Things did not start out well for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who saw eight turnovers in their first seven minutes of play in the Women’s NCAA Championship Game. Texas A&M pushed out to an early 12-4 lead before the first media timeout, and they scored the bulk of those points on layups.
The Aggies also capitalized by grabbing five early offensive rebounds, and collecting six points off of them. An intentional foul was called as an elbow rammed Sydney Colson in the face, and that stretched the lead to 18-6.
Following that call, Notre Dame picked up it’s defensive intensity, forcing two quick turnovers to cut the lead to 18-10. Texas A&M’s Colson also picked up a second foul and had to be subbed out, which hurt A&M’s defensive intensity. Still, the Aggies continued their hot shooting and lead 23-12 at the halfway mark of the first half. Notre Dame will have to shoot their way back into this game.