TAMPA, Fla. — Candice Wiggins refused to let Stanford lose to Connecticut. Not again.
The Cardinal star continued her electrifying run through the NCAA Tournament, scoring 25 points and grabbing 13 rebounds while getting some timely help from Kayla Pederson and JJ Hones as Stanford shocked Connecticut 82-73 in Sunday night’s national semifinals.
Back in the 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 they’ll put a 23-game winning streak on the line against Tennessee or LSU.
Wiggins typically leads the Cardinal through emotional, loud pregame huddles. Her message this time focused on her teammates’ smarts and how far they had come since 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-for-19, but made two huge 3-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 Pederson stepped up to break UConn’s heart.
Hones hit a deep 3-pointer to put Stanford up 10 with 3:20 to go, then Pederson answered a 3-pointer that drew UConn within 71-66 with a long jumper of her own 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.”
Pederson 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 following the 12-point loss.

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