Olivia Miles had 617 days to envision her return to the floor in a Notre Dame uniform. With highlight-reel handles, jaw-dropping assists and thrilling buzzer-beaters at her disposal, the graduate guard brought endless possibilities to the 2024-25 season opener.
As her comeback game approached, Miles’ videographer made one request.
“First game back I need a triple-double,” she recalled him demanding.
In her first official game since suffering a torn ACL on Feb. 26, 2023, Miles made good on the order. Her 21-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double – the fourth of her career – put Notre Dame on the fast track to a 105-61 pummeling of Mercyhurst on Monday.
“It’s awesome to see those meaningless words at the time come to fruition,” Miles said.
Head coach Niele Ivey pointed to pristine passing as the highlight of Miles’ day. So did graduate forward Liatu King, who kept her head on a swivel and turned in a 24-point, 11-rebound double-double in her Notre Dame debut.
“Sometimes I don’t even know when she’s gonna throw the ball,” King joked.
King, another top story from Notre Dame’s 44-point thrashing, transferred from Pittsburgh to Notre Dame in May after finishing last season a First Team All-ACC selection. She looked the part in Monday’s win, repeatedly turning Miles dimes into Irish deuces.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” King said about her debut. “It’s fun to have such loving fans who care about you.”
One of three Notre Dame starters taller than Mercyhurst’s tallest player, King paced an Irish clinic on the interior. Scoring 82 points in the paint, Notre Dame shot an impressive 60% from the floor and jumped to a commanding 30-8 lead within the first nine minutes. The Irish would cruise the rest of the way, finding easy buckets underneath while outscoring the Lakers in all four quarters.
“One of our keys is showing dominance and establishing our inside presence, so I thought [the players] did a great job of that,” Ivey said.
The success inside reached the defensive end of the floor, too. There, freshman forward Kate Koval swatted five blocks in her first collegiate game, padding her 18-point and 7-rebound totals. Matched up against Bailey Kuhns, Mercyhurst’s leading scorer from last season, Koval consistently came out on top, shooting an efficient 9-for-11 while holding Kuhns to just 7-for-21.
“Everything is just the first for her, so it shows you how her ceiling is,” Ivey said of Koval. “Her potential is amazing. She has a presence that we have not had in a very long time, so I’m looking forward to what she’s going to continue to bring to Notre Dame.”
“[The forwards] are trying to make this [program] ‘Post U,’ too – not just ‘Guard U’,” Ivey said.
The other starting guards, sophomore Hannah Hidalgo and junior Cassandre Prosper, played just fine themselves. The former tallied 19 points to accompany nine rebounds and six steals. Prosper, playing her first game in over 11 months, checked in with 17 points and five boards. Her bucket with 4:57 to play in the fourth quarter sealed the Miles triple-double, pushing the Notre Dame advantage to 93-55.
Long before the final horn, all five Irish starters had reached double figures. Supplied with just seven women due to lingering injuries, Notre Dame appeared fresh for all 40 minutes.
“I think anybody and everybody can step up,” Ivey said. “We have a ton of weapons, and it’s just one person down and another person steps up.”
Off to a 1-0 start, Notre Dame heads to West Lafayette this Sunday for a 7 p.m. tip-off at Purdue. After the show Miles, King and company put on Monday evening at Purcell Pavilion, Irish fans will have a hard time waiting another six days to watch their sixth-ranked team in the country. Ivey’s excited to get back at it, too.
“[I’m] excited for the season, and [this is a] great way to start this year off with this dub at home,” she said.
