ourselves to see we're not the same team we were in November."

The first player to have two 40-point performances in the same NCAA tournament, Wiggins seemed to be everywhere on the floor and finished five assists shy of the first triple-double in Women's Final Four history.

She didn't shoot particularly well, going 7 of 19, but made two huge three-pointers to help Stanford pull away for good after UConn trimmed a seven-point halftime deficit to 47-46 and appeared to be taking control.

"They're a lot better team than they were back in November. They played the game today the way we usually play it," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "We got done in by our own stuff."

When Wiggins wasn't making big shots, Hones and Pedersen stepped up to break UConn's heart.

Hones hit a deep three-pointer to put Stanford ahead by 10 with 3:20 to go, then Pedersen answered a three-pointer that drew UConn to 71-66 with a long jumper to send Cardinal fans into celebration mode.

"We ran with them and we ran on them. That's their game," Gold-Onwude said. "This is amazing. You saw after we got to the Final Four, everybody was crying. This time, we're happy, but we're also very focused."

Pedersen finished with 17 points, and Jayne Appel added 15.

Maya Moore led UConn with 20 points on 8-for-19 shooting.

UConn dominated the earlier meeting in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but both teams made significant changes during the last four months of the season.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer tinkered with her team's triangle offense after the 12-point loss, which showed the Cardinal exactly what type of team it needed to become if it hoped to be able to keep pace in a rematch.

UConn made adjustments after losing starting guards Mel Thomas and Kalana Greene to season-ending knee injuries that forced the Huskies to rely more heavily on Moore, Montgomery, Tina Charles and Ketia Swanier.

Auriemma said those backcourt players were missed Sunday night.

"This is the one team we can't match up with without the two guys that were hurt," the UConn coach said.

The changes VanDerveer made — basically modifying her offense to revolve around two post players rather than one — increased the production of Wiggins' supporting cast.

That also made the Cardinal less dependent on the standout senior.

STANFORD
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Pedersen	37	8-14	0-1	2-7	2	3	17
Appel	32	6-11	3-4	2-10	4	2	15
Hones	36	4-7	0-0	1-2	6	5	11
Wiggins	40	7-19	8-9	0-13	5	2	25
Gold-Onwude	25	1-5	0-0	1-2	1	1	3
Pohlen	14	0-1	2-2	0-0	2	2	2
Cimino	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Clyburn	0	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Harmon	16	2-5	5-6	3-4	0	2	9
	200	28-63	18-22	11-43	20	17	82

Percentages: FG .444, FT .818. Three-point goals: 8-21, .381 (Wiggins 3-6, Hones 3-6, Gold-Onwude 1-3, Pedersen 1-3, Pohlen 0-1, Harmon 0-2). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 0. Turnovers: 11 (Wiggins 4, Appel 2, Pedersen 2, Hones, Gold-Onwude, Harmon). Steals: 4 (Gold-Onwude, Pedersen, Appel, Harmon). Technical fouls: None.

CONNECTICUT
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Moore	37	8-19	1-1	3-9	3	0	20
McLaren	13	1-3	0-0	3-4	1	4	2
Hunter	9	0-3	0-0	0-2	1	0	0
Swanier	26	4-9	2-2	0-2	5	4	13
Montgomery	40	4-18	6-7	1-4	1	2	15
Gardler	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Houston	26	4-8	2-2	2-5	0	3	10
Dixon	21	1-2	2-2	0-2	1	2	4
Charles	26	4-5	1-2	2-6	2	3	9
	200	26-67	14-16	11-37	14	19	73

Percentages: FG .388, FT .875. Three-point goals: 7-26, .269 (Swanier 3-6, Moore 3-11, Montgomery 1-9). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 5 (Moore 3, Charles 2). Turnovers: 9 (Moore 4, Houston 2, Hunter, Montgomery, Swanier). Steals: 6 (Moore 2, Montgomery, McLaren, Houston, Charles). Technical fouls: None.

Stanford	40	42	—	82
Connecticut	33	40	—	73

Attendance: 21,655. Officials: Tina Napier, Clarke Stevens, Lisa Jones.