Mohegan — UConn coach Geno Auriemma was telling a story late Monday night about the game that ended the regular season, a week ago against Xavier.

The night, although it resulted in a win, was a grind, the 10th straight game the Huskies played that was decided by 10 points or fewer, in a season that had become a grind due to injuries. He had to drive in a westward direction to get home that night.

“The way I felt was, like, I want to wake up in California in three days. I just want to keep driving,” Auriemma said with a laugh.

Then, suddenly, a whole new Monday found Auriemma dancing joyfully with his team, with his young grandsons, as the confetti rained down at Mohegan Sun Arena after a three-games-in-three-days domination of the Big East Conference tournament.

Top-seeded UConn soared to the Big East title Monday over No. 2 Villanova before 7,808 fans at the Sun, beating the Wildcats 67-56, leading by as many as 25 points in the third quarter.

“I mean, it means a lot,” UConn junior and tournament Most Outstanding Player Aaliyah Edwards said. “We put a lot into practice and everything we went through this season, all the struggles ... and to still kind of come out with the same outcome that we wanted to coming into the season is amazing.

“It just speaks to the character in our team.”

Auriemma said that in 38 years of coaching he’s found there’s not much joy, only misery in defeat and relief in victory. He felt like Monday’s victory closed the book on a trying season.

“I can sit back now and really let everything, like, wash over you that you’ve been holding in,” said Auriemma, who lost his mother in December and missed several games due to illness.

“So many things have happened on and off the court this season, that to get to this point, you want to just close that book and now start a brand new one starting next Sunday. That book ended the right way. It had a lot of acts and a lot of tragedies and a lot of ups and downs.”

In a matchup between two of the top-ranked teams in the country, UConn’s Edwards finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Dorka Juhasz had 16 points and eight rebounds. Lou Lopez Senechal added 14 points, Azzi Fudd 11 points and Nika Muhl eight assists.

Juhasz and Lopez Senechal were named to the Big East All-Tournament team along with Edwards, as were Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist, DePaul’s Aneesah Morrow and Seton Hall’s Lauren Park-Lane.

UConn (29-5) was ranked seventh in Monday’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, while Villanova (28-6) was 10th.

The game was a rematch of last year’s title game and the 10th straight conference tournament championship for the Huskies (three in the Big East and seven in the American Athletic Conference).

Previously in the tournament, UConn, competing with all 10 of its players for the first time since Nov. 14 with the return of Fudd, beat ninth-seeded Georgetown 69-49 in the quarterfinals, followed by an 81-52 win over Marquette in the semis.

UConn left the floor at halftime to a standing ovation after a 9-0 run to take a double-digit lead at 34-24.

With the teams having traded leads twice in the second quarter, Siegrist scored to pull Villanova within 25-24, UConn still leading by one.

Juhasz scored for UConn on an assist by Muhl and Edwards scored two straight baskets, separated by a 30-second timeout by Villanova. Edwards next found Lopez Senechal making a back cut, resulting in a layup, a 33-24 lead and a huge ovation from the pro-UConn crowd.

With 5 seconds remaining in the half, Villanova’s Lucy Olsen missed a shot that was rebounded by Juhasz and kicked out to Muhl, seemingly a formality to run out the clock for the half.

A foul was called on Siegrist, however, putting Muhl on the foul line for two shots. Muhl made one to lift UConn to the 10-point lead, its biggest of the game.

The Huskies outscored Villanova 27-15 in the third quarter, including three 3-pointers by Fudd, to break open the game.

UConn put together a 14-0 run in the third, starting with a feed from Fudd to Juhasz underneath and followed by two points from Edwards and three from Fudd on her first 3-point make of the game.

When Juhasz finished the run, UConn led 54-29.

“I think coming out of that locker room, we had the mindset that Villanova is a really good team. They showed they can come back from being down a lot,” Juhasz said. “We wanted to make sure that we come out really strong.”

“I think that those last three games kind of reflect on what team we can really be,” Lopez Senechal said.

Siegrist, the nation’s leading scorer, finished with 22 points for Villanova. After scoring 37 points in a Big East semifinal win Sunday against Creighton, Siegrist came into the game with 962 points on the season, needing just 38 to become fifth player in history of Division I women’s basketball to score 1,000 in a single season.

Both teams now await their NCAA tournament destinations, which will be announced Sunday, with UConn earning the league’s automatic bid.

v.fulkerson@theday.com