Notre Dame women’s basketball cruises to seventh ranked win with second-half surge vs. Duke
Duke threw everything it had at Notre Dame in the first half at Purcell Pavilion on Thursday. The first three points of the game, a 5-0 spurt late in the first frame to go up by the same number of points, stifling defense that held the Fighting Irish below 20 points until the midway point of the second quarter. A whole heckuva lot.
Wasn’t enough.
Notre Dame ended the second quarter with five consecutive points of its own to take a two-point lead into halftime, and just like that it was over — for all intents and purposes. Duke never led again. The No. 1 Irish (23-2, 14-0 ACC) made sure the No. 11 Blue Devils (20-6, 11-3) wouldn’t.
Including the 5-0 run at the end of the second quarter and the 17-1 run Notre Dame began the second half with — yes, 17-1 — the Irish built an 18-point lead in a blink. They cruised to their seventh ranked victory of the season, 64-49, all of which have been by double digits. They’ve won 18 games in a row overall, too. At the moment, simply unbeatable.
National Player of the Year candidate Hannah Hidalgo was the catalyst for Notre Dame’s 22-1 run. During it, she had 5 points and 3 assists. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but she was all over the floor defensively during that stretch too. Duke scored one single point in 8:04 game time. Hidalgo is always on the front line when the Irish completely shut an opponent down to that degree.
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Hidalgo had 3 steals and many more steal-inducing plays, if you will. She often affects opposing ball handlers to the point of turning it over. She might not get the steal in those scenarios, but it’s like an edge rusher pressuring a quarterback into an interception. Everyone watching understands who was at the forefront of the pivotal play.
Pivotal plays. Notre Dame makes so many of them. And it’s not just Hidalgo, who finished with 19 points, 4 assists. It’s senior guard Sonia Citron’s own maddening — for the opposition — defense. And her shotmaking. Graduate senior Maddy Westbeld’s sound defense and shotmaking as well. Senior guard Olivia Miles going Steph Curry at times with bullseye three-point shots from long range and Magic Johnson at other times with the way she carves from coast to coast and either finishes in mesmerizing fashion herself or dishes off to a teammate for an easy bucket.
Graduate senior forward Liatu King had 5 offensive rebounds. Freshman center Kate Koval had 4. It’s the oldest players on the team. It’s the youngest. It’s everybody. Notre Dame is four wins away from an undefeated journey through conference play because of the widespread contributions. Next up is a road game at Miami on Thursday.
