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Notre Dame women's basketball survives at Clemson without guard Hannah Hidalgo

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•about 11 hours•

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westbeld
Notre Dame graduate senior forward Maddy Westbeld. (Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics)

Notre Dame played without sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo for the first time in her first two seasons Sunday. Her absence, due to a rolled ankle suffered late in the game against Wake Forest this past Thursday, was felt.

The Fighting Irish ground out a road victory at Clemson, 67-58, and it was every bit as difficult for head coach Niele Ivey’s team offensively as the final score makes it sound. Without Hidalgo, the National Player of the Year frontrunner in many’s eyes, the Irish offense was clunky, scoring more than 20 points fewer than the season average of 89.1.

“Hannah gets us going, offensively and defensively,” Ivey said. “She has that drive where she can shoot behind the ball screens, she can catch and shoot, she can drive and kick. She finds open players. She’s an explosive scorer. We were missing that today.”

The No. 1 team in the nation in three-point shooting going into the game, Notre Dame only made 3 of 14 shots from deep against the Tigers. Hidalgo is good for 2.5 three-point makes on her own this season, and her unguardability opens up so much for her teammates. The floor was condensed on that side of the court without her.

That doesn’t mean Notre Dame didn’t have anybody to run the operation. Senior guard Olivia Miles played exceptionally at the point, as usual. She finished with 17 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds. She only shot 5 of 12 from the floor, though, and she’d be the first to admit how much easier things are to put the ball through the basket when Hidalgo is playing.

Pitt transfer Liatu King, meanwhile, did not seem to suffer at all from missing Hidalgo. She recorded her team-leading eighth double-double of the season with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

“We don’t ever want to predict something happening to one of our team, but you just got to be ready for whatever the circumstances are,” King said. “You just got to be ready. And that’s what I came in and tried to do today.”

In her third game since making her season debut coming back from foot surgery, fifth-year graduate senior forward Maddy Westbeld made a corner three with 1:44 remaining to extend Notre Dame’s lead to 62-50.

Clemson made some runs, including cutting the deficit to three points on two occasions early in the fourth quarter, but shots like Westbeld’s and critical possession-earning rebounds from King allowed the Irish to hang onto their advantage and even widen it. Notre Dame led for over 35 minutes of game time.

Now 14-2 overall and 5-0 in ACC play, Notre Dame hosts No. 13 Georgia Tech (15-1, 3-1) at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.

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