Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale was the biggest hero in basketball during March as her heroics in multiple Final Four games led the Irish to a national championship.
In an action-packed women’s Final Four last weekend, Ogunbowale hit the game-winning jumper in overtime to eliminate unbeaten No. 1 overall seed UConn. The next game, Ogunbowale topped that by hitting the game-winning jumper right before the buzzer sounded to give Notre Dame a comeback win (and the title) over Mississippi State.
Making an appearance on Ellen this week, Ogunbowale received a surprise as Kobe Bryant, her basketball idol, made an appearance to meet her.
Ogunbowale and Bryant had previously traded some responses on Twitter after the UConn buzzer-beater.
Big time shot Arike! We are a @UConnWBB family but we love seeing great players making great plays. I know my lil sis @jewellloyd is happy Well done @ndwbb good luck on Sunday #mambamentality 🙌 https://t.co/8DxHkNURN7
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) March 31, 2018
Wow, my life is complete. The GOAT 😭🙌🏾 https://t.co/91wiItW0KN
— Arike Ogunbowale (@Arike_O) March 31, 2018
Nah... it’s complete by finishing the job on Sunday @Arike_O #MambaMentality https://t.co/pvL95JCZHn
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) March 31, 2018
Kobe told Ogunbowale to finish the job and win the title and she did so by knocking down a memorable game-winning shot.