Observations from Notre Dame women's basketball win at Georgia Tech

Most nights, Notre Dame goes as Maya Dodson goes. Thursday was no different.

Dodson knew what the Fighting Irish were up against at Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets’ top two scorers are post players, also known as the graduate senior center’s responsibility defensively. Dodson, who grew up in nearby Alpharetta, Ga., and celebrated a birthday Wednesday, answered the bell during a special week.

Georgia Tech’s Lorela Cubaj and Nerea Hermosa, contributors of over 22 points per game, combined for one point on 0-12 shooting from the floor over 25 minutes into the game. Dodson’s defense was dominant from the start, and it was the leading factor early in No. 19 Notre Dame (20-6, 11-4 ACC) getting out of Atlanta with a 72-66 overtime victory over No. 16 Georgia Tech (19-7, 10-5).

It wasn’t the leading factor late.

Notre Dame started the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead. The Yellow Jackets stormed back to tie the game late in regulation, but the Irish regained their form in the extra period and picked up their biggest road win of the season.

“This win is huge,” head coach Niele Ivey said. “We’ve struggled really finding our identity on the road. We have really struggled this year so we needed to step up and really fight in this game. We came out aggressive, shot the ball well and played well together.”

Here are three observations from Notre Dame’s triumph, one that puts the Irish in the top-four of the conference standings with just over a week left in the regular season. It also keeps them in the conversation to earn a No. 4 seed for the NCAA Tournament, which would allow the first two rounds to be held at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend. Notre Dame is a perfect 12-0 in that building this season.

BOX SCORE: Notre Dame 72, Georgia Tech 66 (OT)

1. Mabrey is the overtime hero

Seven players got minutes for Notre Dame, as expected. Six of them scored first-half points. The only one who didn’t? Dara Mabrey, a sharpshooting senior guard who’s been in as bit of a slump of late.

She broke out of it, if only briefly, when it mattered most.

Mabrey scored her first five points of the game in the fourth quarter. Obviously, Notre Dame needed every one of them. She started overtime with a fast break assist to freshman point guard Olivia Miles to give Notre Dame the lead again. This time, the Irish didn’t relinquish it. And Mabrey was a major reason why.

She commanded the offense when Miles left the game momentarily with an apparent elbow injury. She hit a big mid-range jumper late in the shot clock and scored three the old-fashioned way to give the Irish a five-point lead with 1:23 left. If there was such a thing as overtime MVP, it would have been Mabrey.

“She delivered when we needed her to,” Ivey said. “I know she’s coming off a couple games offensively in which she was struggling shooting and scoring, so for her to step up today in the crucial time that we needed her was absolutely huge.”

Notre Dame football

• How new and old connections on staff led TEs coach Gerad Parker to Notre Dame

2. Dodson does it again

Dodson didn’t record her first double-double in a Notre Dame uniform until Jan. 16. She has had seven in the Irish’s last 11 games, including Thursday’s 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Dodson’s third foul slowed her down in the third quarter, and Cubaj subsequently heated up. Ivey sensed some Georgia Tech momentum early in the fourth, though, and immediately put Dodson back on the floor. Her presence stabilized the Irish’s game at both ends. The Irish still lost a sizable lead but might not have made it to overtime without Dodson.

“I thought Maya was fantastic,” Ivey said.

The double-doubles are nice. They stick out on a stat sheet. But so do blocks, and Dodson had four of those after swatting five Louisville shots in Notre Dame’s loss Sunday. Dodson went into the game ranked ninth nationally in blocked shots. It’s not just the blocks that matter, either. There are plenty of possessions in which the mere thought of a Dodson block deters opponents from driving into the paint or taking shots from the shaded area.

Just ask Cubaj.

3. Miles gets back to dishing the rock

Miles went into the game averaging 7.0 assists per game, second most in the country. But in her last six, she had only reached that number once. Thursday, the playmaker got back to doing her thing in that regard.

Notre Dame led by as many as 16 points in the first half. Miles’ clear control of the offense contributed mightily to that. She didn’t try to do too much. She made sure the ball got to Dodson in the post and facilitated it evenly elsewhere. It’s not a coincidence seven Notre Dame players scored at least four points. All five starters had at least 10.

Miles managing the offense will do that. She was in and out of the game in overtime because of an elbow injury she sustained late in the game, but she connected on two clutch free throws to give Notre Dame a four-point lead with 24 seconds left.

“She played a ton of minutes, and they were hard-fought minutes,” Ivey said.