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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Notre Dame makes shaky return to championship game

Fred Goodall Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. – Notre Dame keeps finding ways to win. One more victory and the Irish will be national champions. A young team that lost three starters from last year’s squad is back in the NCAA title game after fighting off a gallant comeback by Final Four newcomer South Carolina 66-65 on Sunday night. All-American Jewell Loyd scored 22 points as the Irish (36-2) advanced to the championship game for the fourth time in five years, but it took a basket from an unlikely source to survive a scoring drought that lasted more than seven minutes down the stretch. Madison Cable’s putback for her only points of the night put the Irish in front for good. “I was just crashing any way to try to get a rebound, and it kind of just bounced right where I was,” Cable said. “I turned around and had an open shot and took it. Luckily, it went in.” Loyd said no one boxed out Cable on her game-winning basket, adding: “She’s done it all year. She’s the MVP.” The Irish ran out to double-digit leads, but the Gamecocks wouldn’t go away. “We didn’t rebound, missed a bunch of shots,” said Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw. “Just a great basketball game. We went to Jewell. She had to do everything. Everyone contributed.” Notre Dame is looking to win it all for the first time since McGraw led them to their only national title in 2001. South Carolina (34-3) overcame a 12-point, first-half deficit and did it again in the closing minutes. The feisty Gamecocks used a 13-0 run to take their only lead on Aleighsa Welch’s offensive stickback with 1:12 remaining. “It came down to them making a play when they needed to make a play and we didn’t,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. Brianna Turner scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds before fouling out for Notre Dame. Taya Reimer had 16 points for Notre Dame. A’ja Wilson came off the bench to lead South Carolina with 20 points. She scored 10 straight for the Gamecocks at one point in the second half to keep her resilient team within striking distance. Notre Dame led 64-52 with 7:51 to go. The Irish missed eight straight shots before Cable wiped out South Carolina’s short-lived lead. South Carolina All-American Tiffany Mitchell’s off-balance 3-point attempt bounced high off the backboard as time ran out on the best season in school history. Mitchell fell to the court in dejection and was helped up by teammates. “They were making it hard for me to try and find a shot. And when I tried to pass it, they deflected it,” said Mitchell, who finished with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting. The Gamecocks hurt themselves, going 7 for 16 from the foul line, and missing 6 of 7 in the closing minutes while they were trying to catch up. “That’s key. We left a lot of points at the free throw-line,” Staley said. “But you know, still we overcame that to put ourselves in a position to take the lead.”