Stanford had a terrific game plan and yet again, UCONN came out slow and sluggish. Or, as many pointed out, the opposite in that the players were out there as if their hair was on fire, or down 10 with 4 minutes left in the 2nd half. They looked almost desperate at times and out of synch. Of course, Lili Thompson was hitting everything from the outside, and several of Stanford's 3 point shots at the buzzer miraculously banked in. It seemed like Stanford had the luck of the Irish. Still, UCONN righted the ship in the 2nd half. Honestly, I think Stanford is quite a bit better than Maryland.
People can point to the closeness of the game in the first half as another example of UCONN's vulnerability. I think there is some truth to that, but also it was a function of Stanford being unconscious from beyond the arc with some lucky bounces going their way. This is not to take away from the effort they gave. But the ultimate result, a 19 point win, was similar to the result when the teams first met in November.