Skylar Diggins awaits player introductions with teammate Jewell Loyd (at left) Monday night at Notre Dame (Photos by Scott Davidson)

SOUTH BEND – Skylar Diggins walked out of Purcell Pavilion late Monday night into the cold Indiana winter air as a winner.

Just exactly the way she should have.

The Notre Dame superstar and hometown hero had just finished warming the hearts of about 9,149 of her closest friends in a raucous, sold-out arena.

Diggins experienced the complete range of emotions, everything from cheers to tears to sheer joy and exhaustion in the final home game of her illustrious college basketball career. The smooth southpaw guard led No. 2 Notre Dame past No. 3 UConn in a triple-overtime thriller.

“What a way to go out,” said Diggins in the post game press conference Monday night. “It’s special. I know my Mom was going crazy over there watching tonight.”

Diggins, who has led the Irish to back-to-back runner-up finishes in the last two NCAA Tournaments, shared a high five with former ND star Ruth Riley (who was seated in the front row court side) late in the game and also worked the crowd into a deafening roar by waving her arms to lead the cheers with just 1:28 left in the final overtime session when she knew the Irish had somehow, some way found a way to win a game the Huskies had in hand on numerous occasions.

“I was excited at that point,” explained Diggins of her pumping up the crowd. “I could see it coming together. I could feel it. I feel like I know everyone in the crowd when I see so many familiar faces who have supported me all these years. It was my way of saying thank you to all of them.

“For me, it was like protecting my home tonight.  Like I was a guard dog. We’re the Fighting Irish for a reason. Tonight we fought.  We’re all competitors. Our mindset was to find a way to win and we did.”

For the record, the Irish outlasted UConn 96-87 in triple overtime to claim the regular-season Big East Conference championship for the second straight year.

For the record, Notre Dame has now won 23 straight games this season to tie the longest winning streak in program history  and a school-record 20 in a row in league play dating back to February of 2012.

For the record, All-America guard Diggins had 29 points, 11 rebounds, four steals, three assists, one blocked shot and eight turnovers while playing all 55 minutes, according to the final stat sheet, of the marathon classic between the pair of arch rivals.

But, this night was not about any of the numbers.

This night was about what one tremendous young lady has done for a program, a university and an entire community.

Diggins, a former Miss Basketball and McDonald’s All-American at South Bend Washington High School, has spent the last eight years providing basketball fans of all ages, shapes and sizes with excellence on the hardwood.

But, it’s the person part of Diggins that makes her a 22-year old young lady that everyone regardless of age gravitates to.

Simply put, Diggins is the face of women’s college basketball and the best ambassador for Notre Dame athletics that the school could ever hope for.  She possesses it all, brains, beauty, personality and a competitive streak on the court that would rip your head off to beat you.  Combined those traits with an unmatched work ethic, a sense of humility despite the fact she has an insane 302,002 followers on her Twitter account and a mean skill set, and you have the best all-around player in the women’s college game.

Diggins is still the same humble and friendly young lady despite all the awards and national acclaim that she was when I first started covering her hoops career as a freshman phenom back at Washington in 2005.  I was fortunate enough as a sportswriter at the South Bend Tribune to get to watch her play from a front row seat for four years in high school as she led Washington to a 102-7 record and four straight trips to the Class 4-A state championship game.

I was even more fortunate and blessed to get to know Skylar and her parents on a personal level during that incredible run of success. The biggest assist for the fact that Skylar “gets it” in a day and age of incredibly self-centered athletes who are all about themselves has to go to her mom Renee Scott and stepfather Maurice Scott.

They deserve a standing ovation of their own for raising one great young lady, who to use a basketball term is a slam dunk as a person.

Forget the fact that Baylor’s 6-8 tower Brittney Griner had 50 points and a dunk in her final home game Monday night for the top-ranked Bears.

The spotlight Monday night, locally and nationally, belonged to the Pride of the West Side.

Once again, she didn’t disappoint.

The 5-9 Irish captain who has a will made of steel and ice water running through veins, still has a soft spot in her heart for all of her adoring fans, especially the young girls who idolize her.

Diggins, after an emotional post game interview on ESPN with Rebecca Lobo (ironically enough a former superstar player at UConn), took a victory lap around the court one final time to thank her fans.

A class act from a class act.

Thanks for the memories Skylar.

Notre Dame senior Skylar Diggins is all smiles while holding the Big East Conference championship trophy Monday night after a home win over UConn.