March Madness: Notre Dame overcomes 15-point deficit to win 2018 national championship

Notre Dame claims 2018 women’s basketball national championship as Arike Ogwunbowale sinks off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish erased a 15-point third quarter deficit to defeat Mississippi State 61-58 in the 2018 women’s basketball national title game. It is the largest comeback in women’s national title game history per ESPN Stats and Info. The Irish are champions for the second time in program history. They won their first title in 2001.

The game was everything that could be imagined for a national championship, although it was sloppy at times. Both teams played hard and were outstanding on the defensive end. And in the end, the Irish had a little luck on their side with Ogwunbowale knocking down an off balance 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining.

Ogwunbowale, who started the game just 1 of 10 shooting from the floor, scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half. Despite her struggles shooting the ball, Ogwunbowale remained aggressive and was rewarded by drawing fouls on her way to the basket. She finished the game 6 of 21 from the floor though she was 5 of 7 from the charity stripe.

Jessica Shepard paced the Irish with 19 points, on 8 of 10 shooting from the floor. Marina Mabrey contributed 10 points along with seven rebounds.

Notre Dame (36-3) started the game off strong. The Irish scored the game’s first six points and led 10-4 five minutes in the game. Following a timeout, Mississippi State (37-2) finally settled down and went one of several runs in the game. Morgan William’s layup gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the of game with 2:24 remaining in the stanza and they took a 17-14  after the opening quarter.

Neither team scored until Blair Schaefer knocked down the game’s first triple with a little over three minutes gone by in the second. The Irish’s drought went a little longer as they didn’t get on board in the quarter until 3:03 left. The good news for the Irish is that there defense remained stout as Miss State managed just 13 points the entire period.

Notre Dame has been a second half team the entire season. And that trend continued on Sunday.

While the Irish came out strong to start the third quarter, they were unable to make up any ground until midway through the stanza. Trailing 40-25, the Irish outscored the Bulldogs 16-1 over the last six minutes of the period to knot the game up. Ogwunbowale and Shepard combined for 15 of the team’s 24 points.

The game was tight throughout the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs took a 58-53 lead at the 2:01 mark on a Roshunda Johnson trifecta. But Mabrey answered with her lone triple of the game on the subsequent possession. Then Jackie Young tied the game with 46 seconds left.

That’s when things got a little wild. Following a Teaira McCowan missed layup, thanks to tough defense, Mabrey committed her season-high ninth turnover of the game. That gave Miss State with 10 ticks on the clock, but Young was able to pick William’s pocket at midcourt. McCowan then picked up her fifth foul to prevent an easy layup for the Irish.

Ogwunbowale subsequently hit her second game of the Final Four. The Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player also had the game winner against UConn on Friday.

Miss State’s two stars, Victoria Vivians and McCowan were terrific. Vivians poured in a game-high 21 points to go along with nine rebounds and four steals. McCowan, who set a NCAA Tournament record with over 100 rebounds, chipped in 18 points and 17 caroms.

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The victory gave coach Muffet McGraw her 800th career win with the Irish. In the meanwhile, Miss State coach Vic Schaefer fell to 13-4 in NCAA Tournament games, including 0-2 in the NCAA title games. The Bulldogs lost to South Carolina last season.