The Huskies had exceeded all expectations from the beginning of the season, when even head coach Geno Auriemma did not think his team would be likely to reach the 2012 Final Four. Yet the young team kept winning, despite repeated errors pointed out by their coaches, until the sting of a 13-point loss to Notre Dame in the last home game of the regular season made them understand, and sent them on a seven-game postseason run to the Mile High City.

Committing 21 turnovers, however, and an aggressive defensive effort by Notre Dame at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Sunday was too much for the Huskies to overcome in a rematch of last year’s NCAA semifinal game. Although they fought back from a 7-point deficit in regulation to force the game into overtime, the Huskies could not match the Fighting Irish, who made it 3-0 against the Huskies in the national semifinals to win 83-75. Notre Dame will play in the national title game on Tuesday in Denver against Baylor, which defeated Stanford 59-47 on Sunday.

“Any time you have that many turnovers, the defense has a lot to do with it and you have a lot to do with it yourself,” Auriemma said. “We were just not very good offensively. I can’t tell you why, because maybe it was the emotions of the game. Or maybe for some of our younger guys, maybe the game was too big for us. There was a lot of standing around and that’s just not us. It’s not how we play.”

With center Stefanie Dolson ’14 (CLAS) sitting on the bench for 10 minutes after picking up her fourth foul early in the second half, following an opening period with 12 points – she finished with 20 – the Huskies and the Irish battled back and forth. Bria Hartley ’14 (CLAS), who finished with 18 points, and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis ’15 (CLAS), with 13 points, led the Huskies, and Natalie Novosel (20 points) and All-American Skylar Diggins (19 points) paced Notre Dame, along with key shots by Brittany Mallory (11 points), as the game wound down to a 67-67 tie at the end of regulation.

“[Dolson] really played well,” said Irish head coach Muffet McGraw. “We were having trouble guarding her. We were supposed to be in front of her. We never quite got there. That was one of the best games she had against us, and certainly having her out of the game … was important for us.”

Auriemma had said that in facing Notre Dame for the fourth time this season and the eighth time in just over a year, the game likely would be determined by one player making a big play. Mallory’s two consecutive 3-point shots in overtime to break a 70-70 tie kept the Irish ahead until the end of the game.

“We put ourselves in the position to win the game. That last two minutes of regulation was pretty amazing,” Auriemma said. “As most games do, it turned on one great play by a great player. And when we got into overtime we just didn’t have enough. They just made some shots. We took a chance on making it difficult, but Brittany Mallory made two huge shots; that’s who we wanted to shoot the ball. God bless her, she stepped up and made the shots.”

The Huskies nearly won the game in regulation, after trailing for nearly the last 12 minutes of the second period. With Notre Dame ahead by 4 points, Kelly Faris ’13 (ED), who had 10 points, 5 assists, and 3 steals, again imposed her refuse-to-lose will upon a game. With 1:19 remaining in regulation, she picked up the ball stolen by Tiffany Hayes ’12 (CLAS), threw the ball back to Hayes, and then got the rebound from her teammate’s missed shot to cut the Notre Dame lead to 2 points, 65-63. A few moments later, she was fouled by Deveraux Peters and made two free throws to tie the game at 65. Faris then stole the ball and was fouled by Diggins going to the basket. She made both free throws to give UConn its first lead since halftime. But Novosel laid in a missed shot by Diggins with three seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.

“Our defense was fine for the first 40 minutes,” Auriemma said. “We just passed up too many opportunities. You can’t do that against Notre Dame. You can’t come away empty-handed. They’re just too good. You can’t give them that many chances.”

The loss signaled the final game for Hayes, who played in her fourth consecutive Final Four.

“We fought hard and made it further than anybody thought we would,” Hayes said. “We have nothing to hang our heads over. I’m definitely proud of the season and proud of the way we were able to handle our ups and downs over the year. It hurts because I know we definitely could have had the game and we let another one slip away.”

Faris, known for her stoic demeanor on the floor during a game, was emotional when talking about seeing Hayes play her last game in a Connecticut uniform.

“I hate this for her. It’s just like last year [when we] sent Maya [Moore] out like that. It’s hard,” Faris said. “[Tiffany] changed a lot this year. I couldn’t have been more proud of her this season. She took on a [leadership] role; she excelled at it and I know it wasn’t easy for her to do that.”

Reflecting on her time at UConn, which included winning two national championships and back-to-back unbeaten seasons, Hayes said, “I think it was a good four years here and I wouldn’t have done it anywhere else if I had the chance.”