Analysis: Notre Dame 77, Baylor 68

— -- OKLAHOMA CITY -- Notre Dame is going back to the Final Four, which means it is now part of an even more elite quartet of college basketball programs than just those that will gather in Tampa, Florida, next week.

Pushed hard by No. 2 seed Baylor in a rematch of last season's regional final that was played on its own court in South Bend, Indiana, No. 1 seed Notre Dame pulled away in the closing minutes for a 77-68 win on a neutral court. Continuing a run that began before any of the current players were part of the roster, the Fighting Irish will make their fifth consecutive appearance in the Final Four, something only three other programs have accomplished.

For the second game in a row -- and marking her first back-to-back games all season of at least 20 points -- sophomore point guard Lindsay Allen led Notre Dame in scoring with 23 points. She added seven assists and didn't commit a turnover in 40 minutes. Michaela Mabrey, Jewell Loyd and Brianna Turner also reached double figures for the Fighting Irish, while Baylor's Nina Davis led all scorers with 26 points.

Key player: We knew Notre Dame would likely follow a guard's lead if it made it back to the Final Four. We just always assumed it would be Loyd. With her All-American teammate struggling to find open looks and any rhythm, Allen again stepped up. She dominated the first half in the Sweet 16 win against Stanford, but this time she took control in the second half. Rarely looking hurried, she picked her way through traffic to score at the basket and knocked down some of the same shots she punished Stanford for giving her when the Cardinal went under screens.

Allen said Saturday that she was jealous of the no-turnover line Baylor counterpart Niya Johnson put up in the Sweet 16. Well, now Allen has one of her own and much more.

Early stopper: The game could have gotten away from Notre Dame early if not for Mabrey. Much as was the case in a second-round win against DePaul -- when Mabrey led her team in scoring in a first half in which the Irish otherwise struggled -- Notre Dame's best long-range asset kept things close in Oklahoma City. Mabrey showed no hesitation as early as her first touch of the game, hitting a 3-pointer while closely guarded after just 40 seconds, and it didn't stop there. Baylor was still shooting better than 60 percent from the field nearly halfway through the first half, but Mabrey's 14 points on four 3-pointers and one long 2-pointer helped maintain contact. Mabrey, however, didn't play in the second half. "Mabrey got a little dizzy at halftime and we couldn't put her back in the game," Irish coach Muffet McGraw said after the game.

Turning point: There wasn't one moment that turned things around, but a Baylor offense that ran so smoothly in the first half, when it assisted on 13 of 17 field goals and shot 49 percent (and better than that for much of the period), bogged down. Davis was terrific in running the floor and attacking in half-court sets, but Alexis Prince, Imani Wright and Kristy Wallace, the perimeter options, scored just five second-half points. Without them, and with Sune Agbuke unable to get going, too much fell on Davis.

The Lady Bears had a chance to cut the deficit to one or two points with a minute and a half left after a big 3-pointer from Wallace, but on the next possession, Prince air-balled a 3-pointer and Agbuke missed the putback. So it went in the second half for Baylor, while Notre Dame, particularly Allen, converted just often enough.

Key stat: Part of the reason the game was as close as it was down the stretch was that Notre Dame was abysmal at the free throw line. The Irish did make some important ones to close out the game, but they finished 12-of-24 overall. On a more positive stat note, the six points, six rebounds and one block from Madison Cable (the block a highlight-reel swat in transition against Davis) was just the kind of line the Irish needed from their bench.

What's next: Notre Dame makes its fifth consecutive appearance in the Final Four, joining Connecticut (twice), LSU and Stanford as the only programs to accomplish that. Waiting in Tampa will be fellow No. 1 seed South Carolina. This is the fourth time during the current streak in which the Fighting Irish face a No. 1 seed in the Final Four. They went 2-1 in the previous three games, losing to Connecticut in 2013 after beating that team the previous two seasons.

South Carolina is one of the few programs that holds an advantage in its all-time series against Notre Dame, winning two of three previous encounters. The lone win for the Fighting Irish, and the only one of the meetings in which coach Dawn Staley was involved, came at a neutral-site holiday tournament during the 2009-10 season.