Notre Dame Wins Women’s Title

The NCAA men’s basketball season comes to its conclusion on Monday night when Villanova (35-4) plays Michigan (33-7) in San Antonio. Game time is 9:20 p.m. ET and TBS will televise the game.

Villanova whipped Kansas 95-79 with a hail of 3-point shots on Saturday night and Michigan stifled Loyola-Chicago 69-57 in the semifinals.

Notre Dame won its first women’s basketball title in 17 years, topping Mississippi State 61-58 on Sunday night in Columbus, Ohio. A buzzer-beater by Arike Ogunbowale did in the Lady Bulldogs, just as Ogunbowale’s last-second shot in overtime felled UConn on Friday night. Notre Dame finished 35-3, MSU 37-2.

ELSEWHERE: Ian Poulter’s putt for par on the first playoff hole won him not only the Houston Open but the final slot in the Masters. Poulter had lost badly a week ago in the WGC-Dell Match Play championship and almost decided to go home to Orlando. Then he shot a 73 in the opening round at Houston and thought he’d surely miss the cut and the Masters. “I was kind of forcing things, trying to force my way into [the Masters],” Poulter said. “Didn’t work, had to rethink it, had to blow the cobwebs out Thursday night and reset and go again.” His birdie putt Sunday on the 18th hole tied him with Beau Hossler, whose triple-bogey on the playoff hole made Poulter all but a certainty for Augusta.

The Houston Rockets broke their own NBA record for made 3-pointers in a season on Sunday. They only hit 7 of 31 in losing to the San Antonio Spurs and having their 11-game winning streak snapped, but they’ve got 1,184 3s this season, three more than last year.

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels made his pitching debut and retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced in six innings of work. The former star of Japanese baseball allowed three runs in a 7-4 win over the Oakland A’s.

Bryce Harper homered twice as the Washington Nationals beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-5.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman