TAMPA — Defending national champion Notre Dame was not able to pull a rabbit out of its hat for a fourth straight Final Four game as No. 1-ranked Baylor held on an 82-81 win over the Fighting Irish in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Game Sunday night.

Notre Dame (35-4) trailed Baylor for three quarters of the title game at Amalie Arena before taking advantage of the Bears’ injury to All-American Lauren Cox, who suffered an apparent knee injury in the third quarter.

The Fighting Irish went on a tear once Cox was out, outscoring Baylor 30-18 heading into the final minute of the game.

Chloe Jackson’s pull-up jumper in the lane with 3.9 seconds remaining proved to be the difference for the Bears.

Notre Dame had one last chance as Arike Ogunbowale was fouled driving to the basket with .3 seconds remaining.

Ogunbowale missed the first free throw and made the second.

Baylor, without time outs, needed to just get the ball inbounds to win their first national championship since 2012.

As Baylor (37-1) tried to inbound the ball, Brianna Turner tipped it back out of bounds as time expired.

For all four games over the last two Final Fours, the Fighting Irish were able to come back from a slow start and overtake their opponents.

Notre Dame trailed 25-14 after one quarter and by as many as 17 points in the second quarter.

The Bears, who shot 53.4 percent from the field for the game compared to 38.9 percent for the Fighting Irish, settled for a 43-31 lead at halftime.

Notre Dame outscored Baylor 24-23 in the third quarter to cut the Bears’ advantage to 67-54 heading into the final 10 minutes of the 2018-19 season.

The Fighting Irish outscored Baylor 26-16 in the fourth quarter, but came up a point shy of winning the school’s 1,000 game.

Ogunbowale ended her brilliant Notre Dame career with a game-high 31 points, while Marina Mabrey added 21 points and Turner 12 points and 12 rebounds. Jessica Shepard finished with 11 points.

Baylor was led by Jackson’s 26 points.

All-Americanb Kalani Brown added 20 points and 13 rebounds, while freshman NaLyssa Smith finished with 14 points.