A driving layup by Baylor guard Chloe Jackson with 3.9 seconds left Sunday night proved to be the game winner, as the Baylor Bears won their third women’s basketball national championship by topping the defending champion Notre Dame Fighting Irish 82-81 at Amalie Arena in Tampa before 20,127 fans. Baylor joins only UConn and Tennessee as the only Division I women’s teams to win at least three national titles.
Baylor (37-1) began really strong taking an 11 point first quarter lead on a Jackson jumper near the end of the opening 10 minutes, and by as many as 17 in the second quarter on another Jackson score. The Bears led by 11 at the break. A jumper by Notre Dame guard Brianna Turner cut the deficit to seven with just over four minutes left in the third quarter. Baylor responded with a layup by Didi Richards, a jumper in the paint by Lauren Cox, and a three pointer by Juicy Landrum to push the lead back to 14 with the 7-0 spurt. The turning point came with the Bears leading 62-50 with 1:22 left in the quarter, when Baylor junior forward Cox went down with an apparent knee injury and never returned. Arike Ogunbowale knocked down a three pointer for the Irish just before the horn to make it an 11 point game headed to the fourth quarter. A Jessica Shepard put back layup with 8:38 left to play got Notre Dame the closest they had been since the early moments of the first quarter at 66-63, capping off an 11-0 Irish run, before a pair of jump shots from Nalyssa Smith and Jackson restored a seven point Bears advantage. Marina Mabrey finally got Notre Dame (35-4) back even with 5:18 to play with a three pointer at 74-74. Ogunbowale hit 1-2 from the line to give the Irish a one point lead, and first lead since an early 3-2 advantage in the first 1:40 of the game. Jackson had two key shots late, stating with a floating shot in the lane to put Baylor up 80-78 with 34 seconds left. Shepard made a strong move down the lane on the other end for Notre Dame, got fouled and made both free throws to tie the score with just 16 seconds remaining. Jackson made a move around her defender scoring on a beautiful move down the lane, kissing it in off the glass with the right hand with five seconds left to make it 82-80 Bears. Ogunbowale got fouled with just 1.3 seconds to go, and went to the line to try and tie it. She missed the first free throw, and looked as if she was attempting to miss the second but the shot went in. Baylor was able to run off the remaining time on the clock on the inbounds play to win their first championship since 2012, ending the season with a 29 game winning streak.
Ogunbowale finished with a game high 31 points, six rebounds, and two steals for Notre Dame. Mabrey had 21 points. Turner had 12 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists, while Shepard also had a double double with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocked shots. Jackson led Baylor with 26 points, five assists, and two steals. Kalani Brown had 20 points, 13 rebounds, and two blocks. Smith also chipped in 14 points and six rebounds.
