Notre Dame Stifles South Carolina’s Gritty Rally to Reach Second Straight Final

By Jonathan Czupryn
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Updated: April 6, 2015

South Carolina, which entered Sunday’s national semifinals with the 11th-ranked scoring defense in Division I, forced Notre Dame to play in the mud, slowing the game with gritty defense and stifling ball pressure.

Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, Coach Muffet McGraw and the Fighting Irish adapted to Coach Dawn Staley’s game plan as effectively as they conformed to Florida’s 80-degree weather.

Notre Dame’s 66-65 victory against South Carolina sent the Irish to their second straight N.C.A.A. title game and fourth in the last five years, continuing their effort to bring back a national title to South Bend for the first time since 2001. They will play in the final Tuesday against Connecticut, which defeated Maryland, 81-58, in Sunday night’s late semifinal.

The end was not pretty. The winning shot for Notre Dame was a put-back off a missed jumper. The final shot taken by South Carolina’s Tiffany Mitchell looked more like a Cirque du Soleil act, with her body contorting to heave the ball toward the basket.

Despite the sloppiness, Notre Dame advances with a chance at redemption — the Irish’s almost perfect season last year ended in a blowout loss to UConn in the championship game.

“It’s surreal, right now,” McGraw said Sunday after the game. “I can’t believe that we’re here. I’m just glad we played the earlier game so I can get a little rest.”

But Notre Dame’s second chance was about 19 seconds from being ruined.

Trailing by 65-64, the Irish’s Jewell Loyd put up a jumper that was blocked by South Carolina’s 6-foot-5 A’ja Wilson, who sent the ball flying near the basket. Despite outrebounding the Irish by 45-37, the Gamecocks could not grab the most important one of this game. Instead, Madison Cable, a 5-foot-11 senior for the Irish, snatched the ball amid the crowd of bodies and made the basket for her only 2 points.

But in a game where leads dissipated quickly, 3 points were hardly enough to give Notre Dame any comfort. And then Mitchell, South Carolina’s leading scorer, got the last shot of the game.

“When the ball went up, my eyes were just on the ball the whole time and then it missed,” Notre Dame’s Michaela Mabrey said. “I was on the bench next to Lindsay holding her hand, really scared,” she added, referring to her teammate Lindsay Allen.

Allen was not scared, though, at least not as much. She saw the trajectory of the ball and recognized the miracle it would have taken for Mitchell to battle off a slew of Notre Dame defenders and make a 3-pointer from the corner.

“It was a little nerve-racking because it could have gone in,” she said. “I’m just happy it didn’t.”

More than anything, Allen was upset at herself for being on the bench during the definitive moment. She fouled out with 1 minute 39 seconds left after going scoreless.

A majority of her teammates did not fare much better. Loyd, Brianna Turner and Taya Reimer combined for 55 of the team’s 66 points. The rest of the squad shot 4 of 17 from the field for 11 points.

Loyd, a first team all-American, led the charge for Notre Dame as she has all year by recording a game-high 22 points with 3 assists.

“You know it’s a blessing,” Loyd said about returning to the championship game. “This team is so young and seeing the younger kids get so excited and run on the court. You know we are just glad we have the opportunity to continue the season.”

Besides Loyd, Turner and Reimer shot a combined 13 of 23 to give the Irish just enough of an offensive push to surge past the Gamecocks in the second half.

Although Mitchell had an opportunity to send the Gamecocks to the championship, it was the Irish’s stifling defense, which stole their style right from Staley’s playbook, that sealed the victory.

South Carolina, a program that budded from the cellar of the Southeastern Conference under Staley’s fiery coaching style, fizzled offensively in its first ever Final Four appearance. The Gamecocks missed nine of their first 10 shots and appeared to wilt under the national spotlight against one of the country’s more established programs in Notre Dame, which led by as much as 12 just five minutes into the game.

But in typical fashion, South Carolina fought back again and again.

When the Gamecocks were down by 12 early, they cut the deficit to 4 before halftime. When they were down by 12 with nine minutes in the game, they went on a 15-2 run to take the lead with just 60 seconds remaining.

Throughout the season, Mitchell came through, leading the team with 14.5 points per game. But when South Carolina needed its most effective scoring threat the most, she fell short, though just barely.

“We put ourselves in that position,” Mitchell said, teary eyed during the postgame news conference. “It’s always hard to come from behind, especially against a team like Notre Dame.”