UConn stunned again, Notre Dame keeps dancing

COLUMBUS, OH — For the second straight season, Mississippi State will play in the final. However, they will not play UConn in what would have been a rematch of the 2017 Final Four Semifinal. Instead, the Bulldogs will face the Fighting Irish. For a second straight season, UConn was on the losing end of an epic Final Four semifinal.

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• Your Day in Women’s Basketball, March 26: Louisville and Texas A&M survive and advance
• Your Day in Women’s Basketball, March 23: Highlights from the first round of the NCAA Tournament
• Your Day in Women’s Basketball, March 16: Tournament bracket released

On a Friday, 19,564 women’s basketball fans watched history. For the first time ever, both women’s final four games went into overtime. Yet again, UConn fell to Notre Dame 91-89 in overtime. Geno Auriemma and the Huskies end a spectacular season (36-1) one win short of the NCAA Final.

“Well, there’s really not a whole lot that you can say in a moment like this,” said coach Auriemma in the postgame press conference. His team is constantly seen as the standard and the villain of college basketball. However, yesterday they were just another team dealing with a heartbreaking loss.

Geno is right. There was not much to say (or to ask quite frankly). UConn made mistakes, and Notre Dame made fewer. The Huskies led in turnovers on the night 17-15.  UConn created second-chance opportunities, but Notre Dame created more. The Irish led in offensive rebounds 16-15. Despite outscoring Notre Dame 27-10 in the second period, UConn lost every other frame.

Steven stepping up

Eliminating chances was key for both teams in Friday’s OT thriller. UConn struggled to stop Notre Dame in the first period and trailed 24-14 after the first 10 minutes. In the second, Azurá Stevens came off the bench and propelled UConn to an 11-point lead with under two minutes left in the first half.

“We tried to get the ball to [Azurá] because she was doing so well,” Napheesa Collier told High Post Hoops after the game. “We knew we could throw the ball up to her.”

Stephens collected 10 of her 19 points in the first half. “My teammates did a good job of finding me, honestly,” Stephens told us after the game. “That was our game plan, to get the ball down low. We did a good job of doing that.” UConn finished the game with 46 points in the paint, compared to 42 by Notre Dame.

Young comes up clutch

Yet, the Huskies had trouble handling Notre Dame shooters. “You know, one or two players really make the difference at this time of the year … going in, you never know who they’re going to be,” said Auriemma. His team planned for Arike Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey, but not Jackie Young.  “Jackie Young hit some shots that we weren’t really expecting,” said Stevens.  The sophomore dropped 32 points in the semifinal for a career-high and the top tally on Friday night.

Bright Future

Head coach Auriemma was pleased with the play of his young forward, “Azurá can get a lot of things done on the court that most players can’t, and then she does things on the court that I can’t explain. So for her first year playing for us, I thought she was amazing all year long.” The sophomore transferred in from Duke and made an impact. Auriemma is hopeful this experience will help Stevens and sophomore guard Crystal Dangerfield down the road,

"“This game will help her an awful lot because she’s never been in this environment before. This is her first time. And this is Crystal’s first time really, where we said, ‘hey, you’re going to have to go out and help us win this game, instead of come off the bench and contribute ten minutes.’ So for the two of them, this was big. This was really big … sometimes you have to be exposed to this and fail when it’s all on you. It’s a great learning tool. But I’m a pretty smart guy. I don’t need to learn this shit two years in a row (laughter).”"

The Hall of Fame coach has led the Huskies to 11-straight NCAA Final Four appearances and six titles in that time. UConn will only lose two starters—those players just happen to be Gabby Williams and Kia Nurse. Yet, the expectation with UConn is always “next player up”. The advances in the women’s basketball field are more noticeable and have played out of the main stage for two consecutive years. The Huskies are certainly down after another heartbreaking loss. Yet, history tells us they will return and evolve the game once again.