COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Arike Ogunbowale hit the shot of her life – again.
Ogunbowale floated in a 3-pointer from the corner with 0.1 seconds left, lifting Notre Dame to its second women’s basketball title with a thrilling 61-58 comeback victory over Mississippi State in the NCAA championship game on Sunday night.
Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale (24) heads to the basket past Mississippi State’s Roshunda Johnson (11) during the second half in the final of the women’s NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament, Sunday, April 1, 2018, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)It was the second straight game that the junior guard hit a shot in the final second to carry the Irish. Her jumper with one second remaining in overtime knocked off previously unbeaten UConn in the semifinals Friday.
With this game tied, Ogunbowale took the inbounds pass from Jackie Young, dribbled twice toward the corner and, closely guarded, lofted home an off-balance 3 in front of the Notre Dame bench. Close to the same spot on the court where she took down the Huskies, too.
“It just felt right,” said Ogunbowale, who scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half. “I practice late-game all the time. I just ran to Jackie and said, ‘Throw it to me, throw it to me.'”