Notre Dame women’s basketball crushes Pittsburgh
The way Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey fought for words in Sunday’s postgame press conference, you’d have thought the Fighting Irish did much to warrant angry sideline screaming. That wasn’t the case. The hoarse voice was held over from last Thursday’s buzz-beating thriller versus Louisville.
Sunday at Pitt was much less stressful no matter what Ivey’s voice indicated.
When Notre Dame plays the way it, not a lot of teams are beating the Fighting Irish. Especially not the one at the bottom of the ACC standings. The Irish blew Pittsburgh away from the start in an 83-43 win, marking the widest margin of victory for No. 10 Notre Dame (22-4, 13-3 ACC) in a conference game this season.
Thursday’s buzzer-beater deliverer, sophomore point guard Olivia Miles, shot a subpar 3 of 13 from the field and finished with 10 points, five fewer than her season-long average. It didn’t matter; all nine of Notre Dame’s available scholarship players put in at least 5 points. Sophomore guard Sonia Citron (13), junior forward Maddy Westbeld (13) and graduate student center Lauren Ebo (10) joined Miles in double figures.
“I thought everybody came in and did something really positive to help us on both sides of the ball,” Ivey said. “Today was a great team effort.”
Ebo continued her comeback from an ankle sprain, making her second appearance since Jan. 26. She only played five minutes versus Louisville last week, but she was on the floor for 12 against the Panthers. She grabbed 6 rebounds, 3 apiece on each end of the court, in addition to her 10 points. Notre Dame is much better when Ebo is available to contribute.
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“She’s still restricted, but she’s going to progress as she continues to heal, but she had a chance to get more minutes today which is great,” Ivey said.
Notre Dame only beat Pitt 69-63 in South Bend 10 days prior. Sunday was a sign that with Ebo in the lineup and a collectively determined mindset across the roster, the Irish can be the team they want to be heading into the postseason.
Notre Dame returns home to face Georgia Tech (13-14, 4-12 ACC) on Thursday (6 p.m. ET) before finishing the regular season on Sunday, Feb. 26, at Louisville (20-9, 11-5 ACC).
