COLUMBUS, Ohio — Connecticut has never lost in the championship game at the women’s Final Four, unblemished in collecting 11 N.C.A.A. basketball titles. But the Huskies can be vulnerable in the taut, desperate preamble of the semifinals. No one understands this more acutely than Notre Dame.
For the fourth time since 2001, the Irish defeated the Huskies in the national semis, winning, 91-89, on Friday on a jumper by guard Arike Ogunbowale with one second remaining in overtime. The Irish advanced to Sunday’s championship game against Mississippi State, which won its semifinal against Louisville in overtime.
The victory over UConn demonstrated a remarkable resilience by Notre Dame, whose thin roster is missing four players with torn anterior cruciate ligaments, a scourge of women’s sports.