Notre Dame has picked up five ranked victories midway through the month of January, and they have a chance to pick up another one on Thursday against the 17th ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
Photo via Notre Dame Athletics
Since losing to Utah on Nov. 30 in the Cayman Islands, things have gone about as well as they can for the third ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. After losing back-to-back games at the end of November, the Irish are on a nine-game win streak, including three ranked victories with two of those being inside the top four. Now with five ranked wins on the season, the Irish have a chance to take the lead for most in the country as 17th ranked Georgia Tech rolls into South Bend.
While Notre Dame enters this one on a hot stretch, the Yellow Jackets cannot say the same, losing their last two games, which are the only losses for them on the year. They have lost by a combined 20 points, first at home to Virginia Tech in double overtime, and then on the road against Louisville.
Sophomore guard, and Women’s Wooden Award favorite Hannah Hidalgo, is expected to be back in the lineup after missing Notre Dame’s previous victory over Clemson. After tweaking her ankle against Wake Forest, head coach Niele Ivey sidelined Hidalgo as a precaution against the Tigers. It was the first time she had missed a game in her college career.
“We were cautious Sunday,” Coach Ivey said. “Getting her in practice, she’s feeling a lot better, so we’re happy with that.”
Hidalgo’s presence will be needed against the Yellow Jackets, who not only have the third highest scoring offense in the ACC (82.4 PPG), but their defense allows the fourth lowest points per game as well (60.5 PPG).
They are led by junior guard Kara Dunn who has been an efficient scorer in her third season with the Yellow Jackets. Not only is Dunn averaging 16 PPG, but she’s doing it on 54.4% shooting, while also grabbing 6.4 rebounds per game. In the double overtime loss on Jan. 9, Dunn put up 33 points and 10 rebounds in her 47 minutes of play.
Alongside Dunn is freshman phenom Dani Carnegie, a Mount Vernon, New York native averaging 15.1 PPG through her first 16 games. However, after injuring her hamstring in just six minutes of play against Virginia Tech, Carnegie is not expected to play on Thursday. Despite not starting a game all season long, Carnegie had put 20 or more points in four of her last five games, including three straight prior to her injury. It has arguably been the main reason for the current skid, something that Notre Dame will certainly attack.
In Carnegie’s absence, junior guard Tonie Morgan has stepped up in a big way, scoring a combined 41 points in her last two games. Those two outings extended Morgan’s streak of double figure scoring performances to seven straight games, averaging 16.3 PPG over that stretch. Despite this, she is coming off one of her worst shooting games of the season, finishing 5-14 with 13 points against Louisville.
Another player the Yellow Jackets have leaned on after losing their second leading scorer has been Atlanta native Chazadi Wright. The freshman guard has seen an increase in her number of shots per game in the last two, however she has knocked down just five of her 17 shots in that span. Wright isn’t going to shy away from shots beyond the perimeter, shooting 30 threes in her last six games.
The well-oiled machine that is the Georgia Tech offense is going to be missing a major part on Thursday, which is going to play in Notre Dame’s favor. Getting Hidalgo back into the lineup would be an issue regardless, but the Yellow Jackets missing their second leading scorer is going to prove to be a backbreaker. However, a team coming in losing their last two is going to be hungrier than ever to pick up a win, especially against one of the top teams in the nation. It should be an exciting matchup, with tipoff set for 6 p.m. in Purcell Pavilion.
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