Niele Ivey and her top-ranked gals stay perfect in the ACC
The Notre Dame women’s basketball team is the number one team in the country — and they continue to play that way as they completely blowout the Miami Hurricanes on the road, 82-42.
From the ND press release:
No. 1 Notre Dame Stays Perfect in ACC, Topples Miami, 82-42
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Top-ranked Notre Dame (24-2, 15-0) continued its winning ways on Thursday night at Miami (13-13, 3-12), downing the Hurricanes, 82-42. It is Notre Dame’s 19th consecutive win and seventh ACC victory this season by 30+ points.
Four Irish scored in double-figures with Sonia Citron leading the way (19). Hannah Hidalgo had 18, Olivia Miles had 14 and Liatu King had 13. King added 13 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season.
Ivey wanted to set the tone defensively to start, and her group was up to the task. Notre Dame started on a 10-0 run during which Miami went 0-9 from the field. Hidalgo had a block and a steal, and Westbeld had a pair of blocks and a steal. Hidalgo’s additional pressure on Hurricanes point guard Hanna Cavinder forced her to lose control and turn the ball over twice as well.
Miami countered with a mini 6-0 run of its own out of the media timeout, but the buckets were the only of the first quarter for the home team. Notre Dame had an 18-6 lead after 10 minutes. It is the sixth time this season an opponent has failed to reach 10 points in the first quarter.
The second quarter was an efficient one for the visitors who went 8-14 from the floor. Notre Dame ended the half on an 8-0 run and went 4-4 in its final four attempts.
Citron continued her hot streak from the last few games, as she went 5-5 from the floor and 2-2 from beyond the arc, leading all players with 12 points and 6 rebounds at the break. Hidalgo had 10 points and went 5-5 from the charity stripe after picking up a pair of early fouls. Miami went 6-34 from the floor and 0-9 from deep.
The Irish came out cold in the second half but took it back up a notch after the media timeout, making six of eight shots to close Q3. Notre Dame doubled up the Hurricanes entering the final frame on a 3-pointer just before the buzzer by Citron, who had 7 points in the frame. It was 56-28 in favor of the Irish.
Notre Dame closed out the game on a 16-2 run fueled by 9 points and 4 boards from King in Q4. Of the 26 points scored, 18 came in the paint.
By the buzzer, Miami did not hit a 3-pointer in 16 tries, and Citron and Co. held Miami’s leading scorer and major offensive threat Haley Cavinder to 8 points and a 4-15 showing from the floor.
The Irish have another road game this weekend, this time at No. 13 NC State. The game on ESPN starts at noon, and ESPN’s College GameDay will be live from Raleigh before the game.
