Baylor defeated Notre Dame 82-81 Sunday for the NCAA women's basketball championship.
Baylor lost a star player, then the rest of its 17-point lead. But the Lady Bears, led by the ever-poised Chloe Jackson, kept their composure.
Baylor was able to pull off the win without star forward Lauren Cox, who injured her knee in a frightening scene late in the third quarter. The Irish were able to rally from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter to tie it at 78 in the fourth. Jackson then scored a jumper from the foul line, and Jessica Shepard countered with two free throws to tie it, setting up the exciting finish.
The Lady Bears were primed to run away with the game as Notre Dame struggled to score. But the Irish have a knack for big comebacks, doing it against UConn in this year's semifinal and against Mississippi State in last season's title game, when they rallied from 15 down in the third quarter. “It just wasn't meant to be. It's going to be a hard pill to swallow,” Ogunbowale said. “But things happen. I had a fun, great career here at Notre Dame.”
“The worst part of the game was Lauren Cox,” she added. “We had control of that game from the start to the time she went off the floor. We had to regroup. For us to win was a miracle in itself when you lose a player of that caliber.”
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