The freshly-appointed number one team in the country, Notre Dame Women’s Basketball, defended their home court and their new ranking on Monday evening when they defeated the 11th-ranked Blue Devils 64-49.
Photo via Notre Dame Athletics
Duke opened the game by bringing the pressure to the Irish early and often, allowing the Blue Devils to take a 19-16 lead following the first quarter. Duke’s Taina Mair led all scorers with nine points on 4-4 shooting including a three. Notre Dame’s offense was led by Hannah Hidalgo with six points and Maddy Westbeld with five on 2-3 shooting including a three. Irish leading rebounder, Liatu King, exited with around 3:00 minutes remaining in the quarter after taking a hard fall and the Irish struggled to get things going offensively in her absence. She would return in the second quarter.
The back-and-forth contest continued into a low-scoring second quarter. Both offenses went ice-cold in the first 4:59 of the frame as Notre Dame outscored the Blue Devils just 1-0 in that span. The offenses did pick it up in the final five minutes of the half but it was the Irish’s 5-0 run in the final 2:17 of the quarter that put the home squad up 29-27 heading into the break. Sonia Citron led all second-quarter scorers with five points including a three.
While Duke held Notre Dame to their lowest first-half total of the season, their offense struggled too as they shot just 1-7 from three to open the game. However, the Blue Devils entered halftime outscoring the Irish 9-0 in points off turnovers and 7-2 in bench points. It was their 2:48 scoring drought to end the second quarter that allowed the Irish to hold a halftime advantage.
An explosive Notre Dame third quarter ultimately gave the Irish the winning edge as they outscored Duke 21-8 in the frame. Four different Irish scorers scored four or more points in the quarter as Citron led the way with six points and two rebounds in eight minutes played. The Blue Devils offense struggled tremendously in the quarter, shooting just 2-11 from the field as Notre Dame opened the first 5:01 on a 17-2 run to extend their lead to 18. Duke ended the quarter on a 7-4 run as the Irish entered the final quarter leading 50-35.
The fourth quarter was hard-fought from both sides, as they each added 14 points apiece in an effort that was too late from the Blue Devils. Duke cut the Irish lead to 12 midway through the quarter but Hidalgo’s six points were too much for the visitors to handle.
Notre Dame completely flipped the script in the second half to extend their winning streak to 18 games. Duke shot just 0-2 from three in the half and the Irish’s 11 forced turnovers handed Notre Dame the 64-49 victory.
Irish Stars:
Hannah Hidalgo: 19 points (6-6 FTs), 4 assists, 3 steals, +15
Sonia Citron: 15 points (4-4 FTs), 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, +14
Maddy Westbeld: 11 points (4-5 FGs, 2-3 3FGs), 2 steals, 2 blocks, +18
Liatu King: 11 rebounds, 2 steals, +13
Key Team Stats:
Field Goal Percentage: ND (40%) - Duke (38%)
Three Point Percentage: ND (33%) - Duke (11%)
Total Rebounds: ND (41) - Duke (28)
Fastbreak Points: ND (14) - Duke (6)
Steals: ND (11) - Duke (8)
Coming this week, the Irish hit the road for a Thursday matchup in Miami with the ‘Canes before a Sunday battle with the 13th-ranked NC State Wolfpack in Raleigh.
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