Although UConn had defeated Notre Dame on three previous occasions this season, it was the Irish who used a 15-4 second half run to seize control of a wide-open game; they eventually held on for a 72-63 victory over the Huskies in women's Final Four play on Sunday evening to advance to the championship final.
Former Guelph Centennial star Natalie Achonwa (a freshman) didn't look out of place in her first Final Four, as her stat line read 4 points (2/4 FG), 4 rebounds, 1 block, 1 assist and 1 turnover in 22 minutes of action.
Achonwa tweeted after the game: "(t)hank you to all of those who didn't believe we could do it....you've made this win SO MUCH sweeter."
Needless to say, there were a fair number of people who probably didn't believe the Irish could do it. The Huskies had won 24 games in a row after dropping a game to Stanford by 2 earlier in the season (which ended an NCAA-record 90 game win streak). So, that works out to 114 wins in 115 games for UConn's women's team.
Speaking of Stanford, the other #1 seed was also upset by a #2 seed in the semifinals. Stanford dropped a 63-62 decision to #2 Texas A&M, setting up what seemed like a very unlikely final heading into the tournament.
The championship final goes Tuesday evening in Indianapolis, where there will undoubtedly be a lot of love for the Irish. Conseco Fieldhouse is about 145 miles from Notre Dame's campus in South Bend.
No comments:
Post a Comment