The NCAA Women’s Championship went down the wire on Easter Sunday, as the Stanford University Cardinals defeated the Arizona Wildcats (54-53) in a thrilling game.

The Cardinals secured their third NCAA Women's championship and defeated the Wildcats thrice this season. 

Haley Jones led the White and Red squad with 17 points and eight rebounds. The Cardinals shot 42.1 percent from the field and had an impressive 15 team assists throughout the whole game. Their defense paved the way for them to capture the championship, as they put the clams on Aari McDonald in the last six seconds of the game. 

McDonald, who has been huge for the Wildcats this season, finished the game with 22 points, three rebounds and two assists. She scored in double figures in every game of her collegiate career, which just goes to show how valuable she is. Shaina Pellington also came up big for her squad with 15 points and seven rebounds. The Wildcats just shot 29 percent on Sunday’s game, but they still managed to take the Cardinals down the wire. 

Standford head coach Tara VanDerveer led her top-seeded team to finish with an outstanding record of 31-2 this season. She’s been coaching for 35 years, has three championships and is known to be the all-time leader in wins. According to ESPN Stats and Info, VanDerveer is only the fourth coach to win three titles in NCAA women’s championship history. 

VanDerveer's players came up big, as Jones was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Lexie Hull chipped in a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds in Sunday’s game.

Interestingly, the Cardinals became the first team in NCAA history to win both semifinals and finals games by just one point each. True enough, it was a hard-fought and well-earned championship, to say the least.