Allie Wenskoski, Junior
Monday night, April 5, marked the end of basketball fans’ favorite time of year: March Madness. At 9 pm, the Baylor Bears faced off the Gonzaga Bulldogs to see who would reign champion of the men’s tournament this year. The women’s championship game was the night before, with Stanford battling Arizona. Near midnight on Monday, the NCAA knew the champions for both tournaments. Stanford beat Arizona 54-53 in a game that came down to the buzzer. This marked the first NCAA women’s title for Stanford since 1992. For the men’s, the game was not so close. Gonzaga was going into the game undefeated all season, and if they won the championship, they would have been the first team to win the championship undefeated since 1976. However, Baylor came out to play with unmatched energy and won the game, 86-70. This victory for the Bears marks Baylor’s first national title.
So how did the women’s game come to such a close end? It was a team effort from both sides. Arizona was down much of the game, including in the third quarter. However, it was here that they seemed to have their rally and were able to narrow Stanford’s lead to 43-40 with ten minutes remaining. Unfortunately for Arizona, every time they came close to a lead, Stanford battled back. This time was no different, and they scored six straight points with notable scoring from Haley Jones. With the score of 49-40, Arizona did not put down a fight. With just three minutes left, the score was 51-50 with Stanford just holding on. It seemed to be Jones’ game as she added three more points to Stanford’s total with a reverse-pivot layup and a free throw. Arizona added three points to their total as well, and was down by 1 with six seconds left. Aari McDonald dribbled the ball past half court and then took a desperate shot as the buzzer went off. The ball tipped off the rim and did not go in, making Stanford the 2021 Women’s March Madness Champion.
The men’s game was less exciting than the women’s, in terms of how close the score was in the end. Throughout the entire game, the Baylor team seemed to be more aggressive. They took a wide early lead of 16-4 and continued to build this lead throughout the other three quarters. Gonzaga’s offense was off, with missing many three-pointers and having trouble getting a clean shot at the basket. This ended up losing them the game, as they only made 5 out of the 17 three-pointers that they tried. However, Baylor did the exact opposite, with making most of the three-pointers that they attempted. This ultimately led to their victory, with a final score of 86-70. In spite of having a perfect season, and in spite of making it to the finals off of a buzzer shot from Jalen Sluggs, the Zags fell short because of one simple reason: they were outplayed.
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