March 31, 2018
By Erin Locascio
Erin Locascio is a photography and graphic design intern for the University of Notre Dame. Throughout the year she will have a weekly post about her favorite five photos from the week’s events. This time, Locascio is highlighting Notre Dame women’s basketball Final Four victory over UConn.
In each post Locascio will give background information on the photo and why she selected it.
No Lack Of Emotion
Marina Mabrey does not hold her emotions back on the basketball court. She can go from calming the girls down when they need to slow down on offense to screaming and celebrating a job well done by either herself or a teammate. This photo was one of the four chosen from the Final Four win versus Uconn because first off, I love that she is blocked by some of the UConn players and we can only see part of her fist but you can tell is at the end of her swinging it around to add to the intensity of her scream. Then, the most important part is that her face is perfectly seen at the peak of her scream. Also, i know that this was captured in the second half down on the opposite end of the floor which means they had just been playing defense and did something great to get the ball back and Marina is not holding back how she feels about it.
Teammate Support
Emotions vary throughout a sports game, especially a Final Four thriller such as last nights. There is happiness, excitement, anger and of course nervousness. That is why this is one of my favorites photos from the Final Four. Mikayla Vaughn grabbed the hands of her teammates as they watch late in the game. The bench is a crucial part of a team, whether they play or not. They are the support system and cheering section all in one every single day, from practice to game time. The look on these girls faces says it all with how much this game meant and how much they care for the girls on the court playing their hearts out. We never know what might happen in sports and it makes our hearts race. I can only imagine how fast these girls hearts were racing, but thankfully they had each other and in the end their teammates pulled it out.
Young Comes Up Big
Arike may have hit the game winner but the player of the game was Jackie Young. Young put up 32 points on 10 of 15 from the field and knocked down 10 of 11 from the free throw line while also bringing down 11 boards. That is a stat line for the ages in a game that is going down in the history books for Notre Dame women’s basketball. She hit the first shot of the game for the Irish and did not look back. This was my favorite photo of Young because of the entire play that led to her getting a wide open layup against the Huskies. The Irish got a steal from the Huskies and Ogunbowale brought the ball up the court and made a no-look pass to a wide open Young cutting to the basket. No one from Uconn is even close to guarding Young as she gets the easy two points. Lastly, she is at the perfect point of the layup, right before she lets go of the ball which is why I love this very average photo so much.
National Championship Bound!
Arike Ogunbowale is a special type of player to watch and to take photos of night after night and it never get boring. She can do it all and is a threat to score over 20 points every time she steps on the court. Everyone already knew all that and now we also know she has ice in her veins after knocking down the game winning shot with one second left in overtime to send her team to the National Championship. Ogunbowale’s face as well as the height of her jump in this photo says it all. The joy, the relief, the excitement and the realization of what she just did for her team is showing as she is joined by her teammates. Then, the 0.0 seconds on the clock in the background adds to the shot and you get a great celebration photo of a historic win.
