How Notre Dame women's basketball can get 'payback' against Louisville

Maya Dodson stood with her hands on her hips, beads of sweat dripping down the Notre Dame center’s face.

Her Fighting Irish trailed No. 3 Louisville by 20 points in the third quarter on Feb. 13. No amount of physical exertion from Dodson was going to bring Notre Dame back. Not on the road with the game getting more out of hand by the second. The look on Dodson’s face was one of, “What more can I do?”

That day, not much.

It wasn’t Dodson’s best statistical game by any means. She scored eight points on six shots and grabbed nine rebounds. But she played 36 hard minutes, blocked five shots and snagged six of those boards off the offensive glass. Her effort was there on both ends of the floor. No. 14 Notre Dame (21-6, 13-4 ACC) needs more of the same — and then some — if the Irish have any chance at avenging that loss to No. 4 Louisville (24-3, 15-2) two weeks to the day of its occurrence.

Notre Dame needs it from more than just Dodson, too.

“Collectively, we need to find it,” senior guard Dara Mabrey said. “We can’t have these lapses where we go up and down. Obviously, the game of basketball is a game of runs. But we have to limit the mental mistakes. And I think that comes with having 100% focus and every ounce of energy you can bring.”

Louisville likes to put four guards on the floor at a time and play small ball. When the Cardinals are at their best, they’re speeding things up offensively and slowing things down defensively. Notre Dame succumbed to that two weeks ago. Mabrey scored zero points. Her backcourt mate, freshman Olivia Miles, scored 11 on a subpar 30.1% shooting day. She also only had two assists, well below her season average of 7.1.

The Irish scored two fast break points. That’s not going to cut it for head coach Niele Ivey.

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“Our offense was probably the most stagnant we’ve been in a long time,” she said. “Our shot selection wasn’t what we wanted or what we prepared.”

As much as Ivey wants to play fast, she also wants to go to Dodson in the post much more than Notre Dame did in the first meeting. Six shot attempts for a player who has shown the ability to play well in the paint no matter the opponent was simply not enough.

Sophomore forward Maddy Westbeld attempted a team-high 13 shots, but most of those were mid-range jumpers. She also missed all four of her three-point attempts. Like Dodson, Westbeld stands at 6-3. When Louisville elects to go small, Notre Dame has to exploit that with their forwards.

Dodson will surely give it all she’s got. So will the head coach.

“I want us to come out there and play with heart,” she said. “This is our home. This is the last game before the ACC Tournament. If we play our game, it’s going to be a great game. We’re going to be ready for them.”

“It’s a chance for us to get a little bit of payback,” Ivey added. “We didn’t show Louisville who we really were. I want to come out, compete and play our style of basketball.”

No. 4 Louisville (24-3, 15-2 ACC) at No. 14 Notre Dame (20-6, 12-4)

When: Sunday, Feb. 27 at noon ET

Where: Purcell Pavilion (South Bend, Ind.)

TV: ESPN

NET rankings: Notre Dame 18, Louisville 4

Last meeting: Louisville won 73-46 on Feb. 13 in Louisville, Ky.

Series history: Notre Dame leads 16-10

Pregame notes and quotes

• Notre Dame can lock up the No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament with a victory.

– A Notre Dame win would be the second this season over a top-five opponent; the Irish beat then-No. 3 NC State 69-66 on Feb. 1.

• Senior guard Abby Prohaska will not be available, but she could return to action as soon as Friday’s ACC Tournament quarterfinals.

– Notre Dame can finish the regular season a perfect 14-0 at home with a win.

• Ivey: “Oh my gosh, it would mean everything. To finish the regular season protecting home court would be amazing. That’s definitely a goal and something I’m sure nobody thought was going to be possible.”