Final
  for this game

Huskies beat Cardinals for American title

Mar 4, 2014 - 2:33 AM Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - Breanna Stewart scored 22 points and No. 1 Connecticut bounced back from its largest deficit of the season Monday to win the first-ever American Athletic Conference regular-season title with a 68-48 victory over No. 3 Louisville.

Bria Hartley added 14 points and the Huskies (31-0, 18-0 American) wrapped up their third undefeated regular season in six years with another win over the Cardinals (28-3, 16-2).

UConn beat Louisville 81-64 on Feb. 9 in a rematch of last year's national championship game but trailed 7-0 in the opening minutes of this one -- its biggest hole of the season by three points.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who scored 13, knocked down a 3-pointer for UConn's first points and the Huskies later used an 11-0 burst to take a 33-22 lead.

It was 43-31 at halftime and UConn increased its lead despite shooting 32.1 percent in the second half. Stewart finished with 14 rebounds and Mosqueda- Lewis had 10.

The reigning national champions pushed their winning streak to 37 games and moved to 15-1 all-time against the Cardinals, the last loss coming in the first round of the NCAA tournament on March 17, 1993.

Tia Gibbs scored 16 points and Sara Hammond had 12 to lead Louisville, which had won five in a row since its last loss to UConn.

Monday was the regular-season finale for both teams. The conference tournament starts on Friday.

It was UConn's first unbeaten regular season since 2009-10, the second of its back-to-back 39-0 national championship runs.