Irish headed back to Final 4
Whip Duke; Uconn awaits
NORFOLK, Va. — Skylar Diggins and Notre Dame are headed back to the Final Four for another rematch with Connecticut.
Diggins shook off early foul trouble to score 24 points, and Notre Dame rallied to beat Duke, 8776, on Tuesday night to earn its third consecutive trip to the Final Four. The Irish have lost in the past two national championship games.
“I want to win a championship for coach (Muffet) McGraw bad,” Diggins said. “When you have a coach who believes in you so much I’d do anything for her.”
Kayla McBride added 17 points while Jewell Loyd and Natalie Achonwa had 17 each as the Fighting Irish (35-1) won their school-record 30th consecutive game, earning a fourth meeting with UConn.
It’s the third straight meeting between the two Big East rivals in the Final Four.
The Irish won both of those and have dominated the series lately, winning seven of the past eight meetings.
Notre Dame swept all three meetings with UConn this season in thrilling fashion, winning in overtime and by 1 and 2 points.
The Irish had to rally past Duke to get there.
Trailing by six at the half, Notre Dame took control with a 15-2 run early in the second half to take a 50-42 lead. The Blue Devils lost in the regional finals for the fourth straight year, failing once again to return to the Final Four for the first time since 2006.
Diggins, hampered by foul trouble in the first half, started the run with her fourth 3-pointer of the game and followed quickly with a no-look feed to Achonwa, who also grabbed 13 rebounds, for a layup that had drew an impressed roar from the crowd at Old Dominion’s Constant Center.
Diggins added a steal and a layup, and McBride finished the burst with another 3-pointer.
The Fighting Irish extended their lead to 60-49 with 9:57 to play, and Duke trailed by as many as 16 before closing the gap only slightly in the desperate final minutes. The Blue Devils hurt their cause with 21 turnovers.
DEVELOPMENTS
Griner All- America again: Brittney Griner is an All-America for the third straight season and joins a select group.
The Baylor center becomes the f ifth threetime Associated Press All-American, following Tennessee’s Chamique Holdsclaw, Duke’s Alana Beard, Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris and Connecticut’s Maya Moore. Paris and Moore were the only two to earn the honor all four years.
Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins, Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike, Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne and Baylor’s Odyssey Sims were also on the team announced Tuesday.