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How Stanford Beat Arizona for the N.C.A.A. Women’s Title

When Aari McDonald’s would-have-been buzzer-beater went up in the air, Stanford just had to trust its own defense and hope. “I was just like, oh please, God, don’t go in,” said Stanford’s leading scorer, Haley Jones. “I really had no thoughts. My mind was completely blank when she shot the ball.”

Jones, who scored 17 points, had made the true title-winner a couple minutes earlier, a 3-point play that put the Cardinal defense in position to hold off Arizona’s leading scorer.

“Down the stretch, I knew if the ball came to me, I knew I had to shoot it,” Jones said.