Social media reacts to Stanford defeating Arizona to win the NCAA Women's title
Fear the tree.
After a 72-day road trip for No. 1 overall seed Stanford, the Cardinal were crowned champions on Sunday with a 54-53 victory over the 3-seed Arizona Wildcats.
The Cardinal won their third NCAA women’s national title and first since 1992 by beating their fellow Pac-12 team for the third time this season. Stanford earned the title in the same season that coach Tara VanDerveer became the all-time winningest women's coach, with 1,125 victories.
Stanford, led by Most Outstanding Player of the game Haley Jones, held off a strong second wind from the Wildcats. Arizona star guard Aari McDonald racked up 22 points but was just 5-of-20 from the floor.
Meanwhile, Jones led three Stanford players in double figures with 17 points and eight rebounds. Teammate Lexie Hull added a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double. The Cardinal overcame 21 turnovers by outrebounding Arizona 47-29 and keeping McDonald in check.
Time expired as McDonald's last-second heave didn't fall, and Sunday represented the second consecutive women’s title game that was decided by a single point. In 2019, Baylor beat Notre Dame, 82-81.
Sunday was also the lowest-scoring women’s national title game since 2010, when UConn beat Stanford, 53-47, and social media reacted to the close victory by the Cardinal.
