The Stanford Cardinal captured their first women’s basketball championship in 29 years on Sunday with a thrilling 54-53 win over the Arizona Wildcats.
But for the Arizona, the surprising run to the title game was all about breakout star Aari McDonald. The senior averaged 24.8 points during the NCAA Tournament and came inches away from giving Arizona the championship at the buzzer.
The Wildcats had the ball on an inbounds play with 6.1 seconds to play and a timeout remaining. And despite a well-defended effort from Stanford, Arizona elected to hold off on that last timeout when McDonald managed to get the ball off the inbounds.
While Arizona coach Adia Barnes may second-guess that decision going forward, McDonald was so close to cashing in on the broken play.
The moment our dreams came true.#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/k7e5oLPDum
— Stanford Women’s Basketball (@StanfordWBB) April 5, 2021
With three Stanford players defending, McDonald shot a turnaround jumper that hit off the back of the rim to the left. Still, it nearly went it. And this was what it took from Stanford to get McDonald to miss that shot:
The fact that Aari almost made this… sheesh pic.twitter.com/f1SiPDQJI9
— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) April 5, 2021
Just wild.
McDonald finished the game with 22 points and was the main reason Arizona even had a chance at the end.
Still, what a game. You almost expected it to go in once she got a shot off.
https://youtu.be/VB1zpeaqoQE