GET BEHIND ME DEVILS
The Notre Dame Women’s basketball team continues their remarkable run this season as they take down the #11 Duke Blue Devils 64-49 in front of the home crowd at Purcell Pavilion.
From the ND press release:
No. 1 Notre Dame Earns Seventh Ranked Win, Beats No. 11 Duke
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Hours after taking the top spot in the AP Poll on Monday, No. 1 Notre Dame (23-2, 14-0) defended its home court by earning a seventh ranked win by 10+ points this season, defeating No. 11 Duke (20-6, 11-3), 64-49. It is Duke’s second lowest point total this season and the fourth time this year Notre Dame has held an opponent under 50 points. The Irish are now 26-5 all-time as the No. 1 team in the country.
It was truly a team effort across the board. Hannah Hidalgo led the pack with 19 points, and Sonia Citron had 15 with 7 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals and a block. Maddy Westbeld also went 4-5 from the field and 2-3 from the floor. Liatu King added 11 rebounds, while Olivia Miles and Kate Koval had 7 boards each in addition to Citron.
Both teams were hot out of the gate, with Duke going 5-6 from the floor and Notre Dame 4-5. Westbeld hit a triple to start, and Miles followed it with her own trey from near the logo. The teams cooled off from there, finishing the quarter 3-9 and 2-7 from the field, respectively. Duke had a 19-16 lead after 10. Duke guard Taina Mair led all scorers with 9 points and a 4-4 showing. The Blue Devils also outscored Notre Dame 7-0 in points off turnovers.
The second quarter provided the defensive show everyone thought would happen. Notre Dame outscored Duke 13-8 and neither team shot over 30 percent. Of the 13 points, 5 came at the charity stripe and 5 total came from Citron. There were five lead changes and nine ties in Q2, but the Irish took a 29-27 lead into the locker room. Notre Dame still has not trailed at halftime this season.
Citron took over out of the locker room, too. She scored Notre Dame’s first 6 points of the half and had a nasty block on a 3-point attempt by Duke’s Ashlon Jackson. Notre Dame went on an 11-0 run powered by 3 Citron steals and a King defensive rebound that led to 8 fast break points over 2:18.
Notre Dame stretched the lead as high as 18 in the third quarter and 16 of the 21 points scored came in the paint. Citron, Hidalgo, Koval and Miles each hit a pair of buckets, and the freshman Koval had 3 boards and 4 points in the frame off the bench. The Irish had a 15-point lead with one quarter to go, 50-35. Notre Dame had 33 rebounds after three quarters, over Duke’s surrendered season average per game of 31.7.
The Irish held it down in a final quarter that ended 14-14 to give Notre Dame a 15-point win.
Notre Dame heads back on the road this week to face Miami (13-12, 3-11) and No. 13 NC State (20-5, 12-2) on Thursday and Sunday, respectively.
