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American basketball star of Nigerian descent meets her hero Kobe Bryant on Ellen Show

Ogunbowale meets her idol Kobe after her heroics for Notre Dame in the NCAA Championship.
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American basketball star who is of Nigerian descent

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Ogunbowale has enjoyed massive press after scoring the winning points for in the semi-final and final of the NCAA Championship.

The 21-year-old had earlier received a Twitter shoutout from her idol Kobe after her buzzer beater in the semifinal against UConn.

“Initially at the game, I saw him, and he was UConn, had blue on, sitting at UConn, I’m like okay cool, this is my idol, cheering for my rival. It’s like that’s awesome,” she told Ellen.

“And then after the game. I see him tweet at me. Like my teammates brought it to me after a press conference, I was like there's no way.

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“And then I tweeted at him, I was like, ‘life complete’ and he was like ‘no, it’s not complete yet until you win the championship’ and I think that was motivation for me. Because I love him, I wear 24 because of him and I named my dog Kobe after him.”

Kobe has gifts for Ogunbowale

Ogunbowale who has never met Kobe was then given a surprise by show host Ellen who called out the American basketball legend.

After giving Ogunbowale a hug, Kobe went on to praise her game-winning shots for Notre Dame.

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“I’ve also never hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer to win a championship,” the American basketball royalty said.

“You ought to understand, that’s like the picture perfect moment, As a kid, you dream about 5, 4, 3, 2,1 to win the championship and she actually did it.”

Kobe also came with a gift for Ogunbowale, a signed LA Lakers jersey for herself and her dog named after the basketball legend.

'Life has changed'- Ogunbowale

Before Kobe came out to surprise, Ogunbowalespoke on how much has changed following her heroics for Notre Dame.

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“My life has changed overnight,” she said.

Speaking on her buzzer-beaters, she said; “The first one I was like that’s crazy, ‘you are going to the National Championship for the first time’.

“The second one, I’m like ‘there’s no way that went in, I’m like did I travel, did it not get off the top?”

“I went to my coach ‘I’m like did it count’ I still don’t believe it."

She further revealed that she started playing basketball when was about three with her older brothers.

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