Notre Dame guard Arike Ogunbowale was overwhelmed when she received a shout-out from her idol, Kobe Bryant. Moments after scoring the game-winning shot in the semi-finals of the NCAA women's tournament, she was shocked to see that she had received a congratulations from none other than Kobe.
Big time shot Arike! We are a @UConnWBB family but we love seeing great players making great plays. I know my lil sis @jewellloyd is happy Well done @ndwbb good luck on Sunday #mambamentality 🙌 https://t.co/8DxHkNURN7
Less than a week later, she was even more blown away, because she got to meet him face-to-face. During an appearance on Ellen, Arike was treated to a surprise meeting with Kobe. Initially thinking she was on the show to talk about what it felt like to score some incredible game-winning shots, Ellen did what she does best and gave Arike a surprise so exciting she was essentially speechless.
"You gotta understand, that's like a picture-perfect moment," Kobe said. "As a kid you dream about '5,4,3,2,1 to win a championship,' and she actually did it." To kick things off, Kobe brought her two signed jerseys, one for her and one for her dog.
Afterwards, Ellen challenged Arike and Kobe to a game of 2-on-2, even going so far as to include the other guest of the episode, Ice Cube. It wasn't the smoothest game ever, but Arike flaunted her impressive talents once again, proving why she deserves all the praise she's been getting as of late.
