Skylar Diggins has been the most important player for Notre Dame over the past couple seasons and she proved exactly why on Monday night, as the Irish defeated the Connecticut Huskies in three overtimes to win the Big East for the second year in a row.
According to the Associated Press, Diggins added 29 points for the Irish, who came back to rally against UConn for a 96-87 win in three overtime periods. The team won the Big East title outright with the victory and were able to rebound from a six-point deficit in the first overtime.
''We were done in regulation and the first and second overtimes. We just clawing away and got them to miss some free throws,'' Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. ''What a battle.''
Diggins had 29 points and 11 rebounds, while Kayla McBride had a career-high 26 points to help the Irish improve to 28-1, including 16-0 in the conference. The team finished the season undefeated in the conference for the first time since 1996 and also became the first team to defeat UConn in six of seven games.
The Huskies fell to 27-3, including 14-2 in the conference and although they lost, head coach Geno Auriemma was happy with the effort.
''We couldn't finish it off,'' he said. ''Every opportunity we had to put it away we let it slip away from us.''
Notre Dame had a rough game shooting, going 1 of 12 from 3-point range, but they were able to force 35 turnovers to help with the fact that UConn outshot them 46 percent to 39 percent. Diggins was in her final game for the Irish in front of her home crowd and the team responded in kind.
''We're all competitors from the head coach all the way down to the end of the bench. And we always feel like we can find a way to win,'' she said. ''That's the mindset of our team.''
The Huskies were up five at one point in the second overtime, but the Irish were able to overcome it. The team no heads into the conference tournament looking for its first league title. The team has won 23 straight games, the same as the national championship team did in 2001.
