UConn win streak ends with stunner
Mississippi State halts fourtime defending champion Connecticut’s 111-game winning streak with a buzzerbeater in overtime.
DALLAS — UConn’s record 111-game winning streak came to a startling end when Mississippi State pulled off perhaps the biggest upset in women’s basketball history, defeating the Huskies 66-64 on Morgan William’s overtime buzzer beater in the national semifinals Friday night.
William’s 15-footer came moments after a replay review awarded UConn two free throws for a flagrant 1 foul call. Katie Lou Samuelson hit the foul shots to tie the game with 26.6 seconds left.
“I live for moments like this,” William said. “UConn, they’re an incredible team. For me to make that shot against them, it’s unbelievable. I’m still in shock right now. I wanted to take the shot. I wanted to take the shot and I made it.”
UConn coach Geno Auriemma had a wry smile on his face after the final shot. There wasn’t much else he could do, the chance for a fifth straight national title suddenly gone.
The Huskies hadn’t lost in 865 days, with that defeat coming to Stanford in overtime on Nov. 17, 2014.
“We had an incredible run, but we came up against a much better team tonight,” Auriemma said.
The Bulldogs (34-4) will play South Carolina for the national championship Sunday night.
Mississippi State and UConn met in the Sweet 16 last season and the Huskies won by 60 points — the most-lopsided win in regional semifinals history. Now the Bulldogs have beaten UConn (36-1) on the grandest stage in one of the sport’s greatest games.
“I don’t have to play them 100 times. Only have to beat them once,” Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer said. “That is one heck of a basketball team, the greatest of all-time.”
UConn rallied from a 16point deficit, its biggest during its NCAA record streak, to take a 59-56 lead in the fourth quarter. With the score 60-60, the Bulldogs had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but William’s shot was blocked.