April 10, 2019

On Sunday night, April 7, at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, the Baylor University Lady Bears defeated Notre Dame 82-81 to win the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament. Baylor senior guard Chloe Jackson provided the winning margin with a go-ahead lay-up with just 3.9 seconds remaining in the game. Jackson led Baylor with 26 points and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player (MOP). It was the third NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) women’s basketball title for Baylor. The Lady Bears previously won in 2005 and 2012. Notre Dame won NCAA titles in 2001 and 2018.

The Baylor Lady Bears–including Most Outstanding Player Chloe Jackson (24)–celebrate their NCAA title at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, on April 7, 2019. Credit: © Justin Tafoya, Getty Images

Baylor dominated early, taking a 43-31 lead into halftime. But Notre Dame stormed back, making up the deficit and battling to a 74-74 tie with 5:18 left in the fourth quarter. The evenly-matched teams then battled down the stretch, with Baylor prevailing by a single point. Led by Jackson and senior center Kalani Brown (20 points), the Lady Bears overcame Notre Dame’s scoring tandem of Arike Ogunbowale (31 points) and Marina Mabrey (21 points). In the Final Four semifinals, Notre Dame took out perennial powerhouse Connecticut, and Baylor downed Oregon.

Virginia guard Kyle Guy (5) attempts a shot against Texas Tech defenders during the NCAA men’s title game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 8, 2019. Credit: © Tom Pennington, Getty Images

On Monday night, April 8, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the University of Virginia Cavaliers defeated the Texas Tech Red Raiders 85-77 in overtime to win the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. Virginia, led by guards De’Andre Hunter (27 points) and Kyle Guy (24 points), carried a tight 3-point lead into halftime and held the advantage for most of the second half. Texas Tech rallied, however, to take a 3-point lead of their own into the game’s final minute. With just 12 seconds on the clock, a Hunter 3-pointer evened the score at 68-68 to send the game into overtime. The Cavaliers pulled away in the extra five minutes, outscoring the Red Raiders 17-9 for the title. Virginia’s Guy took home tournament MOP honors. 

It was the first NCAA championship game for both Virginia and Texas Tech, who knocked out Auburn and Michigan State, respectively, in the Final Four semifinals. Virginia entered the tournament as a number-1 seed, and Texas Tech was a 3 seed. Virginia’s first title was especially sweet following the team’s epic collapse in last year’s NCAA tournament. In 2018, Virginia became the first number-1 seed to lose to a 16 seed—the lowest—when the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) Retrievers shocked the Cavaliers 74-54.