TAMPA, Fla. _ For the third year in a row, the UConn women's basketball team watched their dreams of a 12th national championship fade away in the final seconds of a national semifinal game.
Notre Dame beat the Huskies for the second year in a row, winning, 81-76, after a back-and-forth game at Amalie Arena on Friday night.
Napheesa Collier finished out her college career with the 25th double-double of her senior season, scoring 15 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Senior Katie Lou Samuelson finished with 20 points after going scoreless in the first half, and Christyn Williams had 19 points. Megan Walker ended with 14 points and eight rebounds.
UConn and Notre Dame both experienced a strange start to the game Friday night, struggling to shoot early. The Huskies were eventually able to go on an 11-0 run despite failing to finish around the rim on multiple shots. Notre Dame fought back toward the end of the quarter, though, leading to a 16-12 end to the first quarter. The Huskies got help from nearly every starter in the first, led by Collier with seven points.
The second quarter saw much more back-and-forth, and by halftime there had been nine lead changes. Notre Dame's Jessica Shepard went on a 6-0 run to give the Fighting Irish their first lead of the quarter, but UConn was able to tie things up thanks to a layup from Olivia Nelson-Ododa. The freshman checked in for Walker halfway through the second, offering UConn a much longer presence on the inside. She would score again to give the Huskies the lead, but Notre Dame quickly took it back. As the clock began to wind down, UConn trailed, 29-28. Williams got the ball just in time to pull up for a jumper as the buzzer sounded, draining the shot to put the Huskies back on top, 30-29.
At halftime, every starter except Samuelson had scored _ generally a bad sign for UConn. Collier led the way with 11 points and nine rebounds, while Williams scored eight. Walker had five points and five rebounds, Nelson-Ododa had four points and Dangerfield had two. The Huskies shot just 36 percent from the field and had only two 3s, while Notre Dame shot 33 percent and made one shot from behind the arc.
Samuelson couldn't be held down long, scoring the opening basket of the third quarter. The Huskies and Fighting Irish went back-and-forth once again, but this time they were hitting more shots. UConn got out in transition more often, allowing the Huskies to get into a little more of a rhythm than the first half.
Then Samuelson hit her first 3 of the night, and Amalie Arena roared to life. The senior hit another soon after, and by the end of the third quarter she had scored 15 of UConn's 24 points in the period.
UConn started the fourth quarter out with a bang, with Williams draining a corner 3 to get things going. Notre Dame's Arike Ogunbowale answered with a 3 of her own, but Samuelson responded with a shot from behind the arc, too. With their offense picking up, the Huskies got a little momentum from their defense as well. Dangerfield stole the ball, then dished it out to Williams for a layup that put UConn up 62-55 with 8:21 to go.
Notre Dame answered with an 8-0 run toward the end of the quarter that was ended by a layup from Walker. The Huskies fought back until the final seconds, when they were forced to foul and allowed Notre Dame to extend the lead.
