So said Tennessee’s Pat Summit at halftime of her team’s loss to Notre Dame in the Dayton Region championship game of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

The mission continued Sunday against Connecticut, the tournament’s #1 overall seed which had defeated the Fighting Irish twice during the regular season as well as in the Big East Tournament finale.  One would think that would create doubts in the ND players’ minds; but if the Irish had any, it didn’t show in their game.  They traded blows with UConn for 30 minutes, built a 10 point lead over the next 5 minutes, withstood one last Maya Moore fueled run that shrunk the lead to 3 points, and put the Huskies away in the last 2 minutes.  The Irish prevailed 72-63.

Skylar Diggins, who has excelled throughout the tournament, was the game’s top star with 28 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, and a pair of steals.

“She played like one (an All-American) tonight,” Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said when asked about Diggins after the game.  “She did it all.  She ran the team.  She scored.  She made good passes, good decisions.  Really single handedly kept us in the first half.  She was our only offense in the first half.  We were trying to figure out a way to help her, and Natalie (Novosel) stepped up in the second.”

Novosel added 22 points, 15 in the second half when she drove into the lane and made one tough shot after another.  “She came out in the second half determined to contribute,” McGraw said.  “I think that was the biggest thing.  She wanted to score.  She wanted the ball.”

UConn’s Maya Moore led all scorers with 36 points.  Moore, the two time player of the year, made 14 of 30 shots despite being the focus of Notre Dame’s defense.  Her career ended the same way it started – with a loss in the national semifinals.  She finished as the NCAA’s fourth all-time leading scorer, putting up 3,036 points.

I don’t know that you could wish for somebody better to spend four years with,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said of Moore.  “I don’t think she needs to hang her head one bit.”

The scorers stood out in the box score, but the consecutive defeats of #1 seeds has been a team effort in every sense of the expression.  Whether it was Kaila Turner handling the ball under pressure, Becca Bruszewski, Devereaux Peters and Natalie Anchowa dominating the boards, or Brittany Mallory sticking clutch threes down the stretch, everyone who played made a substantial contribution.

“This team has grown up since the end of the season, and I think Tennessee, we really put together a 40 minute game,” said Novosel.  “Against UConn we hadn’t done that, and tonight was the night we played hard for 40 minutes.  We were focused and composed.”

The Irish will have to stay focused and composed to beat Texas A&M in the championship game Tuesday night.  The Aggies duplicated Notre Dame’s feat, beating #1 seeds Baylor and Stanford to get to the championship game.  The latter game was a 63-62 thriller that featured five lead changes in the final minute, two in the last 9 seconds.

The Aggies succeed with aggressive man-to-man defense that attacks the ball on the perimeter and swarms to the post.  They had their defense when they needed it most in the semi-final game.  Down 10 points with 6:00 to play, they held Stanford to just two more baskets as they eked their way into position to win.

Now it’s on to the finals.

“They’re hungry just like we are,” said A&M guard Sydney Colson.  “That’s why it’s going to be an all-out war.”

Hungry?  They’re on a mission.

Game Information

#2 Notre Dame (31-7) vs. #2 Texas A&M (32-5)
April 5, 2011 at 8:30 PM Eastern Time
Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Television: ESPN
Radio: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) in Michiana, Westwood One national syndication
Internet: ESPN3.com

– Kevin O’Neill