The Notre Dame women’s basketball team faced Northwestern on the road onWednesday night. It was an impressive performance for the squad as a whole. The collective efforts from both defense and offense helped the team emerge as winners 92-58, improving their season record to 3-0. 

Sophomore guard Sonia Citron shined on the court, leading all scorers with 24 points for the Irish. Citron, who was named the ACC Rookie of the Year last season, was a force on the court, playing 35 minutes and knocking down four of five three pointers.

The beginning of the game had Notre Dame continuously increasing their lead for the first few minutes, scoring nine points before Northwestern scored their first. The Wildcats struggled to catch up to the Irish, and were unsuccessful in closing the point gap in the first quarter, and for the duration of the game.

The first quarter ended with a score of 21-14 in Notre Dame’s favor. Graduate student center Lauren Ebo was a notable player, scoring 11 of those points in the five minutes she was on the court during the quarter on 5-5 shooting. Ebo was the third highest scorer of the night, with a total of 19 points.

Going into the second quarter, the Irish maintained a comfortable lead against the Wildcats, who scored a total 16 points in the period, which turned out to be their highest scoring period of the night. Notre Dame’s defense was impressive the entire night and prevented the any individual Northwestern player from scoring double digits. The Irish, meanwhile, rode a balanced scoring attack with three players with at least 19 points.

In the third quarter, the Irish offense really stepped up and scored consistently on the Wildcats’ defense. Notre Dame was able to secure a 30 point lead by the end of the period, nearly doubling the 17 point lead they had at the beginning of the quarter. Sophomore guard Olivia Miles, the night’s second highest scorer, contributed nine points in the frame. Miles, however, also received a number of fouls throughout the game, and after receiving her second technical foul of the night was removed from the game and was unable to play for the remainder of the night. 

To wrap up the contest, the Irish scored 19 points in the 4th quarter to Northwestern’s 15, securing the win with a score of 92-58.

Notre Dame continues to move through their season with comfortable wins over their opponents, and have made for a strong start for head coach Niele Ivey’s third season. 

The Irish will face the Ball State Cardinals in their upcoming game on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Purcell Pavilion. 

Contact Lucia Aguzzi at [email protected].