The Huskies are a member of the Big East Conference and attempted to win their eighth NCAA championship.

The UConn team had won the last two national championships, and extended a win streak to an NCAA record 90 consecutive games.

The unexpected change was the loss of starting guard Caroline Doty, who suffered an ACL injury in July, and will be out for the entire season.

Kaili McLaren played twelve minutes a game for the Huskies in the previous season, and has moved on to a professional basketball career with Apollon Ptolemaidos in Greece.

The final graduating senior was Tina Charles who was selected as the overall number one draft pick by the Connecticut Sun.

Joining the team were five freshmen: Bria Hartley from North Babylon, New York; Stefanie Dolson from Port Jervis, New York; Lauren Engeln from Laguna Hills, California; Michala Johnson from Bellwood Illinois; and Samarie Walker from West Carrolton, Ohio.

This year, Griner would be more experienced, and UConn had replaced the veteran Charles with a freshman, Stefanie Dolson.

[19][20] Five days later, on November 21, the Huskies traveled to Georgia Tech, a game scheduled so that Maya Moore could play near where she had been a high school star.

7,325 fans showed up at the arena, setting a school record for attendance at a women's basketball game.

[21] After the conference opener against South Florida, UConn played another perennial non-conference opponent, Sacred Heart University, and won easily, 86–32, to stretch the winning streak to 86 games.

[22] UConn then went on to beat the other two opponents in the Classic, Lehigh and LSU UConn met tenth-ranked Ohio State in Madison Square Garden as Part of the Maggie Dixon Classic, an annual event in honor of Maggie Dixon, the head coach of the Army team who died at the age of 28.

After playing Sacred Heart, their second Big East opponent was Marquette, who came to the UConn campus but lost 79–47.

[26] UConn faced Georgetown, in a surprisingly quiet offensive night for Maya Moore, who scored only six points, although gathered 15 rebounds.

Kelly Faris added 19 points, one short of her career high, to help the Huskies to a 75–51 win over the Scarlet Knights.

Then Notre Dame came back, and pushed the score to a seven-point lead, 20–13, forcing UConn coach Auriemma to a rare timeout.

Stefanie Dolson and Maya Moore each made two point baskets over the next three minutes, while Notre Dame only scored four points.The Huskies won the game, 73–64, while using only six players in the rotation.

[37] Purdue sometimes struggled during the season to generate offense, but used defense to win 21 games entering the NCAA tournament second round.

Purdue's defense was successful, holding the top-ranked Huskies to 28% shooting and only 28 points in the first half, among the lowest recorded by the team during the year.

[38][39] Lorin Dixon scored "only" four points, yet her performance earned her accolades from sports writers and coaches.

UConn won a close, ten point game in Georgetown during the regular season, and met again in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.

The final margin of that game wasn't as close, but Georgetown held Maya Moore to six points, one of her rare performances with less than double-digit scoring.

One of Auriemma's assistants suggested removing the 6' 5" center, Stefanie Dolson, and going with a smaller lineup including Dixon.

[42] After a three pointer by Bria Hartley, Dixon stole the ball and drove the length of the court for a contested layup.

Georgetown did not quit, and would score ten more points in the last four plus minutes of the game, but two more baskets by Moore, each assisted by Dixon, helped seal the win for UConn.

UConn opened up the second half with a 13-2 run, extended the lead to 29 almost halfway through the second period, and coasted to a 75-40 victory and a place in the Final Four.

In the first half of the national semi-final, the halftime score was close, but UConn held a six-point lead.