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Arike Ogunbowale Hilariously Rubs Notre Dame Win vs UConn in Paige Bueckers' Face

Dallas Wings superstar Arike Ogunbowale poked fun at UConn Huskies star (and likely Wings teammate) Paige Bueckers.

Grant Young

Dec 12, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) dribbles as Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Olivia Miles (5) defends in the first half at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images
Dec 12, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) dribbles as Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Olivia Miles (5) defends in the first half at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images / Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

One of the most highly anticipated games of the 2024-25 women's college basketball calendar took place on Thursday, December 12, when the UConn Huskies traveled to South Bend, Indiana to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

While this contest had a lot of hype due to the sheer amount of superstars on both sides, the game ended up not being very close. Superstar sophomore Hannah Hidalgo led the Irish to an extremely impressive 79-68 victory, which marked their third win against a top-five-ranked team in the country this season.

Notre Dame boasts an impressive roster of alumni who are currently in the WNBA. Four of the most notable — Arike Ogunbowale, Jewell Loyd, Marina Mabrey, and Skylar Diggins-Smith — were all in attendance to watch their alma mater dismantle the Huskies on Notre Dame's home court.

In fact, Ogunbowale posted a YouTube video on December 15 that included a vlog of her at the game, which presented a behind-the-scenes look of her at the contest.

At one point after Notre Dame secured the win, Ogunbowale linked up with Huskies star Paige Bueckers. The two shared an embrace before Ogunbowale pulled away and said, "Good win... s***, almost," before laughing.

X user @whatever120998 posted a video of the interaction along with a photo of Bueckers and Arike posing together with the caption, "Rike wrong for this 😭".

Arike was clearly just joking with Bueckers, as it appears the two have a solid relationship with each other — which is good, considering that they're likely to be teammates on the Dallas Wings next season.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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