How Notre Dame women’s basketball overcame 23 turnovers to beat Syracuse

Niele Ivey put her hands behind her back and slumped her shoulders. The Notre Dame head coach peered up at the rafters at Purcell Pavilion as if to ask a simple question with a complicated, indirect answer.

Really?

Freshman point guard Olivia Miles pushed the ball in transition to senior guard Dara Mabrey, who lobbed a pass to freshman combo guard Sonia Citron in no man’s land under the basket. She tried to flick the ball back to Mabrey, but it was intercepted by a Syracuse player.

Head-raising from Ivey. Turnover No. 20 for the No. 20 Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame finished the night with 23 of them and still survived every last one. Rather handily, in fact. The Irish beat the Orange 83-62 to complete a regular-season sweep of the ACC foe. The game wasn’t as much of a blowout as the final score suggested, though.

Notre Dame men’s basketball

• Fighting Irish hold off North Carolina State, 73-65

• Where the latest mock draft churn pegs Notre Dame fast-rising NBA prospect Blake Wesley

Notre Dame (15-4, 6-2 ACC) finished the game on a 10-2 scoring run. The Irish took their first double-digit lead of the night with less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter. It was a scrappy slugfest up until then, and Notre Dame did all it could to let Syracuse (8-10, 1-7) hang around into the later rounds.

“We chilled out, got it under control and finished strong,” junior forward Sam Brunelle said.

The Irish were in and out of control for the first 30 minutes, meanwhile.

BOX SCORE

Miles came close to setting a new career high in turnovers. She had seven of the Irish’s 23. Five Notre Dame players had at least three, Brunelle being one of them, and they came in all sorts of styles. Traveling violations. Offensive fouls. Errant passes. Lackadaisical ball handling.

It was just one of those nights — almost worse than any other. The Irish’s season high in turnovers came in the overtime loss to Georgia back in November. They coughed up 25 of them then. Thursday slotted in as a close second. It felt destined to set a new mark until Notre Dame, er, chilled out.

“We overcomplicated things,” Ivey said. “I felt like we just had to keep it simple, and we finally did that more in the second half. Definitely the fourth quarter.”

Notre Dame football

• 2022 Notre Dame football depth chart projection, analysis: Defensive end

• PFF, ESPN release updated NFL Draft projections for Notre Dame’s Kyle Hamilton

The final frame was a poster of what winning basketball looks like. Over 58% shooting from the field, 9 of 11 free throws through the back of the net, just three turnovers and 15 Irish rebounds to the Orange’s six. To get there, Notre Dame endured 30 minutes of rafter-peering, what-the-heck-is-going-on basketball.

In good ways and bad.

The turnovers told most of the story, but the Irish connected on eight three-pointers in the first half alone. They averaged 5.4 per game before Thursday. They also doubled the Orange up on the glass, winning the rebounding battle 58-29 by the end of the night. Freshman guards Miles and Citron accounted for 22 of those.

“We have versatility in our guard play that can help us rebound,” Ivey said. “Sam, Maddy [Westbeld] and Maya [Dodson] are three incredible post players that do a great job inside. We talk about running and playing at pace, and we can’t do that if we don’t get the rebound. So that’s something we really focus on.”

Syracuse does not have a Brunelle. Or Westbeld. Or Dodson. The Orange were outworked and outmatched in the fourth quarter. A five-player rotation held its own for three-fourths of the game, but by the time the Irish put the pedal down in the fourth Syracuse had nothing left in the tank. Only one player came off the bench all night for the Orange. She played nine minutes. Four Syracuse players played 39 minutes or more.

“I knew they were battling some injuries and some of their forwards didn’t even travel,” Ivey said. “So that was an area that we talked about making sure we continued to get out and run because their numbers were low. I’ve been in that position as a player and an assistant coach. I understand how hard that grind is.”

Postgame notes

• Olivia Miles almost recorded her second triple double of the season. She had 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. She was joined in double-figure scoring by Brunelle (15), Citron (13), Dodson (13), Mabrey (12) and Westbeld (10).

• Niele Ivey announced sophomore forward Natalija Marshall will miss the rest of the season with a meniscus injury. Marshall missed last season recovering from an ACL tear. She played in 13 games this season with 3.2 points per game in 8.5 minutes per game.

• Dodson had three blocks to record her 10th game of the season with at least three. She upped her season total to 50. She entered the game ranked ninth nationally.

• Citron started in place of senior guard Anaya Peoples for just the second time this season. Peoples was not available to play the first time. Citron scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting while snagging a team-high 12 rebounds. Peoples did not score and had two rebounds in 13 minutes.

• Ivey on the lineup change: “I just wanted to shake things up. [Citron] has been playing really well. I feel like I have multiple starters on this team. So just shaking the lineup up.”