Sarah Graves began her career at Texas as a walk-on. She'll end it as a cult hero at the Final Four

Sarah Graves owes her Texas teammates dinner. It might be the best money the senior guard ever spends. Given a couple of minutes of run late in a lopsided 77-41 victory over third-seeded Michigan in the Fort Worth Regional 3 championship game on Monday night, Graves did what she always does on the rare occasion the ball makes its way into her hands.

The former walk-on turned scholarship player let it fly. Graves' long two-pointer — the 37th and 38th points of her four-year career with the Longhorns — in the waning seconds provided the exclamation point as Texas returned to the Final Four for a second straight season. The heavily pro-Texas crowd at Dickies Arena — the same crowd that chanted “Put in Sarah” as the Longhorns' lead ballooned in the fourth quarter — erupted as Graves' shot arced over the outstretched arms of Michigan's Olivia Olson and through the net.

“I'm almost at a loss for words,” said Graves, who is from Keller, Texas, about 20 minutes away from the spot where she officially etched out her own little stake of Longhorns lore. “I almost started crying on the court again because looking around me and just being in the present moment and hearing everybody chant your name is a surreal feeling that I’ll never forget. ” This is not exactly the way that Graves expected this run to end.

Sure, she knows her supremely talented teammates like Rori Harmon and Madison Booker have what it takes to compete for a national championship. What the finance major didn't figure on was that she would reach cult hero status along the way. “It’s just hard work and not trying to earn attention,” Graves said.