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Ava Wallace
Reporter covering local universities and colleges
TAMPA – The ball may not have been in his hand at the final ring this time, but make no mistake: the second national semifinal of this Final Four belonged to Arike Ogunbowale – again.
The senior guard has had plenty of time since last April, when she beat two other players to give Notre Dame her second national title. This star becomes even more famous on the court (see: a concert on "Dancing With the Stars", a guest spot on "Ellen") and more success (see: pass Skylar Diggins to become the undisputed leader of the Fighting Irish scorer in February, Friday night here.)
In front of Connecticut, Ogunbowale showed that she was not the kind of star who shone, then spat; Another moment of glory on the national stage has proven – after spending a season to prove it, though in front of less eyes – that Ogunbowale was here to stay.
[How the son of Pakistani immigrants became the voice of the women’s Final Four]
The senior scored 23 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter tense and decisive, to allow Notre Dame to take first place, the second seed, Connecticut, 81-76, for the second consecutive year of the Final. Friday marked the 50th meeting of the programs and the eighth of the national semifinals, where the Irish have a 5-3 advantage over their archivalists.
"Arike in the second half did what Arike does," said coach Muffet McGraw.
Notre Dame (35-4) was qualified in front of No. 1 seed Baylor, who defeated Oregon, seeded second, 72-67, in the first semifinal. Bears coach Kim Mulkey, back for a rematch of the national title game in 2012 in which she beat McGraw to win Baylor's second national title, was sitting one row behind the Connecticut bench to win the second match: a lock of blonde hair and a bright pink. suit a swarm of green Baylor.
Ogunbowale and Notre Dame gave him pause.
"I do not think it's a mystery that would win the majority of their shots in the fourth quarter," said Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma. "That's how they always played since Arike was there. She still has to make those blows, and she did it.
The Huskies led the Fighting Irish to nine, their biggest advance of any game, before Ogunbowale scored 11 of its 14 points in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame started her return with a three-pointer from Jackie Young, added a pair of free throws from Brianna Turner and cashed two straight shots, one from Ogunbowale and one from Mabrey, to tie at 4:25.
"I think our team has really taken up our defense," Ogunbowale said. "We scored, but we did not have any stops. We exchanged buckets. Once we started having stops, scores, that's when we ran. "
Jessica Shepard gave Notre Dame the advantage so that she only has 2h40 left. All the fighting Irishmen he needed were free throws thereafter as Connecticut began to fail.
[The bigs loom large late as Baylor edges Oregon to reach NCAA women’s title game]
"Yeah, being up nine in the fourth quarter is a good position," said Huskies senior Napheesa Collier. "We felt confident at that time. Then after that, we did not win. . . the points we needed and hold the head and extend the head. "
Ogunbowale led the Fighting Irish with 23 points and Shepard had a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds. In all, there were five goalscorers of Notre Dame double digit to outperform the four of Connecticut.
Katie Lou Samuelson led the Huskies with 20 points, while Collier, her main crime partner, was 15. Christyn Williams was 19.
With 4,743 points combined, Samuelson and Collier complete their college career as a pair of classmates who have achieved the highest scores in the history of Connecticut. They had five defeats in four years.
"Five losses, and three of them are here, huh?" Said Auriemma. "We told it in the locker room. It's not obvious sometimes when you're teammates with Lou and Napheesa, it's not obvious that after they left, how much they did for you, how much they contributed to your success, to how much they miss you each time day, on the field, off the field, does not matter. "
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