Looking for their 13th straight win and a 9-0 start to ACC play, the No. 3-ranked Irish took on the Virginia Tech Hokies (14-6, 5-4 ACC) on the road. They emerged with a 77-61 victory but were made to work for it.
The Hokies led for the majority of the first half, finding success defensively and controlling the pace of the game. They held the Irish to 36 first-half points, well under their explosive 87.5 per-game scoring pace. On the other end, Carys Baker and Matilda Ekh carried the scoring load, the two combining for 12 of Tech’s 32 points. However, after taking their first lead of the game behind an 8-2 run to end the half, the Irish did not look back after the break. They quickly asserted their dominance on the defensive end, turning up the ball pressure and forcing six third-quarter turnovers, many of which led to easy transition buckets.
“In the second half, we locked in, picked up full court, forcing turnovers, got really a lot of energy from that,” head coach Niele Ivey said. “I thought our guards did a great job of just trying to turn their guards in the backcourt, got some steals, some easy buckets — just thought they were more locked in in the second half.”
Sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo’s nine-point first half was quiet by her lofty standards. The third quarter was a different story. The Preseason ACC Player of the Year and the country’s second-leading scorer single-handedly outscored Virginia Tech’s entire team in the quarter. She put up 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, sinking two three-pointers and making all six of her free throws. The nation’s leader in steals also headed the defensive effort, setting the tone by picking up Hokie guards at full-court.
“She's just an Energizer bunny, so she's never going to stop,” Ivey described. “She's dynamic and she loves a battle, and no matter what the scenario or the situation, she's going to fight, so I thought she just really turned it on in the second half.”
Her efforts gave Notre Dame a commanding 15-point lead going into the fourth. Virginia Tech was kept at arm’s length for the entirety of the final period. When the Hokies got within 10, the closest they would get in the quarter, the Irish quickly answered with a 6-0 run to put their hopes to bed. Notre Dame would coast through the final minutes on the way to another impressive ACC win. Hidalgo continued to put her fingerprints all over the game, hitting the 30-point threshold en route to her highest scoring total in an ACC game this season. Her backcourt partner, graduate student Olivia Miles, didn’t have her best shooting night but still added 15 points of her own, the two accounting for more than half the team’s scoring. Notre Dame also got quality minutes from graduate forward Liza Karlen off the bench.
“I thought Liza was amazing today,” Ivey said. “I thought she came in with such great poise. She was 5 for 5 — I thought she had an incredible week of practice, but also just her presence today was much-needed.”
The Marquette transfer had 12 points and five rebounds without missing a shot all night. Notre Dame’s 22 points scored off of turnovers combined with a second-half onslaught of threes powered it to the win. After a cold start from behind the arc, the Irish shot 5 of 9 from three-point land in the second half, finishing the game with five more makes than Virginia Tech.
Ivey was proud of her team’s performance going on the road in a competitive environment.
“I thought that again there was a lot of lessons learned today,” Ivey said. “Just battling, being down seven in the first quarter, finding a way to fight back through some adversity — just huge win, huge ACC win for us.”
It didn’t look perfect at times for Notre Dame, but ACC road contests rarely tend to be straightforward, especially against a very well-coached Virginia Tech team.
After improving to 18-2 and 9-0 in ACC play, Notre Dame sets its sights on a trip to Kentucky to face the Louisville Cardinals (15-6, 8-2 ACC) on Sunday. The Irish will then take on Stanford next Thursday before taking on No. 19 Cal, both games at home. The Cardinals, who are positioned fourth in the conference, could pose a challenge. They dropped a disappointing game to the Hokies before bouncing back in their two most recent games, a pair of road wins over Virginia and SMU. Their only win over a currently-ranked team this season is a 69-60 triumph over No. 20 Georgia Tech, but they’ve played competitive losses against No. 13 Oklahoma and No. 1 UCLA in the season opener. Otherwise, they have taken care of business against lesser opponents, particularly in conference play, where they remain within striking distance of the top spot.
The upcoming matchup with the Irish begins what will be a season-defining gauntlet for the Cardinals, one which includes No. 25 Florida State, No. 10 Duke, No. 15 UNC and No. 3 Notre Dame again on the road to close out the year. Louisville has spread the love on offense this season, with four starters averaging in double-figures. Standout freshman Tajianna Roberts, a five-star recruit out of San Diego, has paced the Cardinals in the backcourt, delivering a team-high 12.6 points per game along with almost two steals on the defensive end. Her backcourt partner, senior Jayda Curry, is right behind her averaging 11.7 per game. The frontcourt pairing of Olivia Cochran and Nyla Harris has played well together, the two combining for 20 and 11 rebounds per game, with Harris shooting just over 60 percent from the field.
Despite its impressive conference record, Louisville ranks middle of the pack statistically on both sides of the ball. Not a great three-point shooting or rebounding team, its greatest strength lies in the ability to create turnovers, forcing nearly 20 per game, which is tied for the highest number in the conference. If there was a single area to nitpick this Irish team on its winning run, it would be in the turnover department, especially early in games. Despite eventually coasting to another double-digit win on Thursday, the Irish once again started slowly behind an 11-turnover half. While the Hokies were unable to capitalize on them, Notre Dame would end up giving the ball away 20 times in the game. If there is any path to victory against this team right now, and there doesn’t seem to be many, it could be there.
With that said, most signs point to another Notre Dame win on Sunday. Their two-game hiccup early in the season seems to be left in the past. Behind the prolific play of Hidalgo and Miles, and with a fully healthy roster after some early-season injury concerns, the Irish seem to have too much firepower for almost anyone in the country.
Tip-off is set for noon on Feb. 2 at the KFC Yum! Center with ESPN2 providing the broadcast.
