INDIANAPOLIS — Women’s college basketball got a shot in the arm Tuesday night at the Conceso Fieldhouse from Texas A&M and Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish were looking to win their second national championship in school history, while the Aggies were making their first-ever appearance in the title game.

What resulted in Indianapolis was a great game, which may have helped the country forget about how bad the men’s championship game was Monday night in Houston.

In a game that featured a little bit of everything – great individual efforts, solid shooting and sound floor games, Texas A&M made the most of its first appearance in the finals by holding off Notre Dame 76-70 to claim the 2011 national championship.

It has been a season of firsts for the Aggies. The team was led to the championship by its first All-American, former junior college Player of the Year Danielle Adams, who scored a game-high 30 points and was named the game’s Most Outstanding Player. The 33 wins are the most ever by a Texas A&M squad.

The Fighting Irish, who were trying to win another national championship on the anniversary of its first title, could not find a way to stop Adams, especially in the second half when she scored 22 of those points.

It was almost like Adams was not going to let her team lose and perhaps erase the memory of not winning a junior college national title.

“I had a little voice in my head that said, ‘Don’t let this team down.’ And my teammates, every time we would get down, we would tell each other, we’re not going to lose this game,” Adams said. “And, I mean, we fought hard, from day one, from 6 a.m. to practice. I mean, we worked hard the whole season to prepare for this point. And that’s what we did. And I just took the game over. I wasn’t going to let my team lose. I mean, they’ve been doing everything for me, so I decided to take them on my back and just let them ride on my back.”

Adams was so impressive, especially in the final 20 minutes, she ended up scoring the second most points ever in a NCAA championship game. Ironically, it was another player from a Texas school that holds that record — Texas Tech’s Sheryl Swoops, who scored 47 points in leading her team to the championship in 1993.

“We did not find an answer for her,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said in the post game press conference. “We had a plan. We just weren’t able to stop her. She’s just a great player. She’s got a big body and we couldn’t get around her.”

Notre Dame rallied from an early first half deficit to take a 35-33 halftime lead and all the momentum into the locker room. The Fighting Irish came out and scored the first two baskets of the second half to reel off 12 straight points and open up a 39-33 lead.

Texas A&M trailed by five, 48-43, in the early stages of the second half when Adams began to take over. She scored all but three of the Aggies’ next 13 points to give Texas A&M back the lead, 56-53.

The Aggies’ lead reached seven points (64-57), but Notre Dame was not finished yet. The Fighting Irish  went on a 9-2 run to knot the score at 66-66 with 3:56 remaining in the contest.

Texas A&M went back to its All-American on its next two possessions and she delivered.

Back-to-back buckets by Adams gave the Aggies a 70-66 advantage and when Adams blocked Devereaux Peters, one of her 10 blocks on the night, the stage was set for Texas A&M to make history.

It was only fitting that with two seconds to play, Adams hit one of two free throws to cap her outstanding performance and put the finishing touches on the Aggies’ first championship.