After the Notre Dame women’s basketball team finished its last game with a big, 102-58 win over Purdue on Sunday, the Irish now prepare to face off against the James Madison University Dukes for the first time since 1988. While both teams have won all of their games so far, the two teams have only met twice historically. In the 1985-1986 season where the Dukes took a close, 53-51 win and in the 1988-1989 season where the Dukes took a second 65-49 win over the Irish.
Notre Dame has finished with over 100 points in each of its games so far.
Starting with their exhibition game against the Davenport Panthers, the Irish took a 101-41 win. At the end of the game, multiple Irish basketball players hit double digits in the game. Sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo led for the Irish as she finished with 31 points, nine assists and four blocks, graduate guard Olivia Miles finished her first game with 15 points, nine assists and two steals and graduate forward Liatu King finished with a high total of 27 points.
In the first non-exhibition game of the season, the Irish faced off against the Mercyhurst Lakers for the first time ever and took a 105-61 win.
Five players heavily contributed to this success, King finishing with a total of 24 points, Miles with 20, Hidalgo with 19, freshman forward Kate Koval with 18 and sophomore guard Cassandre Prosper with 17. This was also a momentous occasion for Miles as finishing with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists earned her the fourth triple-double, making her the first player in ACC history to achieve this in three different basketball seasons.
The most recent game that the Irish played was against the Purdue Boilermakers, where they took the 102-58 win.
Hidalgo led on the court for the Irish in this game as she finished with a total of 28 points. Three others joined her in double digits, King finishing the night with 18, Miles with 17 and senior guard Sonia Citron rounding out the night with 14 points. King led the team on defense as she posted 15 rebounds, and Koval also set a personal record as she finished the night with 10 rebounds.
The James Madison University Dukes have a similar schedule, as they are also 3-0 on the season so far. But the Dukes, seemingly unlike the Irish, haven taken their wins on a lower scoring scale.
The first game that the team played was against Kent State, where the Dukes took a close, 67-56 win. Graduate guard Ro Scott led on the court for the Dukes as she finished with a total of 19 points, redshirt senior guard Jamia Hazell finished with 15 points, senior forward Ashanti Barnes added 13 points and sophomore guard Zakiya Stephenson finished with five points.
The second game was a big win from James Madison, as it finished with an 85-54 win over Loyola Maryland. Barnes, redshirt senior center Kseniia Kozlova and redshirt junior guard Peyton McDaniel all posted 16 points for the Dukes throughout the game, freshman guard and forward Angela Williams put up 14 points for the Dukes and Hazell added 11 points. Defensively, Kozlova added on 10 rebounds, Williams added on six and Barnes added on five for the Dukes.
The third game was also a close game for James Madison as the final score was 57-51 against East Carolina. McDaniel set a season high in this game as she finished with 17 points to lead the team, redshirt senior forward Annalicia Goodman finished with 11 points, Kozlova finished the game with a total of 10 points and Scott finished the game with eight points. On defense, McDaniel led with a season best of 14 rebounds followed by Kozlova, who finished with eight rebounds.
The Irish will face off against the Dukes at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13 in Purcell Pavilion.
