STORRS, Conn. -- Connecticut's players are always in the role of "terminators" and really are never portrayed as the brave and plucky Sarah Connor-like heroes.
But sometimes you have to remember the Huskies -- currently with a 43-game victory streak, which for this program is short -- are human. And they have their brave and plucky moments too.
Especially the 5-foot-7 senior point guard who took it upon herself to become the needed defensive stopper against Notre Dame on Saturday. The way UConn coach Geno Auriemma explained it, Moriah Jefferson said, "I got this," and he didn't even have to ask.
That's how the Huskies are trained: The harder something is, the more they want to do it. And Notre Dame did indeed make it hard for UConn before a sold-out Gampel Pavilion crowd of 10,167. As is so often the case, though, the No. 1 Huskies answered the challenge, winning 91-81 over the No. 3 Irish.
"You can't stop them; you have to be able to score with them," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. "Maybe you get them on your court, and they don't shoot as well or something. But you definitely have to be able to score."
And in the first half, the Irish made it clear they were going to score, even without injured post players Brianna Turner and Taya Reimer. Auriemma said that the four-guard lineup the Irish sent out was, in some ways, even harder to defend because it forced the Huskies' bigger players to move further out of their comfort zones.
By contrast, one Irish player in particular looked very comfortable offensively in the first half: freshman guard Marina Mabrey. Her older sister, Michaela, is Notre Dame senior, so Marina is very familiar with the dynamic of this rivalry, even though it was her first time competing in it. Which perhaps explains why she appeared to be an old hand at putting on a show in UConn's house. She made 9-of-11 shots for 21 points in the first half.
Sarah Connor, indeed.
"To come in here as a freshman in this atmosphere I think shows the fearless quality that she has," McGraw said. "The thing I love about her is that she's just not going to back down from anyone."
"I think they're better than last year; they have more versatility." Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw on UConn
But that's really the Notre Dame mentality, isn't it? The Huskies' players say they notice that -- the way the Irish aren't intimidated. That's often traced particularly to the mindset that built up during the many intense UConn-Notre Dame meetings of the Skylar Diggins era with the Irish. McGraw credits Diggins with bringing an even tougher resolve to the program, which has remained even after her 2013 graduation.
However, you can go much further back in Notre Dame's history and see that same intense competitiveness, even when the odds weren't in the Irish's favor. To win their national championship in 2001, of course, the Irish had to get past UConn in the semifinals. And Notre Dame's 1997 run to the Final Four was a testament to grit too. So to a large degree, the mentality comes from the one constant: McGraw herself.
She turned 60 on Saturday, getting a mock rendition of "Happy Birthday" sung to her from the UConn student section near game's end, and there's no doubt it irks her to fall again to the Huskies. UConn now leads the series 34-11 and has won five in a row against Notre Dame, including in the last two NCAA title games. That said, there was so much about the Irish's smart and scrappy play on Saturday that pleased McGraw. Notre Dame lost star guard Jewell Loyd to the WNBA draft last spring and had its interior game decimated by the recent injuries, but the Irish still made this a game worth watching.
"I was proud of the effort and the way we battled," McGraw said. "It shows a lot of character, a lot of just perseverance and that relentless attitude these seniors are really directing."
But UConn's seniors have that too, which is why the Huskies took over in the third quarter after leading by just a basket at halftime. Jefferson became a one-woman Coast Guard on "Marina" patrol. She practically Super Glued herself to the Irish rookie, who later acknowledged she hadn't faced defense like that before.
"She had 21 in the first half, and that's unacceptable," Jefferson said. "Really just wanted to come out and face guard her and make her life really hard and not let her get any open shots.
"I take a lot of pride in my defense and came out and did what I could for my team and shut her down."
Marina Mabrey scored just one time in the second half, on a drive to the basket. Mabrey joined the club of guards who've gotten the "Mo-Jeff" treatment. Take it as a compliment, kid, because you have to be really good to get so much attention from such an exceptional defender.
"You can't stop them; you have to be able to score with them. Maybe you get them on your court, and they don't shoot as well or something. But you definitely have to be able to score." McGraw on playing the Huskies
"Moriah in the second half did a great job on Marina Mabrey," Auriemma said. "Whatever she gives up size-wise, I think she makes up for quickness-wise, with toughness, and she's very disruptive. And she wants to, that's the biggest thing."
Madison Cable finished with 17 points, and Michaela Mabrey and Lindsay Allen had 11 for Notre Dame.
"That's two games in a row now where teams made way more than they're used to making," Auriemma said of the Irish and DePaul, on Wednesday, each hitting 13 3-pointers. "Some of the 3s [Notre Dame] made were just ridiculous. Some of it, you just have to give them credit. They were tough shots that went in."
Reimer, who has an Achilles issue, is day-to-day, so she's expected to return. It's less certain with Turner, who has a shoulder injury. McGraw said that at some point Turner could get clearance to try out her shoulder and see how it feels in a game. Even if she does that, she could still redshirt, however, because she has played in just four games thus far.
Breanna Stewart led UConn with 28 points and 11 rebounds. Her highlight reel included an acrobatic, tipped-in first-half shot that ended with what looked like a scary fall, until Stewart bounced up pretty quickly as if made of Silly Putty. Jefferson had 14 points and six assists to go with her defensive accomplishments.
And Morgan Tuck -- the player Auriemma says is just good at everything -- had 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Only at UConn can you have a line like that and be considered the so-called third-best performer on your team.
"I think they're better than last year; they have more versatility," McGraw said of the Huskies, a depressing thought for the rest of Division I women's basketball. "Their top six, they can switch on all the screens. They have the size and agility to guard on the perimeter. So it wasn't like a mismatch when they switched on screens. So defensively, I think they can do a lot more. Offensively, I think the same."
Auriemma disagreed that the Huskies are better now, though, saying there's no way they could have lost seniors Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Kiah Stokes, both WNBA first-round picks, off last year's team and be improved from last season so early in this one.
Stewart later offered her opinion when asked, although it should be noted that she had not heard what Auriemma had said in that regard.
"I definitely feel our team is better at this point in time than last year," Stewart sad. "Last year, we were still struggling to find people's identities on the team. We've found that more than last year. The way we're playing, I think, shows that."
Auriemma and Stewart might just have to agree to disagree on that one, but this much no one will dispute: The Huskies continue to "terminate" all in their path. But at least the Irish made everybody stick around until the end on Saturday to make sure.