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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Baylor lost a star, then the rest of his 17-point lead. But the Lady Bears, led by Chloe Jackson, have always kept their cool.
Jackson drove for a decisive lay-up with 3.9 seconds to play, which put the game in the hands of another tournament hero.
Arike Ogunbowale of Notre Dame missed the first of his two free throws with 1.9 seconds to go and Baylor retained the 82-81 victory Sunday in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship game.
"They just kept doing what we were taught to do, and it's guards," said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey. "We just defeated the reigning national champions, so good, so talented, you'll see these guys play at the next level." Wow. "
Baylor was able to win without star striker Lauren Cox, who injured her knee in a scary scene at the end of the third quarter. The Irish managed to catch up 14 points in the third quarter and equalize 78 points in the fourth. Jackson then scored a jumper from the foul line, and Jessica Shepard countered with two free throws to equalize, establishing the thrilling finish.
"We had to do it for LC," said Jackson, who was named the most outstanding player in the Final Four. "She brought us here, we had to finish the work for her."
The Lady Bears (37-1) won their first title in seven years. Mulkey and Baylor won the titles in 2005, 2012, and 2019. The 2012 championship match also featured the Lady Bears at Muffet McGraw's Irish at the last two-coach meeting for the title.
The Lady Bears were ready to escape with the game while Notre Dame was struggling to score. But the Irish are chic for big returns, they are doing it against UConn in the semifinals this year and against Mississippi State in last season's title game, while they were 15 quarterback in the third quarter .
Ogunbowale played a pivotal role in all these victories, becoming more and more a part of the Final Four at the title race last year. She managed a blow with a second to beat UConn in the semifinal, then a tie tied with a tenth of a second to beat the Bulldogs in the title match.
Ogunbowale still dominated the charge on Sunday, scoring 17 of his 31 points in the second half. That included a record-breaking ring at the end of the third quarter, resulting in an 11-0 record from Notre Dame.
"It was not just supposed to be, it's going to be a hard pill to swallow," Ogunbowale said. "But things are going on … I've had a great fun career here at Notre Dame."
It helped the Irish that the Lady Bears played the last 11 minutes without Cox. She was stuck with Kalani Brown on the defensive side and fell to her left knee about a minute into the third quarter. The six-foot-four junior was crying with pain before pulling her off the wheelchair. His mother was tearing himself in the stands and his father had his hands on his face.
"I'm emotional for a lot of reasons, but especially for Lauren Cox, and I'm so happy," Mulkey said. "These are tears of joy, but they are also tears to think about the wounds.
"The worst part of the game was Lauren Cox," she added. "We were in control of this game from start to finish and had to regroup, and winning for us was a miracle in itself when you lose a player of this caliber."
Cox returned to the bench in the fourth quarter on crutches, a big splint on his left knee. She was the first to hold the trophy after the match.
"I am one of the leaders of the team, so I would just like to have my voice out there and tell them that I'm always fine, they told me that they were going to the do it for me, "said Cox.
Mulkey was able to celebrate his third title with his close family. The Makenzie girl is on the coaching staff and grandson Kannon Reid sits in the front row behind the bench. At the last moment, she hugged her daughter and the rest of the staff halfway through.
While the match was tied at 80, Jackson rolled with his right hand and hit a lay-up that bounced off the rim before falling.
Sunday's game marked the eighth time in 20 years that there were two head coaches in the title match but only the second time since 2008. The last time was in 2012 with these same coaches. In 2018, only 59.5% of the main coaches in Division I women's basketball were women.
The win allowed Mulkey and McGraw to win their third all-time game for NCAA career titles. Mulkey has three, placing her behind Geno Auriemma (11) and Pat Summitt (8).
TIP-INS
The Irish remained at 999 victories in the history of the school. McGraw was the coach of 835 of them. … The 11-point differential for the three games in Final Four was the closest to the tournament's history, surpassing the 15-point margin of last season.
Strong attendance
Nearly 275,000 people attended the NCAAs, ranked eighth overall, including 20,127 for the title game. This was the highest attendance in 15 years.
"We had a very good championship and our numbers for the first and second rounds are the best we've seen in 11 years," said Lynn Holzman, NCAA vice-president for women's basketball.
The regional ones provided a powerful momentum. Portland, Oregon, a site for the first time, has welcomed an average of more than 11,400 people and will welcome again next year. Regional attendance was highest since the NCAA moved to neutral sites after the 2014 season.
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Follow Doug Feinberg on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dougfeinberg
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More college basketball AP: https://apnews.com/WomensNCAATournament and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
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