The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and UConn Huskies are the best rivalry in the sport, and after all of the hype, there was a Final Four game to play in Tampa Bay. The Irish got off to a slow start in the first half with both Arike Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey really struggling from the field. After the first quarter, UConn held a 4 point lead — but then Jessica Shepard stepped and went on a monster 10 point run all by herself. The Irish got a small lead, but when Brianna Turner was forced to sit down after her second foul, UConn took full advantage and drained a shot at the end of the half. As they went into the locker room, UConn held a 1 point advantage with a 30-29 score. The 3rd quarter got a little nuts as there was 10 lead changes within that 10 minutes. UConn’s Katie Samuelson started to really step up her game and was a big problem for the Irish. When ESPN spoke with Muffet McGraw at the end of the third, she was really upset that Notre Dame allowed Samuelson to get the looks she was getting for her shots. The Irish entered the 4th quarter down 52-50. UConn quickly went on a run against the Irish and built up a 9 point lead before Jackie Young drained a three to cut it to 64-58. Notre Dame was able to tie it up with threes from Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey at 66 all. These two fantastic teams swung haymaker after haymaker. Lead change after lead change. It was Notre Dame’s defense though late in the game that helped win the game. Up three with a minute left in the game, Brianna Turner had a MASSIVE block that lead to Arike getting fouled and put on the line. She drained both to put Notre Dame up 5. With just 23 seconds left, Notre Dame had their largestlead of the game with the score 79-73. The Irish pulled away like champions in the end and finished the game (and UConn’s season) with the score, 81-76. Next up are the Baylor Bears in the championship game. More to come on One Foot Down!<doc-sep>TAMPA ― If you were walking by Amalie Arena on Friday night and were struck in the head by a record book that was thrown out the window, we apologize. Notre Dame and UConn were playing. The Red Sox and Yankees need each other. North Carolina and Duke need each other. Alabama and Clemson need each other. I’m sure in some ways, especially on birthdays, North Korea and South Korea need each other. Notre Dame and UConn. They need each other. Guess what? We need them too. That was Friday night at the Final Four, as the top two women’s basketball powerhouses in the country rocked the house for the 50th time in their ferocious history, for the eighth time at the NCAA Tournament ― in fact, for the eighth time at the Final Four, which tells you something. These two always stand in each other’s way. That’s the way the world is. Everything was on the line Friday, as usual. Cheers or tears? What was it going to be? It was going to be defending national champion Notre Dame, 81-76, roaring back in the second half in an instant classic. The Irish beat the Huskies in the national semifinals again. They’re 5-3 against UConn in the tournament. It all began with the perfunctory dead-mackerels handshake between coaches. Did Notre Dame’s stomach-churning Muffet McGraw even look at UConn open-collared legend and provocateur Geno Auriemma? McGraw recently described Auriemma as a “bully.” Play ball! That they did. And it was marvelous. With all due respect to 36-1 Baylor, which outlasted upstart Oregon in Friday’s first game, the second semifinal was the real national championship game. Everyone in the building knew it. It lived up to that billing, see-saw, 26 lead changes, six in the last three minutes alone, back and forth, heavyweights and haymakers, no quarter asked for, none given, big plays and big players everywhere. It wasn’t last year’s national semifinal, when Notre Dame shooting star Arike Ogunbowale beat UConn at the horn on the way to the national title game (an Ogunbowale shot won that one, too). But the Big O led the way this time, too, with 14-fourth quarter points to end UConn hopes for a 12th national title. Don’t think Auriemma’s Huskies liked that. Don’t think McGraw’s Fighting Irish didn’t like that, a lot. Maybe in another time and place, if they weren’t chasing the same exact thing, McGraw and Auriemma could be friends. I vote maybe not. There were no true extra-curriculars, like when UConn trounced Notre Dame at South Bend in December, which featured rough play from Ogunbowale, who clothes-lined UConn’s Crystal Dangerfield, then jawed at Auriemma. McGraw and her team later issued an apology to Irish fans and alumni. But not to Auriemma and the Huskies. Think this is good for women’s basketball? “Yes, because you’re asking questions about it, you’re writing a story about it,” ESPN studio analyst and former Georgia coach Andy Landers said the day before Notre Dame and UConn rocked. “Otherwise, nobody ever hears us, there wouldn’t be anything in the news today about women’s basketball.” Notre Dame, a two-time national champion, has chased and caught UConn. UConn-Tennessee, Auriemma against the great Pat Summitt, was once the marquee matchup in women’s hoops. But those schools played only 22 times. Notre Dame-UConn is half a hundred, filled with tournament battles, conference throwdowns, animus and transcendent talent and coaching. McGraw used UConn as a measuring stick. The Irish measure up at last. Who needs civility? In 2014, Notre Dame and UConn became the first NCAA championship matchup of undefeated teams. UConn won that night. The Huskies beat the Irish for the title the next year, too, here in Tampa. Don’t think Notre Dame liked that. Don’t think UConn didn’t like that. Don’t think Auriemma doesn’t love giving the needle. Don’t think McGraw doesn’t hate losing more than she likes winning. So her team went out and won, avenging that December loss. Notre Dame came from nine points down in the fourth quarter and won behind Ogunbowale’s late scoring frenzy, as she hit big shots and free throws. “She really came alive in the second half,” McGraw said. Don’t forget the Irish forwards, Jessica Shepard’s 20 points and 13 rebounds and Brianna Turner’s 15 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks. “They had more good players play better more than we did,” Auriemma said. “That’s just the way the world is.” The world again belonged to Notre Dame on Friday. It’s on to championship game for the Irish on Sunday night against Baylor. Me? I can’t wait for Round 51. Contact Martin Fennelly at mfennelly@tampabay.com or (813) 731-8029. Follow @mjfennelly.<doc-sep>The 2019 Women's National Championship Game is set. After Baylor outlasted Oregon in the first game, the defending champions Notre Dame took down UConn, 81-76 to get back to the title game for the second straight season. It wasn't exactly the prettiest game, as the two teams combined for 87 misses, and shot just 15-of-48 from downtown. But it was absolutely competitive. In the 50th meeting between coaches Muffet McGraw and Geno Auriemma, and eighth in the Final Four, the two old Big East rivals traded bucket for bucket over much of the game, which featured over two dozen lead changes. In the final few minutes though, Notre Dame pulled away, overcoming a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Arike Ogunbowale led all scorers with 23 points, while Jess Shepard added 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for Notre Dame. On UConn's side, Katie Lou Samuelson put up 20 points, while Napheesa Collier had 19. Here are some takeaways from Notre Dame's victory: KLS and Arike duel in the second half Katie Lou Samuelson and Arike Ogunbowale are two of the best offensive players in the country, but they didn't play like it in the first half. UConn's senior forward took just five shots in the first 20 minutes, and missed all of them. Meanwhile, Ogunbowale put up just six attempts, making one of them. For players who averaged 18.5 and 21.5 points, respectively, that obviously wasn't good enough -- especially on this stage. In the second half, however, the two stars showed why they were both All-Americans this season. Sameulson went off in the third quarter pouring in 15 points in that frame alone to help the Huskies take a lead into the fourth. In the end, she finished with 20 points, all of which came in the second half. They weren't enough, however, because on the other side, Ogunbowale was just as good down the stretch. Last year's Final Four hero came up clutch again, going for 21 second-half points of her own, including 12 in the fourth quarter to help seal her squad's trip back to the title game. Irish frontcourt steps up When they have Jackie Young and Arike Ogunbowale, it makes sense that most of the attention for Notre Dame focuses on their electric backcourt, and certainly they were key on Friday night -- especially Ogunbowale. But the Fighting Irish have gotten to this point because they have a complete team, and their frontcourt stepped up in a major way against UConn. Jess Shepard was one of the only players who could buy a bucket early on, and her strong play in the first half was the main reason Notre Dame wasn't in a big hole early. By the time the final buzzer sounded, the senior had registered 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists in one of her best performances of the season. On the other block, Brianna Turner found redemption. Unable to play last season when Notre Dame won the title due to an ACL tear, Turner stepped up to make sure she has a chance to earn another trophy. She went for 15 points and 15 rebounds, but more importantly played some fantastic defense, blocking five shots along the way. Second-chance points keep Notre Dame in the game No one had an easy time scoring on Friday night, but the Fighting Irish got themselves all sorts of extra looks at the basket thanks to their relentless activity on the offensive glass. Defensive rebounding had been an issue for UConn throughout the tournament, as they allowed a whopping 77 offensive rebounds in their first four games -- a number that would understandably seem like a misprint at first glance. Unfortunately for UConn, it was not, and the Irish continued that trend by grabbing 22 offensive rebounds of their own. Shepard (seven) and Turner (six) combined for 13 offensive boards, two more than UConn's entire team. Notre Dame turned those extra opportunities into 14 second-chance points, which was a huge boost to their struggling offense. On a single possession in the fourth quarter, the Irish grabbed five offensive rebounds, before Ogunbowale hit a huge 3-pointer. As the Huskies found out, it's tough to win when you continually give a great team extra chances to score.<doc-sep>
In the nightcap of the national semifinals in Tampa, Florida, UConn women’s basketball fell to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 81-76. It’s the second straight year the Irish have defeated the Huskies in the Final Four. UConn led by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter but let the championship berth slip away. With three minutes remaining, the Huskies led by one. The two teams traded the lead over the next four possessions before Notre Dame went on a 9-0 run that decided the game. The loss marks the end of the spectacular careers of Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson, who finish as the highest scoring classmates in women’s college basketball history. Notre Dame opened the game up 4-2 before UConn responded with an 11-0 run. The Fighting Irish couldn’t find the basket early, making just two of their first 15 shots. The Huskies could only marginally take advantage, leading by four after the first quarter. Notre Dame took control at the start of the second quarter as Jessica Shepard went on an 8-0 run by herself to put them up four. Olivia Nelson-Ododa checked into the game for UConn, which spurred a short 6-0 run that put the Huskies back in the lead. From there, the two teams traded baskets and the lead for the remainder of the half, with Christyn Williams putting UConn up 30-29 on a buzzer-beating three. Neither offense found much of a groove in the first 20 minutes. Crystal Dangerfield and Katie Lou Samuelson only scored a combined two points while Notre Dame made just one three-pointer and UConn only hit two. Both offenses woke up in the second half. UConn got plenty of open looks from three and fired away but couldn’t get them to fall. Samuelson finally started to find her stroke from three late in the third quarter, hitting a pair of threes and drawing a foul from beyond the arc just period ran out. It seemed like UConn was going to get the spark it needed. Once the fourth quarter began, UConn’s three-point looks finally began to fall. Williams hit a big three followed by an incredible step-back three from Samuelson. Collier found the basket on the break to put UConn up nine before Jackie Young snapped the Huskies’ run with a three-pointer to bring the gap back to six. Soon thereafter, Notre Dame scored eight-straight points to re-take the lead at 68-66 with 3:30 remaining. From there, the game went back and forth before the Fighting Irish eventually came away with the win. Notre Dame will go on to play Baylor in Sunday night’s national championship game. UConn says goodbye to Samuelson and Collier, two outstanding players and personalities to have on the team. Their senior season ends with a 35-3 record and three straight Final Four exits, and they’re both likely to be high first-round picks in the upcoming WNBA Draft.