ETT, I don't think that was the designed outcome of the play. I think the play was designed on the premise that Muffit would never allow KML to be open for a game-winning shot. So she was supposed to be in the corner as a decoy, holding a defender while Kelly drove to the basket from the right side of the lane for a long layup, on which she might have been fouled or on which there might have been a putback if she missed.
The play is similar to the one that ended the famous DePaul game in Maya's freshman year, when Ketia Swanier scored a game-winning layup while Maya, by standing in the right corner, held a defender who might have stopped it.
The unexpected event on Saturday was that KML's defender helped off of her to stop Kelly. Kelly saw it and fed KML who was wide open. The decision by the defender to help off KML was a major mistake that could easily have cost ND the game.
Do you really think that Muffit instructed her team in the huddle, "Let KML take a 3 if you have to; after all, she has a bad ankle"? I don't think that she said that, or that any coach would ever say that when playing UConn in the final seconds. I think Muffit told her players to make anyone other than KML beat them. And the defender did what she did without orders.