NEW ORLEANS – The Connecticut women’s basketball team completed its rendezvous with history on Tuesday night by dominating Tennessee again with a 70-61 victory that gave the Huskies their third straight NCAA title.

The triumph also marked a successful end to the career of senior all-American Diana Taurasi, who will be remembered as one of the all-time stars of the collegiate women’s game.

The native of Chino, Calif., who finished with 17 points, kicked the ball high into the second level of the stands after time expired.

“I wanted Diana’s career to end the right way, and I can’t think of a better way to end it,” than with a title, said Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma.

The UConn triumph before a sellout crowd of 18,211 in the New Orleans Arena occurred just 24 hours after the Huskies men’s team won the NCAA title by beating Georgia Tech in San Antonio.

It is the first time since the NCAA began sponsoring women’s events in 1981-82 that a school captured both the Division I men’s and women’s national basketball titles in the same season.

“It really is an unbelievable accomplishment for a school that just recently no one talked about as being in this level. I can’t describe it,” Auriemma said.

“When you think of UConn, you think of domination,” Taurasi said.

She praised her teammates, saying, “It wasn’t easy the whole year, and somehow, some way … we have fighters on this team. We have people with a lot of character. You ask them to do something, they’ll do it not for themselves, but for the team.”

Shanna Zolman led Tennessee with a game-high 19 points as the Volunteers rallied from a 17-point first-half deficit but could never take the lead, although they managed to get as close as two points in the second half.

Ashley Robinson added 13 points, and Shyra Ely scored 10.

The Huskies had a balanced offense, as Taurasi was joined in double figures by Jessica Moore (14 points), Ann Strother (14 points), and Barbara Turner (12 points).

Taurasi, selected the most outstanding player of the tournament, was named to the all-tournament team along with Moore, Strother, Zolman, and Minnesota’s Janel McCarville.

As the Connecticut players awaited the trophy presentation, the crowd began chanting, “Three-peat,” “Three-peat.”

Connecticut (31-4) joined Tennessee (31-4) as the only teams to capture three consecutive NCAA titles. The Huskies, who first won a title in their undefeated season of 1995, have now collected five championships.

The Huskies also had a perfect record to win the 2002 title in San Antonio and begin the trifecta run of championships.

Tennessee still has one more NCAA crown than UConn at six, but the Volunteers’ trophy case might be even more crowded had it not been for their Huskies’ tormentors, who have beaten them in four meetings in the title game.

Tuesday night also marked the sixth straight time overall that Connecticut has beaten Tennessee, coached by Pat Summitt. The Huskies lead the series between the two national powers, 13-6.

“I have so much respect for Pat’s program and what she’s done,” Auriemma said.

“To win five of these (titles) and four of them have come against arguably the number one program in America all these years, no one can say we backed into any of them.”

Tennessee, which also lost to the Huskies last year, had advanced to last night’s rematch off a series of three straight narrow escapes in the last seconds, beginning with a win over Baylor in the Midwest Regional semifinals. The string continued against Stanford and again on Sunday night when Ely stole a pass and fed LaToya Davis to beat local favorite Louisiana State.

Strother quickly got Connecticut off to a 2-0 start in the first 30 seconds with a field goal before Tennessee quickly countered with a jumper by Shanna Zolman, who had hit a critical three-pointer in Sunday night’s victory over Louisiana State.

The team exchanged baskets before Tennessee took the lead, 6-4, on a layup by Davis with 17 minutes, 22 seconds left in the period.

Taurasi’s first basket, a jumper, got the Huskies even at 6-6 with 16:21 left as they began to take control of the game with a 13-3 run over the next five minutes.

The Huskies’ depth asserted itself, with Barbara Turner, Jessica Moore, Strother and Ashley Battle, who hit a three-pointer, all scoring.

It began to look like it might be easy for Connecticut, which held a 17-point lead, 30-13, with 6:29 left until the half.

Huskies fans, however, have learned this season not to relax even with the most comfortable lead.

That lesson was learned back in early January when Connecticut held a huge lead over Duke, only to lose to the Blue Devils on a three-pointer at the buzzer at the Hartford Civic Center.

Sure enough, Tennessee began to narrow the gap as Connecticut went a little cold. By the end of the half, the Huskies’ lead had been whittled to six points, 30-24.

Moore kept helping Connecticut on the inside at the start of the second half as the game would stay close the rest of the way, although the Huskies managed to build a 48-38 advantage with 13:04 left in the game on two baskets by Turner and a trey by Taurasi.

Tennessee, however, used to tight ball games, came back to close the gap to 50-48 on a long three-pointer by Brittany Jackson before Connecticut went on to push the advantage out to five points and held on the rest of the way.

© 2004, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.