With its 66-65 win over South Carolina on Sunday night, Notre Dame advanced to its second straight NCAA championship game and its fourth in the last five years.
Including Tuesday’s title tilt, the Irish have been to the NCAA championship five times in program history, winning once in 2001. Those five appearances puts them in fourth place all-time, one ahead of Stanford.
The Irish are on a 22-game win streak, the fourth-longest in program history. Their last loss came Jan. 8 on the road against Miami (Fla.).
Junior guard Jewell Loyd scored 22 points against the Gamecocks, her 19th 20-point game this year and 35th of her career. With a total of 760 points, this moves her to within 16 points of Notre Dame’s single season scoring record, set by Katryna Gaither in 1996-1997.
Sophomore guard Lindsay Allen and freshman forward Brianna Turner both fouled out against the Gamecocks, marking the second time all season the Irish have had multiple players foul out. The only other occasion was Notre Dame’s only other one-point win this year — a 94-93 overtime win over DePaul on Dec. 10.
For the first time all year, Allen did not score. Her 27 minutes on the floor were also her fewest since Feb. 8 against Boston College. Turner had 17 points, her highest output since Feb. 5 against Virginia.
Sophomore forward Taya Reimer had 16 points on the night, tied for her third-best total this season and best mark since January.
Notre Dame led South Carolina for 36 minutes and four seconds out of 40 possible minutes. The Gamecocks did not take the lead until there was 1:12 left in the contest and held on to it for 58 seconds.
The Gamecock bench outscored the Irish reserves 39-6. Freshman guard/forward A’ja Wilson, who did not start, led South Carolina with 20 points on the night. In the paint, South Carolina outscored Notre Dame 48-32 and outrebounded the Irish 45-37. The Gamecocks also had more points off turnovers (12-9), on second chances (14-10) and on the fast break (10-9).
