RALEIGH, N.C. —Guelph’s Natalie Achonwa and her Notre Dame Fighting Irish will try to take care of unfinished business this weekend.
The Fighting Irish, who lost in last year’s NCAA women’s basketball title game, earned a repeat trip to the Final Four by knocking off Maryland 80-49 on Tuesday night in the Raleigh Regional at PNC Arena behind a triple-double from All-America point guard Skylar Diggins.
Diggins had 22 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds before leaving the game with just under two minutes to play. Achonwa, a sophomore post, came off the bench to add 18 points and seven rebounds and key a big run in the first half when Notre Dame (34-3) took control.
“I thought she was the player of the game,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said of Achonwa. “It was the best game she’s played all year.”
The six-foot three-inch Achonwa was a big difference, giving the Fighting Irish a larger presence up front.
“Natalie Achonwa did a good job of cutting off the ball screens and getting layups,” Diggins said.
For her part, Achonwa said she was the last option because the Irish guards were attracting so much attention on the perimeter.
“I was just open because I was the last person to guard,” said Achonwa, who was named to the all-region team.
In the Final Four on Sunday, Notre Dame will play Big East rival Connecticut, an 80-65 winner over Kentucky, in Denver. It will be the fourth meeting of the Irish and Huskies this season. Notre Dame won the two regular-season games but lost in the conference tournament final.
Baylor and Stanford will meet in the other national semifinal. This is only the second time in the 31-year history of the NCAA tournament that all four No. 1 women’s seeds made the Final Four. The other time was in 1989.
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