Notre Dame Stunned Mississippi State With A Buzzer-Beater To Win The NCAA Women’s National Championship

Notre Dame’s incredible run through the NCAA Women’s Tournament was punctuated with an incredible 61-58 comeback win on Sunday night in Columbus over Mississippi State. The Irish trailed by 13 at the half and as many as 16 in the third quarter, but a 16-1 run to close the third sent the game to the fourth quarter tied, where some incredible drama played out.

The Bulldogs regained control late thanks to a three-pointer from Mississippi State’s Roshunda Johnson that gave the Bulldogs some breathing room at 58-53. Unfortunately for Mississippi State, that also proved to be their final basket of the game.

Notre Dame answered back shortly after with their first three-pointer of the game and their defense was able to shut down the Bulldogs down the stretch — with some help from Mississippi State missing some good looks. The Irish tied it up on bucket inside from Jackie Young before a wild final stretch.

The final sequence was insane, with some frantic play at midcourt that included two turnovers and some fouls — or, more accurately, one foul and a possible missed foul that will anger Mississippi State fans for a long time.

Ultimately, Notre Dame had the ball with the game tied at 58-58 with three seconds to play. Unsurprisingly, the Irish turned to Arike Ogunbowale, the hero of their upset win over UConn in the semifinal, and she hit another ridiculous, fading, buzzer-beater three to seal the win and the national title for Notre Dame.

It’s as incredible a shot as you’ll see at any level of basketball to win a game, and was a fitting end to a Notre Dame run that saw them comeback against the favorites in UConn and then again on Sunday against the Bulldogs. Ogunbowale’s heroics even earned her a Kobe Bryant stamp of approval on Twitter, as well as DeMar DeRozan and others around the NBA that tuned in.