Texas A&M women beat Notre Dame for NCAA title | College basketball

INDIANAPOLIS — Scoring at will and grabbing rebounds, Danielle Adams saved one of her best games for the biggest stage and gave Texas A&M its first national championship in women's basketball.

Adams scored 22 of her 30 points in a dominating second half and answered Notre Dame basket for basket Tuesday night to help the Aggies bring a title to the former all-male military academy with a thrilling 76-70 victory over the Fighting Irish.

"I knew they couldn't stop me inside so that's what I did, I took it inside," said Adams, who became the school's first All-American last week.

Perhaps no one was happier than Gary Blair, the outspoken Texas A&M coach who hadn't been in the Final Four since 1998 when he was with Arkansas.

Blair bluntly said it was a good thing top powers such as Connecticut, Tennessee and Stanford weren't in the title game.

"We don't give up," Blair said. "We might not play the prettiest game in the world, but it's good for women's basketball to see a Texas A&M and a Notre Dame in this game."

His Aggies proved him right in front of a pro-Irish crowd of 17,473.

Tyra White added 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting for A&M, including a huge three-pointer as the shot-clock buzzer sounded to put the Aggies up 73-68 with 1:07 left.

"That was a knife right in my heart," Irish coach Muffet McGraw said of White's shot. "That was the game."

White and teammates turned back off a final, frantic push by the Fighting Irish and their sensational guard, Skylar Diggins.

Diggins scored 23 points but made six turnovers.

The Aggies bullied their way through the tournament to get to the top. Like Notre Dame, they vanquished a strong conference rival on the way, beating Baylor in the Dallas Regional final after losing to the Bears three times during the season.

Adams, who struggled against Baylor, was up to the task and then some against Notre Dame, scoring the second-most points in a championship game. Sheryl Swoopes of Texas Tech had 47 points in 1993 and went on to play for WNBA teams that included the Seattle Storm.

"We did not find an answer for her," McGraw said of Adams. "We had a plan. We just weren't able to stop her. ... She's just a great player. She's got a big body and we couldn't get around her."

Both teams reached the championship by knocking off two No. 1 seeds. Notre Dame eliminated Tennessee in the regional final and swept past Connecticut in Sunday's national semifinals, the first time one team has taken down those two women's basketball icons in the same tournament.

After beating Baylor, the Aggies edged Stanford on Sunday.

It was the first title game without a No. 1 seed since 1994 and 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 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 (33-5) 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 score 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. Adams made nine of her first 10 shots in the second half.

"I just took the game over," she said.

After Peters' basket cut it to 70-68, White hit the huge three. Diggins made two free throws with 40.7 seconds left, and the Irish had one last chance after a turnover by the Aggies with 29 seconds remaining.

McGraw called her final timeout, but Diggins turned the ball over in front of the bench. White sank two free throws to seal the victory.

Peters collected 21 points and 11 rebounds for Notre Dame (31-8).

Diggins, fighting back tears, said the Irish couldn't handle A&M's pressure.

"We turned it over too much. I don't know if it was nerves or what," she said.

Box score

NOTRE DAME (31-8)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Diggins	39	7-19	8-9	1-3	3	0	23
Achonwa	10	0-1	0-0	1-1	0	5	0
Miller	10	0-1	0-1	1-4	2	3	0
Peters	36	8-10	5-8	5-11	1	4	21
Turner	6	0-1	2-2	0-0	1	0	2
Novosel	27	5-10	4-4	1-4	0	4	14
Mallory	37	1-6	1-2	0-1	3	2	4
Bruszewski	35	3-4	0-0	0-2	0	1	6
	200	24-52	20-26	11-29	10	19	70

Percentages: FG .462, FT .769. Three-point goals: 2-10, .200 (Mallory 1-4, Diggins 1-5, Novosel 0-1). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 3 (Bruszewski 2, Peters). Turnovers: 16 (Diggins 6, Novosel 4, Mallory 3, Bruszewski 2, Peters). Steals: 10 (Diggins 4, Mallory 2, Bruszewski 2, Achonwa, Miller). Technical fouls: None.

TEXAS A&M (33-5)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Snow	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Carter	38	2-6	0-0	1-5	4	5	5
Windham	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Grant	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Baker	10	1-2	0-0	0-1	0	1	2
White	40	7-9	3-5	1-5	4	3	18
Elonu	33	4-10	1-3	3-7	1	3	9
Adams	39	13-22	4-7	4-9	0	3	30
Collins	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Pratcher	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Gilbert	7	0-0	2-2	0-1	0	1	2
Assarian	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Colson	30	2-4	6-6	0-0	5	4	10
	200	29-53	16-23	10-32	14	21	76

Percentages: FG .547, FT .696. Three-point goals: 2-7, .286 (White 1-1, Carter 1-2, Adams 0-2, Colson 0-2). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 4 (Carter 2, Adams, Elonu). Turnovers: 18 (Adams 5, Colson 4, Carter 3, White 2, Elonu 2, Pratcher, Gilbert). Steals: 8 (Colson 3, White 2, Adams, Gilbert, Elonu). Technical fouls: None.

Notre Dame	35	35	—	70
Texas A&M	33	43	—	76

Attendance: 17,473. Officials: Denise Kantner, Tina Napier, Michael Price.