Former coach Muffet McGraw was the women's head coach from 1987 to 2020 and has led the Irish to two National Championships in 2001 and 2018. The Irish's first national championship team in 2001 was led by 6-foot-5 center and future WNBA star Ruth Riley, who led the Irish past Purdue 68–66. Under McGraw's stewardship, Notre Dame has reached the Final Four nine times, which currently ranks 5th all time in NCAA history. Notre Dame has made it to the Sweet Sixteen in each of the last ten seasons, has won 20 or more games in 24 of the past 25 seasons, and has won 30 or more games in eight consecutive seasons. The Irish have made 26 NCAA tournament appearances as of the end of the 2018–19 season, including a current streak of 24 appearances. In the current streak, Notre Dame has made it to the second round in all but one of the appearances. McGraw would take the Fighting Irish back to the Final Four in 2011 under the play of star point guard Skylar Diggins, beating Pat Summitt's Tennessee Lady Volunteers; the program's first win against the Lady Vols in 21 tries. That win was followed by an upset of the number one-ranked UConn Huskies to advance the Fighting Irish to the 2011 championship game, where it lost to Texas A&M. The Irish would return to the championship game in 2012, losing to unbeaten Baylor after winning the Big East regular season title and beating UConn again to reach the final. In the 2012–2013 season, the Irish, led by Diggins and shooting guard Kayla McBride, posted their best regular season record in school history, despite losing Big East defensive player of the yearDevereaux Peters and two other starters to graduation. Their only regular season loss was to Baylor, and the team posted wins over #9 Tennessee in Knoxville and a narrow 1 point at #1 Connecticut. The Irish completed an undefeated 16–0 Big East regular season championship vs #3 Connecticut in the final game of the season, winning a triple overtime thriller to close out Diggins’ career in South Bend. UConn and Notre Dame would again meet in the Big East Tournament final, with Notre Dame winning narrowly 61–59 to claim their first ever Big East tournament championship. Notre Dame had lost to UConn in the finale 6 previous times. Notre Dame made it to the national championship game in 2014 and 2015, twice losing to Connecticut. After an injury plagued start to the 2017–18 season, which saw four Irish players lost to injury, Notre Dame won its second National Championship by beating Mississippi State 61–58. Junior guard Arike Ogunbowale scored the game winning three point shot with 1/10th of a second left, two days after scoring a similar buzzer beater to knock out Connecticut in the semifinal game. The win was coach McGraw's second national championship and 800th win at Notre Dame.. Four of the returning five starters, including Ogunbowle, Jackie Young, Marina Mabry and Jessica Shepard, returned to the Final Four the following year.. The Irish would beat Uconn 81-76 before falling by 1 point to Baylor, 82-81.
