The Lady Bears of Baylor lost their star player and then the rest of their 17-point lead to Notre Dame but held on for a 82-81 victory in Sunday’s NCAA women’s basketball national championship game in Tampa, Fla. Baylor’s star forward, Lauren Cox, injured her knee in a frightening scene late in the third quarter, but her teammates kept their composure to win their school’s third title. “We had to do it for LC,” said Baylor center Chloe Jackson, who was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. “She got us here. We had to finish the job for her.”

After a weekend of hard-fought and intense regional championship games, Auburn and Texas Tech are headed to the Final Four in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for the first time in their schools’ histories, joining Michigan State and Virginia next weekend in Minneapolis.

As the major league baseball season opens, fans in 30 cities will learn whether the team-building efforts in spring training camps have been successful.

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle gave reporters the typical message: “‘Team-first’… We all have the same goal. There needs to be connection, there needs to be communication.”

A New York moment: 

Please, steel yourself. An 8-year-old boy, the son of devout Christian parents who recently fled Boko Haram in Nigeria, just won the state chess championship in New York for his age group. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has the full, incredible story. 

The Los Angeles Angels and Mike Trout are close to finalizing a $432 million, 12-year contract that will make the 27-year-old outfielder the highest paid player in major league baseball and one of the richest athletes in sports history, according to an ESPN report Tuesday. The deal eclipses the recent record-setting $330 million, 12-year contract that free agent outfielder Bryce Harper signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The NCAA selection committee named Duke Sunday evening as the overall No. 1 seed in this year’s men’s college basketball tournament. Two other Atlantic Coast Conference teams, North Carolina (Midwest) and Virginia (South), join the Blue Devils (East) as a top regional seed, along with Gonzaga (West) of the West Coast Conference. It is the second time in tournament history that three teams from the same conference have earned top seeds: In 2009, Connecticut, Louisville, and Pittsburgh represented the Big East as No. 1 seeds.

The Alliance of American Football (AAF), the latest effort to fill the post–Super Bowl void in pro football action, began its inaugural season on Feb. 9. The feel-good premise of the AAF is that it’s a “league of second chances,” where young hopefuls or veterans with something left in the tank can showcase their skills. AAF players sign three-year contracts but can leave for work in the NFL at any time.