Texas A&M tops Notre Dame for NCAA women’s basketball championship

INDIANAPOLIS – No one was paying too much attention last week when Texas A&M coach Gary Blair proclaimed: “We’re going to win a national championship.” Who could have known what havoc Danielle Adams would wreak? Notre Dame certainly found out. The senior scored 22 of her 30 points in a dominating second half and answered the Fighting Irish basket for basket Tuesday night to help the Aggies beat Notre Dame in a 76-70 thriller and bring the women’s title to the former all-male military academy. “I had a little voice in my head, ‘Don’t let this team down,’” said Adams, who became the school’s first All-American a week ago and added outstanding player of the tournament to her honors. “Every time we’d get down we were telling each other we’re not going to lose this game. We worked hard all season to prepare for this point. I had to do this for my teammates. They’ve been doing everything for me. I decided to take them on my back and just let them ride on my back.” This was the supposed to be the year Maya Moore’s Connecticut juggernaut won its third straight title, or Stanford broke through or Tennessee got back to the top. But Texas A&M and Notre Dame got rid off them all – plus the fourth No. 1 seed, Baylor – to set up an unlikely final between two rugged No. 2 seeds. And at the end of a seesaw game that easily beat the men’s final for excitement – and points scored – the Aggies made their coach proud.  “We gave you that national championship game without the so-called powers of the world,” Blair said. “The two powers tonight were the two that earned it.” Tyra White added 18 points for A&M, including a huge 3-pointer as the shot clock buzzer sounded to put the Aggies up 73-68 with 1:07 left. “That was the knife in my heart. That was the game,” Irish coach Muffet McGraw said, bowing her head when the question was asked. “I thought that was just an amazing play on White’s part, and that play was the game.” Adams and her teammates then staved off a final, frantic push by the Irish and their sensational young point guard, Skylar Diggins. Now the Aggies (33-5) are national champs, newcomers who bullied their way through the tournament to win it all. Like Notre Dame, they vanquished their conference rival on the way, beating Baylor in the Dallas regional final after losing to the Lady Bears three times during the season. Adams, who struggled badly against Baylor, was up to the task and then some against Notre Dame, scoring the second-most points in a championship game (Texas Tech’s Sheryl Swoopes had 47 against Ohio State in 1993). Both teams reached the championship by knocking off two No. 1 seeds. Notre Dame ended a 0-20 skid against Tennessee, then swept past Connecticut in the semifinals – the first time one team has taken down those two women’s basketball icons in the same tournament. After A&M dumped Baylor, the Aggies knocked out Stanford in a bruising national semifinal. It wound up being the first title game without a No. 1 seed since 1994 and only the second overall. It also was the first final without either Connecticut or Tennessee since Maryland beat Duke in overtime for the 2006 championship. And it turned out to be a good one. After a back-and-forth first half, and with the Aggies trailing 48-43 early in the second half, Adams simply took over. The 6-foot-1 center scored 10 of the next 13 points for the Aggies to give them a 56-53 lead midway through the second half. Texas A&M then extended the advantage to 64-57 behind the two Sydneys – Carter and Colson. But Notre Dame wouldn’t give up, battling back behind Diggins and Devereaux Peters. The Irish scored nine of the next 11 points to tie the game at 66 on Diggins’ jumper with 3:56 left. Blair went right to Adams on the next two possessions and she delivered, hitting back-to-back layups and wearing out the Irish by hitting her first eight shots of the half and finishing 9 of 11.