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Notre Dame guards lead the Fighting Irish to sixth ranked victory in rout of Cal

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•02/09/25•

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Notre Dame women's basketball players react during the Irish's win over Cal. (Photo by MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Every once in a while, we’re reminded that Sonia Citron would be the best player on just about every team in the country even though she’s just the third-best player on the Notre Dame roster. Sunday was one of those days when she was absolutely in the same class with the top two, Hannah Hidaldo and Olivia Miles.

Hidalgo and Miles scored 24 and 16 points, respectively, in Notre Dame’s 91-52 win over California at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend on Sunday. Citron chipped in with 16 of her own. In turn, the Fighting Irish earned their sixth ranked victory of the season. They’ve won all of those games by double digits, but the triumph over the Bears was by far the biggest of those margins.

Citron did her best Miles and stuffed the stat sheet. She had 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals. Miles finished with 7 rebounds and 6 assists. In a continuation of her national player of the year campaign, Hidalgo contributed 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 rebounds.

Cal kept it somewhat competitive in the first quarter. The Bears only trailed by seven points through 10 minutes of action. Following 20, though, Notre Dame was up by 21, and it was all academic after that. It go to the point in which ACC Network’s broadcasting crew posed the question — can anybody in the conference beat the Irish? Head coach Niele Ivey’s team is undefeated through a dozen league games, and they’ve won those matchup by an average margin of roughly 30 points per game.

Notre Dame has been every bit as dominant as that sounds.

It’s the guards, yes, but the front court has collectively been strong as a unit too. Cass Prosper, Maddy Westbeld, Liatu King and Kate Koval all scored at least 6 points. King had a game-high 13 rebounds. The rebounding has been a major component of Notre Dame’s overall prowess. Owning the glass leads to so many things, like a points in the paint advantage of 46-20, a second-chance points edge of 21-4 and a fast-break points disparity of 18-4.

In the end, though, it’s about putting the ball in the bucket, and Notre Dame has been as good at that as any team in college basketball. The third-best shooting percentage in the country going into the game, Notre Dame shot 56 percent as a team against Cal. When you’re hitting at that rate and doing so many other things well, you’re going to end up winning big.

And that’s what the Irish did.

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