SAN ANTONIO — There was no panic in the locker room. No pep talk, either. Maya Moore and her Connecticut Huskies knew the score.

"It couldn't get any worse," she said. And it was all slipping away — the streak, the perfect season, the championship.

Leave it to Moore. The tournament's most outstanding player took over the NCAA title game last night, rallying the Huskies from a horrible first half to a 53-47 victory over Stanford.

"We knew a run was coming," she said. "We settled down and hit some big shots."

Suddenly, a team that was stagnant on offense and trailing 20-12 at the break was moving and scoring.

"Just no fear," said Moore.

That could be a motto for coach Geno Auriemma's Huskies. UConn (39-0) is the first team ever to have consecutive unbeaten seasons, but that doesn't cover it.

The Huskies have been unstoppable over the past two years, winning 78 straight — every game until last night by double figures — and passing their own NCAA women's Division I record of 70 straight wins set from 2001-03. The championship victory put them within 10 of the vaunted 88-game streak set by John Wooden's UCLA men in the early 1970s.

Thanks to Moore. The sensational junior scored 11 of the Huskies' first 17 points in the second half. She finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds to help Auriemma win his seventh national championship, moving within one title of Pat Summitt and Tennessee.

"It's what great players do," Auriemma said. "They do it at the most pressure-packed times that makes them who they are.

"That's what makes them great. Maya's a great scorer and you get that reputation by scoring points under pressure. She certainly did that."

Tina Charles added nine points, 11 rebounds, and 6 blocks. The senior and Auriemma shared an embrace after the final buzzer.

The lowest-scoring game in NCAA championship game history was played in front of a crowd of 22,936 that included Vice President Joe Biden, who hugged the UConn players after the game, as well as former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. While Biden showed impartiality in his cheering, Rice was rooting on Stanford — the school at which she served as provost for six years.

Stanford (36-2) played a nearly flawless defensive first half, holding UConn to 12 points — the lowest ever in a championship game and the lowest in school history.

"I can't even imagine them scoring only 12 points," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "It was just an incredible job."

But then Moore and the Huskies took over.

"Maya Moore was the difference," VanDerveer said. "If she's on our team, we win. She really stepped up and made big plays for them. Really, she's a great player and she made big plays."

UConn opened the second half by scoring 17 of the first 19 points to take its first lead since early in the game.

Moore's 3-pointer from the top of the key made it 23-22, giving UConn its first lead since it was 5-0. That ended a 19-minute stretch in which UConn was behind — the longest that UConn had trailed this season. The only time that the Huskies were behind longer than 10 minutes also had been against Stanford, the first time they met.

Moore followed up her 3 with a sweet jumper and a layup on the break after Charles had blocked Nnemkadi Ogwumike on the other end.

JJ Hones' 3-pointer with 11:46 left in the game cut the deficit to 29-25, but Charles scored seven of the Huskies next nine points to make it 38-27 with 7:42 left.

Stanford would only get as close as five the rest of the way.