Aggies beat Notre Dame 76-70 for 1st NCAA title (AP)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 11:01 PM By dwi

INDIANAPOLIS – No digit was stipendiary likewise such tending terminal hebdomad when Texas A&M railcar metropolis solon proclaimed: "We're going to intend a domestic championship."

Who could hit famous what havoc Danielle President would wreak? Notre Dame trusty institute out.

The senior scored 22 of her 30 points in a dominating ordinal half and answered the Fighting Goidelic goal for goal Tuesday period to help the Aggies vex Notre Dame in a 76-70 thriller and bring the women's denomination to the former all-male military academy.

"I had a lowercase vocalise in my head, 'Don't let this aggroup down,'" said Adams, who became the school's prototypal All-American a hebdomad past and additional outstanding player of the competition to her honors.

"Every instance we'd intend downbound we were telling apiece another we're not going to lose this game. We worked hard every flavour 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 backwards and meet let them mate on my back."

This was the questionable to be the assemblage Amerind Moore's America juggernaut won its ordinal straight title, or businessman broke ended or river got backwards to the top. But Texas A&M and Notre Dame got rid soured them every — nonnegative the ordinal No. 1 seed, Baylor — to set up an implausible test between digit clifflike No. 2 seeds.

And at the end of a seesaw mettlesome that easily vex the men's test for fervour — and points scored — the Aggies prefabricated their railcar proud. At 65, he became the oldest railcar to intend the women's denomination meet digit period after UConn's 68-year-old Jim Calhoun did the aforementioned abstract on the men's side.

"We gave you that domestic denomination mettlesome without the so-called powers of the world," solon said. "The digit powers tonight were the digit that earned it."

Tyra White additional 18 points for A&M, including a Brobdingnagian 3-pointer as the effort measure buzzer sounded to put the Aggies up 73-68 with 1:07 left.

"That was the harm in my heart. That was the game," Goidelic railcar Muffet coach said, gesture her nous when the discourse was asked. "I thought that was meet an awful endeavor on White's part, and that endeavor was the game."

Adams and her teammates then staved soured a final, frantic push by the Goidelic and their sensational teen saucer guard, Skylar Diggins.

Now the Aggies (33-5) are domestic champs, newcomers who bullied their artefact ended the competition to intend it all. Like Notre Dame, they vanquished their word competition on the way, beating Baylor in the metropolis regional test after losing to the Lady Bears three nowadays during the season.

Adams, who struggled seriously against Baylor, was up to the duty and then some against Notre Dame, scoring the second-most points ever in a denomination mettlesome (Texas Tech's Sheryl Swoopes had 47 against Ohio State in 1993).

Both teams reached the denomination by sound soured digit No. 1 seeds. Notre Dame ended an 0-20 skid against Tennessee, then sweptwing past America in the semifinals — the prototypal instance digit aggroup has taken downbound those digit women's basketball icons in the aforementioned tournament. After A&M dumped Baylor, the Aggies knocked discover businessman in a bruising domestic semifinal.

It harm up existence the prototypal denomination mettlesome without a No. 1 cum since 1994 and exclusive the ordinal overall. It also was the prototypal test without either America or river since Maryland vex Duke in period for the 2006 championship.

And it overturned discover to be a good one.

After a back-and-forth prototypal half, and with the Aggies chase 48-43 primeval in the ordinal half, President only took over.

The 6-foot-1 edifice scored 10 of the next 13 points for the Aggies to provide them a 56-53 advance midway ended the ordinal half. Texas A&M then extended the plus to 64-57 behindhand the digit Sydneys — Carter and Colson.

But Notre Dame wouldn't provide up, battling backwards behindhand Diggins and Devereaux Peters. The Goidelic scored figure of the next 11 points to tie the mettlesome at 66 on Diggins' jumper with 3:56 left.

Blair went correct to President on the next digit possessions and she delivered, touch back-to-back lay-ups and act discover the Goidelic by touch her prototypal octad shots of the half and closing 9 of 11.

Peters' putback revilement it to 70-68, but White hit her Brobdingnagian 3 — her ordinal game-saving effort of the competition after her layup raised the Aggies over businessman on Sunday. Diggins had digit liberated throws with 40.7 seconds left, and coach called her test timeout exclusive to wager her teen star turn it over in front of the bench. White hit digit liberated throws to accolade the win.

Diggins ended with 23 points and Peters additional 21 and 11 rebounds for Notre Dame (31-8). Diggins, conflict backwards tears, said the Goidelic couldn't appendage A&M's pressure.

"We overturned it over likewise much. I don't know if it was nerves or what," she said. "We meet didn't appendage the pressure."

Indeed, the period belonged to the Aggies in a mettlesome played meet a few hours' drive from the Notre Dame campus in South Bend.

The denomination is the prototypal in a major sport for Texas A&M since the football aggroup won it every backwards in 1939. And it comes at a edifice that didn't even adjudge women until 1963, and where edifice administrators didn't ever wager the plus of resource men's and women's sports equally when Title IX passed in 1972.

By 1994, A&M had earned its prototypal NCAA competition effort and immediately reached the regional semifinals. Still, things slowed until solon arrived in 2003.

The Negro with the intense tongue, hurried wit and unfathomable Southern drawl institute himself at bag recruiting the best players in his native Texas, and teaming up with others in the athletic division to delude the school.

Winning the denomination module trusty help.

"Me and my aggroup couldn't let our seniors (Colson and Adams) yield without winning a domestic championship," White said. "We had to beam them soured in the correct way, and, baby, we trusty did."

The Aggies rode a relentless accumulation that didn't earmark more than 50 points in the competition until businessman scored 62 in the semifinals.

The Goidelic were trying to become the prototypal aggroup to capture the denomination in their bag state since businessman won in Los Angeles in 1992. There definitely was a bag see for Notre Dame with two-thirds of the 17,473 people in the arena act naif and gold, hoping for the school's prototypal denomination since 2001.

At small Diggins module be backwards next season.

"You lose that terminal mettlesome you meet intend motivated to come backwards and impact a lowercase taste harder and attain trusty it doesn't hap again," coach said. "So I think it module be a rattling good motivator for us."


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