On Sunday night at Purcell Pavilion, No. 3 Notre Dame women’s basketball advanced to 16-2 on the season and 7-0 in ACC play with an 88-64 takedown of SMU (10-9, 2-5 ACC). The Irish now have won 11 consecutive games and remain a perfect 16-0 in the United States this year.
Notre Dame opened the frigid evening with good news on the Hannah Hidalgo availability front. The sophomore guard would play after a 10-day, two-game absence caused by an ankle injury suffered Jan. 9 against Wake Forest.
The 5-foot-6 phenom seemed just fine on Sunday, leading the Irish in scoring and minutes during a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double. She also added five steals defensively, balancing out an 0-for-6 night from three-point land.
“She’s 100 percent,” Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said of Hidalgo. “... I thought she was very active defensively, and she brings us a spark, so it’s just great to have another dynamic guard back in the rotation.”
SMU gave the Irish some trouble early, taking an 8-5 lead and going into the second quarter down only five points. Jessica Peterson starred out of the gate at center for the Mustangs, posting eight points and seven rebounds in the opening 10 minutes. She would finish the night with a double-double, but so would Notre Dame graduate guard Olivia Miles, who posted seven points and four boards in the opening quarter.
Winning the first-quarter turnover margin by four also helped the Irish take and hold onto the lead, satisfying an area in which Ivey wanted her team to improve from Thursday’s win against Georgia Tech.
Taking care of the ball “was the emphasis today, and I thought that helped with our offense because we made some really good reads,” she said.
Notre Dame would keep building the lead throughout quarters two and three by rolling out a red carpet to the free-throw line. The Irish took 17 of their 25 total foul shots in the middle two quarters alone, widening their advantage to 61-38 after 30 minutes of play.
“It’s really important, and I love getting to the free throw line that many times,” Ivey said. “... We have so many available weapons that can score and so much versatility on this court, so we have a lot of dynamic players that know how to make plays and get to the free throw line.”
Junior guard Cassandre Prosper also made her mark in the third quarter, hauling in all four of her offensive rebounds. She and graduate forward Maddy Westbeld each hauled down four boards on the offensive night over the course of the game.
“[Prosper’s] been awesome the last couple games — just bringing such great energy,” Ivey said. “She’s a spark. Everything that she’s doing is just fantastic … Her deflections, her activity on the boards — she’s just playing tremendous basketball.”
“Getting offensive rebounds — that’s what I can do to bring to this team. And that’s something that I can control, also,” Prosper explained. “I feel like rebounds — [with] shots, you don’t know if it’s gonna go in — but rebounding, that’s what I can control. Defense, that’s what I can control, so I’m just gonna go out there and go get it.”
Prosper, a key part of Notre Dame’s ability to navigate injuries throughout November, has hit her stride over the past three games. During that stretch, she’s averaging 9.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game on an efficient 11-for-19 shooting clip.
“I tweaked a little bit of my shot alignment, but mostly I think getting reps and getting comfortable in the offense has been a big thing,” Prosper said. “Also, I feel like my teammates trust me. They’re passing the ball to shoot it, so I’m gonna shoot it.”
As Notre Dame closed out the victory in the fourth quarter, four different scorers finished with at least 10 points. Hidalgo and Miles combined for 40 and 20 rebounds, while senior guard Sonia Citron posted 11 points and graduate forward Liatu King tacked on 10. Each Irish player who logged at least five minutes finished the game with a positive plus-minus rating.
“It just shows the team playing the right way. They all play for each other,” Ivey described. “We’re building chemistry — every game is a different lineup, so we’re still kind of building that chemistry amongst each other. But they’re very unselfish, and they kind of play off each other.”
Zanai Jones led SMU with 20 points, while Nya Robertson tallied 16 and Peterson notched a 13-point, 13-rebound double-double.
The only downside to Notre Dame’s 24-point win was its three-point shooting. Typically one of the nation’s premier teams from distance, the Irish were 2-for-18 from beyond the arc on Sunday.
“I think it’s just more of a mental thing,” Ivey assessed. “These are great shooters, so the ball’s gonna drop the next game.”
Up next, the Irish will take a three-game road trip that includes visits to Boston College on Jan. 23, Virginia Tech on Jan. 30 and Louisville on Feb. 2. The Eagles (12-8, 3-4 ACC) are already nearing their overall and conference win totals from last season and most recently blew out Syracuse at home on Sunday. They have struggled badly, however, against four ranked opponents, losing by a combined 26.5 points to Ole Miss, Duke, NC State and North Carolina.
Meanwhile, the Hokies and Cardinals have both experienced down years after spending all of last season in the national rankings. Despite the struggles, both squads reached the Elite Eight as recently as 2023 and play in challenging ACC atmospheres.
“The league is incredibly tough — you have to show up every night and have that ‘road warrior’ mentality,” Ivey said. “We’ve been in tough environments all season, so we’ll be ready for it, but you just have to come out and make sure that you play your best game on the road.”
Notre Dame will meet Boston College inside Conte Forum at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
