UConn 71, Tennessee 52

The NCAA put its top talent on display this season. Even though Tennessee and UConn were not in the same conference, the teams played a game on each campus. Both teams lost the game at home. The third matchup in Philadelphia for the championship, UConn won by almost 20 points.

Notre Dame 90, UConn 75

A few weeks prior, UConn defeated Notre Dame in thrilling fashion with a Sue Bird game-winner as time expired to win the conference championship game. At halftime of the national semifinals, the defending national champions were up by 16 points. Notre Dame roared back and ended up winning the game by double digits.

UConn 71, Texas 69

Diana Taurasi had long established herself as one of the best players on one of the best programs in America and was on her way to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft. Taurasi scored 26 points in the semifinals against Texas and her team needed every one of them. She scored 11 of those in the final nine minutes to bring UConn back from a nine-point deficit.

Tennessee 52, LSU 50

The cardiac kids at Tennessee kept their season alive with some ferocious defense at the end of the game. Tennessee forced LSU's Temeka Johnson to turn the ball over and LeToya Davis scored the game winning basket. This semifinal win was Tennessee's third in a row by only two points.

Michigan State 68, Tennessee 64

With UConn falling in the semifinals, there was going to be a new champion. Michigan State faced Tennessee, who had lost to UConn in the title game the year before. Tennessee was ready to hold up the trophy for the first time in the new millennium, even with superstar recruit Candace Parker sidelined for the year with a knee injury. With 16 minutes left in the game, Tennessee was up by 16 points. Michigan State ended up punching its ticket to the national championship game with a 4-point win.

Maryland 78, Duke 75 OT

Neither UConn nor Tennessee made it to the Final Four. ACC fans got a treat when conference rivals Maryland and Duke matched up for the National Championship game. Maryland tied Duke with five seconds remaining in the game thanks to a Kristi Tolliver 3-pointer and went on to win the National Championship game in overtime.

Tennessee 59, Rutgers 46

What happened on that radio show with Don Imus can't be erased. It was ugly and marred a fun game. That must be acknowledged but much more space must also be reserved for the basketball. Candace Parker was a national sensation as a high schooler in the Chicagoland area. She chose Tennessee and was tasked with helping the program get back to its 1990s championship ways. Parker was the tournament's most outstanding player, and Tennessee won its first title since 1998.

Tennessee 47, LSU 46

Repeating is difficult, and Tennessee almost didn't make it back to the championship game. Tennessee eked past LSU in the semifinals thanks to an Alexis Hornbuckle putback with 0.2 seconds remaining on the clock. A few days later, they became back-to-back national champions.

Louisville 69, Oklahoma 59

Oklahoma almost had it. After a sloppy second half against Louisville there was still a chance at the end to win the game. This 32-4 Oklahoma juggernaut missed seven layups in the second half but still had a chance to win at the end of the game. Nyeshia Stevenson let off a 3-point attempt that was close, but no cigar.

UConn 53, Stanford 47

UConn had not lost a game in two seasons, and all of the victories had been by at least 10 points. Stanford put up good fight for a half during a regular season matchup, but ended up losing by 22 points. The National Championship game was a rock fight—a low-scoring defensive battle. UConn went into halftime with only 10 points on the scoreboard. Tournament most outstanding player Maya Moore led UConn with 11 of their first 17 second half points and they went on to win 53-47 to clinch a second-consecutive perfect season.

Notre Dame 72, UConn 63

This UConn team was not undefeated. They lost to Stanford in December. In the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament, they went up against Notre Dame. Skylar Diggins scored 28 points and missed only four shots the entire game, leading her team to victory.

Texas A&M 76, Notre Dame 70

Danielle Adams went on a tear for Texas A&M. She scored 22 of her game-leading 30 points in the second half. Skylar Diggins tied the game with just under four minutes remaining in the game but two Adams layups shut the door. A school that didn't admit women until 1963 won the national c

Notre Dame 65, South Carolina 66

Notre Dame experienced a devastating seven-minute scoring drought in the second half of their semifinal matchup against South Carolina. Kathryn Westbled had put Notre Dame up 64-52 with 7:51 remaining in the game. After the drought, South Carolina was up 65-64 when Madison Cable scored following an offensive rebound with less than 30 seconds on the clock.

UConn 82, Syracuse 51

This was the end of one of the most dominant eras in the history of college sports. UConn won its fourth consecutive national championship, something that had not been done since the UCLA men's basketball team did it in the late 1960-70s. The star of those UConn teams was Breanna Stewart. She was named tournament Most Outstanding Player for each one of those titles.

Mississippi State 66, UConn 64 OT

Breanna Stewart was gone, but UConn still had a collection of the best players in the nation that included Napheesa Collier and Gabby Williams and still coached by Geno Auriemma. UConn went into the NCAA Tournament undefeated and was looking for a fifth consecutive championship. Mississippi State's Morgan William buried a buzzer-beater in overtime to end a 111 game-winning streak and a championship run.

South Carolina 67, Mississippi State 55

When Dawn Staley took over as head coach at South Carolina in 2008 the program had advanced to the regional final only once. Her first season was rough – 10-18. By 2015 Staley built a power that would win 30-plus games in four consecutive seasons. When South Carolina finally won its first national title, they did not trail the entire second half.

Notre Dame 91, UConn 90

The penultimate episode of the 2018 Arike Ogunbowale NCAA Tournament unfolded dramatically. Through six games she scored 145 points for Notre Dame. Of all those points, almost none were bigger than the two she scored with one second remaining to knock off UConn.

Notre Dame 61, Mississippi State 58

The most important points that Arike Ogunbowale scored were in the season finale. Notre Dame was up against the previous season's NCAA Tournament buzzer-beating favorites, Mississippi State. This time it was Ogunbowale's turn to set social media ablaze with an off-balance 3-point buzzer beater to win a championship.

Baylor 82, Notre Dame 81

Arike Ogunbowale was once again in the spotlight at the end of the national championship game. This time she was the game's leading scorer with 30 points, and at the free-throw line with 1.9 seconds remaining and a chance to tie the game at 82. She missed the first and made the second free throw, though she'd intended to miss it for a rebound opportunity. Ogunbowale finished the game with 31 points and Baylor won its third national championship.

Stanford 66, South Carolina 65

South Carolina was down but had a chance. They compounded one mistake, giving up an offensive rebound and a second-chance bucket, with another by turning the ball over on the next possession. Down 66-65, South Carolina trapped Stanford's Cameron Brink and forced a turnover. Aliyah Boston recovered the ball with six seconds remaining and tossed it to Brea Beal who darted down the floor. She missed a contested layup and Boston failed to convert a putback.

Stanford 54, Arizona 53

Tara VanDerveer was the head coach of one of the most important teams in American history, the 1996 United States Women's National Basketball Team. Leading that group of star talent to a gold medal provided a foundation for a professional women's basketball league with staying power. However, the job she held for much longer has been head coach of Stanford, and she hadn't won a national championship since 1992. When tournament star Aari McDonald's 3-pointer clanked off the rim as time expired, VanDerveer was back atop the college game.

Iowa 77, South Carolina 73

Caitlin Clark had already ended the regular season with a buzzer-beater against the second-ranked team in the country. She recorded the only triple-double in the history of both the Men's and Women's NCAA Tournament and scored 40 points in the process. Clark's next test was a semifinal matchup against undefeated South Carolina with Kamilla Cardoso and Aliyah Boston in the front court. Clark scored 41 points and counterpunched all of South Carolina's fourth-quarter runs.

LSU 102, Iowa 85

In 1979 it was Magic vs. Bird. In 1990 and 1991 it was UNLV vs Christian Laettner. In 2023 and 2024, the college basketball American tension matchup was Angel Reese vs. Caitlin Clark. This rivalry intensified when Reese mimicked Clark's "You can't see me" gesture from the regional final to her face once LSU had pulled away from Iowa in the national championship game. Reese also scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a game that had America taking its typical sides after the final buzzer.

Iowa 71, UConn 69

Did UConn's Aaliyah Edwards commit an offensive foul on Iowa's Gabbie Marshall with less than four seconds remaining in that semifinal matchup? And if that shuffle of her feet was technically a moving screen, did that deserve UConn losing possession in the biggest moment of the season up to that point? The referees sure thought that it did and Iowa advanced to the national championship game.

South Carolina 87, Iowa 75

Aliyah Boston was the 2023 No. 1 overall WNBA draft pick. South Carolina did not have star power anywhere near equivalent to Iowa's Caitlin Clark - a 22-year-old two-time Wooden Award winner and one of the most popular athletes in America. However, South Carolina did, again, enter a national-championship matchup against Iowa with an undefeated record. This time Dawn Staley's team finished the job.