Arike Ogunbowale leads Notre Dame past Texas A&M, advance to Elite Eight

Behind 32 points from Arike Ogunbowale, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish fought off Texas A&M in the Chicago Regional.

In essentially what was a home game for the Notre Dame women’s basketball team, Texas A&M fought hard to ensure that if Notre Dame was advancing to the Elite 8, it wasn’t going to be easy.

That started with Aggies sophomore guard Chennedy Carter, who put up 35 points against the top-seeded Fighting Irish. However, in the end, it wasn’t enough to upset the defending champions from Notre Dame who won 80-87.

After the game Texas A&M coach Gary Blair spoke highly of his star point guard, praising her leadership abilities when the team was struggling from the field, and continuing to shoot regardless of if she was missing shots.

“That’s what a scorer has to do,” Blair said. “That’s what Kobe Bryant had to do all his life. He could go 7-for-24 and the Lakers would win. Michael Jordan had a lot of those games, too. Throw the stats out the window because we were getting some of the boards and put-backs and everything that she was creating. She was triple-teamed in there a lot, as well.”

Carter, who is the NCAA Tournament’s leading scorer averaging 31 points per game, now holds the top two scoring performances in Texas A&M tournament history. Her 37 points against DePaul in the Second Round of the NCAA tournament last season ranks first.

Carter had an outstanding performance, but unfortunately for the Aggies, it was Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale that did her one better.

Just as she’s been known to do throughout her career with Notre Dame, Ogunbowale put the Fighting Irish on her back, racking up 34 points, five rebounds and four assists. 24 of her 34 points came in the second half, and while she didn’t take over until the third quarter, the Fighting Irish were able to lean on Jessica Shepard’s first-half points to keep pace with the Aggies. Shepard finished with 24 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in 40 minutes.

Coach Muffet McGraw and her Notre Dame team will be awaiting the winner of Stanford and Missouri State to see who they will play in the Elite 8 of the Chicago Regional on April 1.