COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jessica Shepard understands what the Connecticut women’s basketball team has done in winning 11 national championships is “unbelievable.”
Notre Dame’s junior forward used that word Saturday as she talked about her team’s 91-89 victory against UConn on Friday in the national semifinals at Nationwide Arena. After losing four players to season-ending injuries this season, some might use the same word to describe Notre Dame’s run to the national title game.
But the Fighting Irish haven’t felt sorry for themselves or wondered what could have been if they had a full and healthy squad. Instead, Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw has re-focused her players after each injury and told them to focus on what they have and how they’re going to adjust. Notre Dame’s ability to shift gears through adversity is a primary reason why it will take on Mississippi State at 5 p.m. today (ESPN) for the national title.
“We knew we were going out against a great team,” Shepard said of her team’s win against UConn on Friday. “We knew we were a great team. We knew at the end of the day the best team would win. Last night, it came down to one or two possessions here or there and we were the team that had the better one or two possessions.”
Arike Ogunbowale’s buzzer-beater was part of a 27-point performance that pushed Notre Dame (34-3) back to its sixth national championship game. Jackie Young had a game-high 32 points and Shepard added 15 to help the Fighting Irish improve to 4-3 all-time against the Huskies in the NCAA tournament.
“It was a huge win, but that wasn’t the win we wanted to get,” Notre Dame senior forward Kathryn Westbeld said. “We absolutely want to win the national championship. We had our fun yesterday, but now it is back to business an we are ready to practice and get the game plan for (today).”
Notre Dame has advanced with seven scholarship players and three walk-ons. The Fighting Irish lost senior forward Brianna Turner, freshman center Mikayla Vaughn, graduate student guard Lili Thompson, and senior guard Mychal Johnson to anterior cruciate ligaments.
McGraw said Vaughn and Johnson are “way ahead of schedule,” but Johnson will graduate, so she won’t return next season. She also said Thompson has exhausted her eligibility, so she, too, won’t return. Next season, the return of Turner and Vaughn figures to make Notre Dame one of the top contenders for the national title.
But McGraw said the Fighting Irish never were content to believe they had to wait until next season.
“We didn’t really talk about (not feeling sorry for ourselves) at all,” McGraw said. “We just have constantly focused on what we have, what we can do, who is going to step up, how are the roles changing, what do you need to do now, so we never even talked about where we could be or what we should be thinking. We just kept focusing them on the future.”
Westbeld said McGraw re-emphasized that point each time injuries hit the team. Shepard said the coaches stressed to the remaining players that Notre Dame still had enough to make a run at a national title.
“There was no time to feel sorry for yourself,” Shepard said. “Every time another injury would happen we have got a game the next day, so there is no time to look at what we were losing.
“For us, it was looking at what we do have, and when you look around we have a very phenomenal team.”
Ogunbowale, a second-team Associated Press All-American, leads the team in scoring at 20.9 points per game. The 5-foot-8 junior guard shoots 44.8 percent from the field and can create her own shot and elevate over defenders. She is second on the team to Marina Mabrey with 64 3-pointers. Mabrey has 84.
Young had the best scoring game of her career Friday night.
Shepard, a 6-4 forward who transferred from Nebraska, is second on the team in scoring (15.5 ppg.). She said all of the Fighting Irish worked to pick up the slack each time an injury hit the team.
“Whether it was losing a point guard and Marina having to do ballhandling, losing another post player, just having to get used to playing with less people, everybody has had an area they have stepped up in,” Shepard said. “I think we have done a great job balancing each other out and learning how to play with each other.”
Notre Dame used only six players Friday night against UConn. McGraw said the Fighting Irish will have to avoid foul trouble. She also said Notre Dame likely will use some zone defense against MSU. With 3-point shooters Roshunda Johnson, Blair Schaefer, Victoria Vivians, and Morgan William to keep an eye on as well as 6-7 center Teaira McCowan in the post, McGraw knows the Bulldogs will pose a big challenge.
“I didn’t think we would be able to play as much zone as we did last night,” McGraw said. “You look at Connecticut and they’re a great 3-point shooting team. They can all shoot, so we thought let’s give it a try. Let’s see what happens and how long we can stay in it. We ended up staying in it for a good part of the game.
“We’re a team that can’t get into foul trouble. We have got to play a couple possessions of (zone), so we’ll see what happens, but it is a tough matchup with their 3-point shooters.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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