The Stanford women’s basketball team lost its first game of the season on Monday night, falling 68-58 in a matchup against the team’s biggest rival of the last four years, Connecticut. The No. 4 Huskies (3-0) extended their home winning streak to 86 games and took a 5-2 lead over the No. 5 Cardinal (3-1) in games played over the last 48 months.

 

This was payback for the 71-59 defeat UConn suffered at the hands of Stanford in December of last year, a game that brought the Huskies’ 90-game winning streak to and end. But perhaps more than that, it highlighted what home advantage means. The Cardinal also holds an impressive home streak of 65 games, but is just 4-3 on the East Coast since that last home defeat.

 

Even considering that statistic, Connecticut is the only team that has really been able to keep Stanford in its shadow over this period–were it not for the Huskies, the Cardinal might have won back-to-back national titles in 2008 and 2009, instead of falling short in the national championship game at the hands of the Huskies.

 

“We look at ourselves and Connecticut,” explained Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer before the game, “having been to the last four Final Fours, I think we’re the only two teams that have done that. The game last year was obviously a great game with all that was riding on it. We played for the national title the year before. Connecticut has been in the conversation as far as competing for a national championship just year-in and year-out, and we were in it, we were out of it and now I think we’re back in it.”

 

Though the personnel on both sides was noticeably different—All-American Maya Moore graduated for the Huskies as well as four of Stanford’s starting five from last year—and the teams are no longer sitting atop the national rankings, this game had a lot in common with their last meeting in the NCAA final two years back.

 

Again, both teams struggled early on, and UConn was held to just four points for the first seven minutes. But this time around, Connecticut’s resurgence began earlier and gave it a lead at the half. Stanford came back to rally early on in the second period and take a two-point lead, but ultimately failed to make the advantage count as UConn stretched back ahead.

 

In the absence of Moore, Connecticut seems to have found a new star. Freshman forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis grabbed 25 points and eight rebounds in her 33 minutes of play. Stanford’s leading point scorer, Nnemkadi Ogwumike, took the same number of rebounds and scored just three fewer points, but foul trouble kept her on the sidelines for crucial parts of the game.

 

Perhaps the deciding factor in this game was the effectiveness of either team’s defense. Stanford gave the Connecticut players far more room to maneuver on attack, but when the tables were turned, the Huskies man-marked the Cardinal players tightly. The result was far more freedom to shoot and cut inside for UConn and a full 16 turnovers by the Card.

 

Stanford now heads to Cincinnati to face Xavier this Friday as it looks to put this early season defeat behind it. One loss, against Connecticut on the road, is unlikely to count against the Cardinal as it hopes to return to the Final Four next Spring, but there is a lot of basketball to be played between then and now.