Friday definitely saw the madness of March as both NCAA Women’s Final Four games went into overtime.
Notre Dame gave UConn their first defeat of the year, defeating the Huskies 91-89.
Mississippi State also won an overtime thriller, beating Louisville 73-63 in overtime.
Notre Dame and Mississippi State will meet for the NCAA women’s national championship on Sunday at 6 p.m.
Notre Dame and UConn
The Huskies were hoping for a rematch with Mississippi State after losing to them in last year’s Final Four.
The Fighting Irish had different plans, though.
The closing seconds of regulation and overtime play mirrored one another. Notre Dame up by five, with UConn closing the lead. Except, at the end of regulation UConn’s senior guard Kia Nurse stole the ball to score in the closing seconds to send it into overtime, and Notre Dame junior guard Arike Ogunbowale had the ball at the end of OT and scored to win the game.
“I knew I had to shoot it at the last moment,” Ogunbowale told ESPN after the game. “I went into mamba mentality, I know Kobe’s here.”
While she hit the game winner for Notre Dame, it was sophomore guard Jackie Young who was the leading scorer for the Fighting Irish with 32 points.
UConn junior forward Napheesa Collier led the Huskies with 24 points.
Mississpi State vs. Louisville
The Bulldogs head back to the championship after losing last year to South Carolina.
Friday night’s game included 15 lead changes in regulation, with Mississippi State taking over in overtime.
Junior center Teaira McCowan has had a record-setting 76 rebounds for a single tournament and set a Final Four rebound record with 25.
“We’re in the Final Four, you gotta dig deep,” McCowan told ESPN after the game. “We stayed calm and we knew we could do it.”
Louisville junior guard Asia Durr led the Cardinals with 18 points. Senior guard Victoria Vivians was the leading scorer for the Bulldogs with 25 points. Vivians also fouled out with under a minute left in overtime.
