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2010 – 2011
The streaks in the way: The 2010–11 team, 31–8, was built around a sophomore guard from South Bend, Skylar Diggins, and it reached the final weekend by breaking the two streaks that defined the era. Notre Dame had lost its first twenty games against Tennessee. In the Dayton regional final on March 28, 2011, the Irish beat Tennessee 73–59 — Diggins scored 24 — for the first win in the program's history over the Lady Vols, after twenty defeats.
The semifinal: Five days later in Indianapolis, Notre Dame beat top-ranked Connecticut 72–63 — Diggins 28 — and the Associated Press's account of the tournament recorded the fact: Notre Dame was the first team ever to beat Tennessee and Connecticut in the same NCAA tournament, the sport's two dynasties in consecutive rounds.
The final: On April 5, 2011, in Indianapolis, Notre Dame lost the championship game to Texas A&M 76–70. Diggins scored 23 in the loss. The defeat opened the decade's defining pattern — the near-miss run told across the next several entries — but the season's standing fact is the one the program had wanted for twenty-four years: they had beaten both of the teams that owned the sport, in one week.
Sources:
- Associated Press tournament accounts — the Dayton regional final (73–59, the first win over Tennessee after twenty losses); the semifinal (72–63) and the first-team-to-beat-both record; the final (70–76) and Diggins's scoring lines.
- University record book, NCAA tournament history — the 2010–11 run and its scores.