The win also marked Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma's sixth national championship, the others coming in 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004. His 71 NCAA Tournament wins tie him with Duke's Mike Krzyzewski for the second most in NCAA history, men's or women's.

This was the second time in the tournament's history and the first time since 1988 that two male coaches have met in the national championship final.

The win also continued the Big East's recent dominance of NCAA women's championships, though tonight that would have been true regardless of which team chalked the "W." This was only the third time in history that the Big East has had two teams in the Final Four, and only the second time two Big East teams have played each other there. The last was also in St. Louis, in 2001, when Notre Dame defeated Connecticut, 90-75, in the national semifinal. The last time two teams from the same conference met in the championship finals was in 2006 (Maryland and Duke). It was the fourth time a same-conference final has occurred, the other two coming in 1989 between Texas and Auburn and in 1996 between Tennessee and Georgia.

Six of the last nine national champions have come from the Big East Conference: UConn -2000, Notre Dame-2001, and UConn 2002-2004. The Big East swept both the women's NCAA and WNIT titles this year after South Florida took the WNIT crown on Saturday with a 75-71 win over Kansas. It was the first time since the inception of the current WNIT in 1998 that one conference has won both titles.

Both sides seemed to suffer early jitters, shooting dreadfully in the opening minutes. Angel McCoughtry got things started with a wide-open three-pointer, on a third-chance look on Louisville's first time down the floor. It was Louisville's only make out of five attempts in nearly the first three minutes. Connecticut was faring little better, landing only one of its first six field-goal attempts, a short-range jumper cleaning up a missed trey by Tiffany Hayes.

Strong offensive rebounding, good ball movement, and five early Connecticut turnovers forced by Louisville's trapping defense kept the Cardinals close for almost 10 minutes, with the two teams trading small leads seven times in the early going.

But Connecticut began to separate after Maya Moore snatched a steal from Angel McCoughtry and took it all away on the fast-break for an easy lay-up on a give-and-go from Tiffany Hayes, just inside the 11-minute mark. McCoughtry had cost herself the turnover and the bucket by insisting on dribbling the ball up the court herself instead of passing off to point guard Deseree' Byrd in the face of UConn's full-court pressure.

The play gave UConn a 17-15 lead, a lead they would never relinquish. Tina Charles went to work under the hoop, taking the dish from Montgomery (2) and Hayes (1) and hammering home her own personal 6-2 run.

Meanwhile, the Lousiville offense shifted from the running and gunning mode seen in the first 10 minutes into a half-court game featuring four players more or less standing around waiting for Angel McCoughtry to do something. While Coach Jeff Walz denied that either fatigue or Connecticut's adjustment to a pressure defense were contributing factors, stating that his game plan had been to run the floor when his team had numbers and to run down the shot clock when they didn't, the Cardinals looked far less energetic than they had at the start. Their lack of movement also adversely impacted the quantum of offensive rebounding which Louisville had used to good effect to stay close in the early going.

Becky Burke pulled the Cardinals out of a five-minute long drought that had been interrupted only by a jumper by Byrd with a three-pointer on an assist from Byrd, but Moore knocked down two free-throws and Charles netted a short jumper off Moore's assist, cutting off any Cardinals rally.

Candyce Bingham tipped in her own miss for the Cardinals, but Montgomery Montgomery immediately answered in kind, finally finding her stroke from long distance, to put the Huskies ahead 33-24. It would be the only UConn long-ball of the opening half, in which the usually prolific Connecticut sharpshooters were just one-of-eight from beyond the arc.

After Kaili McLaren made one of two from the foul line, Montgomery stripped Candyce Bingham on her way to the hoop and took it coast-to-coast for a fast-break lay-up.

Louisville got four chances on its next trip down the floor, but was unable to hit anything but the backboard. Charles blocked a jumper by Monique Reid, but a foul by Maya Moore put Reid at the line, where she converted one-of-two penalty shots for Louisville's last point of the opening half.

A free-throw by Moore and yet another lay-up by Charles on an assist from Kalana Greene, but Connecticut up by 14, 39-25, heading into the locker. The predicted rout was underway.

By the end of the first half, Connecticut had improved its field-goal shooting to 45.5%, though a mere 12.5% from long range. Charles led the Huskies with a first-half double-double of 15 points and 12 boards. Montgomery followed with 11 points, two assists and a steal.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals shot just 27% (10-of-37) from the field, though they netted two of their five three-point attempts. McCoughtry had 11 first-half points to lead Louisville, but on just four-of-12 from the field.

Connecticut out-rebounded the Cardinals 26-22 in the opening half, but Louisville controlled the offensive glass, particularly in the early going, for a 12-10 advantage in offensive boards.

McCoughtry said afterward, "We tried to give it all we had and we were trying to keep it close as much as possible, but they were just too good. They have so many weapons."

"We stuck in there for a while," Bingham added, "but they took advantage of every little mistake in a heartbeat."

Connecticut had only picked up steam over the break, getting out to an early start with a quick trey by Hayes, on an assist from Montgomery, followed two minutes later by a short jumper by Charles. Meanwhile, Louisville was throwing up nothing but bricks, and with the UConn lead now extended to nearly 20 points, 44-25, Louisville was forced to call an early time-out to regroup less than three minutes in.

She flies through the air with the greatest of ease! Connecticut's Tiffany Hayes goes up for a shot during the first half of the championship game against Louisville at the women's NCAA college basketball tournament Final Four on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, in St. Louis. Hayes had just five points, including one three-ball, but provided valuable defensive minutes.

The only effect the pep talk seemed to have was that Louisville battened down a bit on defense.

Byrd picked up her third foul four minutes in, sending Montgomery to the line for two, but neither team scored from the field until Byrd picked Montgomery's pocket, and Louisville headed off on a fast break, with Reid dropping in the lay-up on Burke's assist to make the score 46-27 in favor of the Huskies. Reid's shot ended a a dry spell of almost nine-and-a-half minutes, extending back to the 4:40 mark of the first-half, during which time Louisville had not scored from the field.

Charles answered promptly, converting her penalty shot after being fouled in the process to finish a three-point play.

But Reid's lay-up had at least gotten Louisville back into the game. Montgomery landed a mid-range jumper on the next Louisville possession, to which Greene responded with a lay-up. Bingham netted- a short jumper of her own. Louisville Coach Jeff Walz, who was unhappy with the amount of contact on the play and on the previous attempt by Monique Reid, and with the refs' failure to see it his way, bought himself a technical foul.

The two teams largely traded baskets and free-throws from that point forward, but though Louisville was able to staunch the hemorrhaging, it was unable to make up any of the lost ground.

Connecticut put together another 12-4 run in a three-minute span between the seven and four-minute marks, with both Moore and Montgomery netting three-pointers, to which Moore, Charles and Greene added a mid-range jumper and a pair of lay-ups, respectively. Louisville answered this charge with only a lay-up by McCoughtry and a short jumper by Bingham. The Huskie tear brought the score to 71-45, Connecticut's largest lead of the game.

Reserve Cardinal center Keshia Hines cleaned up a McCoughtry to get Louisville back into the game, and McCoughtry followed it up with a mid-range jumper and a long trey on Louisville's next two possessions. But it was hard for the Cardinals to gain much traction, as Moore, Montgomery and Hayes knocked down a lay-up, a jumper, and a free-throw (one of the pair).

Reid laid in what would be the last bucket of the game for either side with a little over a minute left to play, to bring the score to the final tally, 76-54. The 22-point victory tied for second with Baylor (84-62 over Michigan State in 2005) as the widest margin of victory in an NCAA women's championship game.

Walz took a time-out and emptied his bench immediately after the Reid basket, and Auriemma followed suit a few seconds later.

"It was special," said Moore of the victory, "because of the way we won. How you win determines how satisfied you are. We're satisfied."

Connecticut's Maya Moore drives past Louisville's Angel McCoughtry, left, and Deseree Byrd during the first half of the championship game at the women's NCAA college basketball tournament Final Four on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, in St. Louis. For Moore, who finished with 18 points, nine boards, five assists and three steals, it wasn't just that her team won the National Championship, but how they won it, that gave her satisfaction.

Moore and Montgomery both spoke of the relief they felt from the high expectations that had been set for their team all season. "I think we can actually finally, like, breathe," said Montgomery. "I feel like every time we've won something this year ... we always couldn't be too excited because we have another game to follow up. We can't dwell on that win because we have another game that we have to win. So I think this is the first time we actually can just stop and really enjoy the win for a couple days. And I think that's just the biggest thing .. because I think the mentality of our team is we're happy with what we did, but we're always looking to the future. And now I think we have, you know, time to enjoy this win and all the other ones."

For Moore, part of the joy involved the opportunity to share the victory with teammates who "put each other first and genuinely cared about each other...If we were on a team that didn't really get along or we just came, did our work and went our separate ways, it would be nice, but it wouldn't feel as good as it does right now to have your family up there with you and win it."

Charles, playing one of the best games of her career, led all scorers (and rebounders) with 25 points and 19 boards. Maya Moore, who ended with 18 points, nine boards, five assists and three steals, had nothing but praise for her teammate's game.

"Before we went out there, Coach told us we needed to establish the post game," said Montgomery. "And I think she [Charles] took it personally. She really came out there and she played aggressively on both ends of the floor. ... Just the way she carried herself during the game was unbelievable."

Auriemma himself was stinting in his praise of the junior center, however. Asked whether Charles had cemented her place as a UConn legend by her performance, Auriemma responded, "Yeah she's kind of like a legendary blockbuster movie, and now we're going to wait and see how she follows that up next year. That kind of legendary."

"She's not Meryl Streep yet," Auriemma continued, "but she is getting closer to where Tina wants to be. ... Tina's always wanted to be what she did today. It's just that when she looked out there and said, 'Ooh,' I'm not sure she believed that she could do it. ... One of the things we talked about was: You can't be a great player unless you play great in this game right here. If you ever want to be called a great player, you've got to play great in this game. And she did."

"I said, 'Go out and get a triple-double. Score as many points as you want. Block as may shots as you want. Go ahead. Play like you're the best center in the country.' And maybe I should of said that before every game instead of going in there, 'Tina Chrles, blah, blah, blah.' Maybe she was waiting for me to say that. I wish she would have sent me an e-mail or something. I would have said it earlier."

Louisville's Walz was far more generous: "Tina Charles did an outstanding job of intimidating us. I thought she made us alter a lot of shots that we really didn't need to alter. ... We had no answer for her. I mean, she's the one I told you all two days ago that I was most concerned about. She's so active in the post. We can defend post players that like to stay on the block and just try to post up, because we've got some kids that will work and battle and fight to do that. But what she does so well is she just moves from block to block so quick that at her size, we have a hard time trying to keep up with her."

Walz, whose program lost starting center Chauntice Wright to an ACL injury early in the season, added: "And then when you can't throw a 6'4" body at her, it just makes it really difficult for us to slow her down. And, I mean, the kid gets 25 and 19. I'm not sure you can do much better than that."

Charles fell short of a triple-double, but her dominating post play was so crucial a factor in the game that she was voted Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament.

Connecticut's Tina Charles, right, shoots over Louisville's Angel McCoughtry in the first half of the championship game at the women's NCAA college basketball tournament Final Four on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, in St. Louis. Charles, who finished with 25 points and 19 boards, established total post domination and was rewarded for her efforts by being voted Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament.

Charles was joined on the All-Tournament team by her teammates Moore and Montgomery (who finished with 18 points, four assists and two steals, but five turnovers). Montgomery was unquestionably the star of Sunday night's semifinal win over Stanford, whose star Jayne Appel was also named to the All-Tournament Team.

The All-Tournament Team was rounded out by Louisville's McCoughtry, who finished with 23 points (but on nine-of-24 field goal shooting), plus six boards, three steals and an assist (but three turnovers). Bingham was the only other Cardinal to finish in double figures, notching a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Louisville's Angel McCoughtry shoots over Connecticut's Tiffany Hayes in the first half of the championship game at the women's NCAA college basketball tournament Final Four on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, in St. Louis. McCoughtry, who carried most of the water for the Cardinals, finished with 23 points and was named to the Final Four All-Tournament team.

Walz said afterward that it had just been a matter of shots not falling for his team. "When I look at the game ... I actually thought we got some really, really good shots and missed some one and two-footers. ... We got really good looks. ... Unfortunately, we just could not put the ball in the basket."

Bingham agreed. "Just shots that we normally would make or we practice every day in practice, and we just didn't make them. I guess we just, like Coach said, got a little intimidated, just didn't concentrate."

But Charles credited the UConn defense. "We made them rush their shots and pushed them under the basket. They weren't uncontested shots."

Though their shooting improved marginally in the second half, the Cardinals connected on only 30.9% (21-of-68) of their shots from the field. They were helped to keep the carnage from getting any worse by success from beyond the arc, where they still hit only four-of their-11 attempts (36.4%).

Louisville should also be credited for their hard work on the boards, where, despite being out-rebounded by UConn 43-38 (not bad for a team without a true center), Louisville continued to control the offensive glass, 19-14. They also forced 13 turnovers by the Huskies, translated the mistakes into 12 points, as compared to UConn's eight points off the Cardinals' nine turnovers.

Byrd credited the leadership of McCoughtry and Bingham for keeping their team in the fight, regardless of the score. "We always believed, no matter if we were down 25 or up one, we always believed. And the leadership of Angel and Candyce made sure of that."

Connecticut's Renee Montgomery (20) shoots over Louisville's Deseree Byrd during the second half of the championship game at the women's NCAA college basketball tournament Final Four on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, in St. Louis. Her coach, Geno Auriemma, said he was particularly eager to see his hard-working point guard go out without a national championship to her name. Montgomery finished with 18 points, three boards, four assists, and two steals.

Auriemma refuses to engage in comparing which of his championship teams was the "best ever." But he did take a moment to look backwards, comparing his three undefeated teams in terms of style:

"The first one [1996] had no idea what they were doing. We got to Minneapolis. We stayed so far from the Final Four, they didn't know there was a Final Four going on; they just thought we were on a road trip and they were just going to play two games. Then ... we win and we go home and there's people lining the streets of I-91 and kids are going, 'It's like the O.J. chase. Cops everywhere. Helicopters.' It was unbelievable. And it dawned on them that they had done something that was just incredible."

"Then the 2002 team, they were so pissed about what happened in St. Louis in 2000, they actually thought the first day of practice, 'If we lose a game, it's a disgrace.' They actually thought that anybody that walked on the court that really believed they should be on the same court with them was out of their mind. And they played like it."

"This team is young, fun-loving, enjoy each other's company. They're fun to be around. They get a kick out of spending time together, going to practice. And as it's all unfolding in front of them, they're kind of like, 'Yeah, everybody things this is something big.' Like Renee said, 'We've got another game Wednesday. Yeah, who do we play Saturday?' And it wasn't until late, late, late in the season that they really started bearing down on it. And that when I think I started to see a different side to them."

"But all three teams in and of themselves, are separate," Auriemma concluded, "but they all had that one quality that they were really, really tight together, loved each other for the most part. And they were easy to coach. Really, really, easy to coach."

Meanwhile, the Cardinals were looking to the future. "You've got six freshman in here that have never been in this thing before and have never had to step up like this, and they did a real good job considering that," said senior Candyce Bingham. "When they play well, [Angel and I] play well. They were a key part of it this year."

"We are blessed and we're on the rise," added McCoughtry. "And I promise you this -- Jeff is going to get back to this game, and he's going to win it. Expect great things to come from this program."

Walz said a return to the Final Four is definitely on his to-do list, but that recruiting will play a large role in that. "Our goal is to get back here. We want to get our program to a level that UConn is. The reason their program is the way it is is because they get players in there. You can coach all you want, but if you don't have players to execute things it really doesn't matter."

Byrd, who will return next year for her junior season, hopes that at least one of those new recruits will be a point guard. She doesn't want to play the one next season. It's not her natural position (she is an off-guard) and though she played it remarkably well this year, it was only out of necessity.

As for the loss, McCoughtry was philosophical. "Nobody expected us to be here, so we've accomplished a lot. We have nothing to hang our heads about. We came up short, but we couldn't ask for a better season."