Still riding a perfect 5-0 start to ACC play, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women’s basketball team welcomed the student body back to Purcell Pavilion for Thursday evening’s clash with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
Having not lost since back-to-back defeats in the Cayman Islands over Thanksgiving, the 14-2 Irish have held steady at No. 3 in the national ranking, while Georgia Tech sits at No. 17 following their 15-2 start to the campaign. Thursday would be Notre Dame’s sixth ranked matchup of the season, after previously collecting wins against No. 8 UConn and No. 4 Texas, as well as at No. 17 North Carolina and No. 3 USC.
After head coach Niele Ivey said Wednesday that she “anticipated” star sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo would play, the Wooden Award frontrunner missed her second straight contest with an ankle injury. Despite the absence of Hidalgo’s nearly 26 points per night, the Irish were able to scratch out a narrow, 67-58 victory at Clemson on Sunday behind graduate forward Liatu King’s 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Thursday did mark the first start of the season for fan favorite Maddy Westbeld after returning from foot surgery. The graduate forward from Kettering, Ohio ranks 16th in scoring in program history and has also been named to the All-ACC Second Team the prior two seasons.
“It was an incredible blessing to be out there playing again, and to be able to start in front of the home crowd was amazing,” Westbeld said postgame.
The Yellow Jackets would also be without one of their stars, as talented freshman Dani Carnegie missed her second straight game after suffering a hamstring injury in their double overtime loss to Virginia Tech. Coming off the bench, Carnegie has averaged 15.1 points per game on 42.1% shooting from beyond the arc, helping the Yellow Jackets to open with 15 straight wins prior to consecutive losses to the Hokies and at Louisville.
This one didn’t start much better for Georgia Tech, as it came up empty on its opening seven shots of the night, allowing Notre Dame to race out to a quick 9-0 advantage. Despite seven first quarter points from Westbeld, Georgia Tech battled back, and a Tonie Morgan triple at the horn cut the lead to 20-16 after one. The junior guard from Tallahassee, Florida who was also named to the All-ACC Second Team last season scored 11 points in the opening frame.
The Irish started the second quarter in similar fashion as the first, as seven straight points from senior guard Sonia Citron punctuated a second 9-0 push, and the Irish went up 29-16 with Morgan watching from the sideline. The Jackets would punch back however, as an 8-0 run of their own prompted Ivey to burn her first timeout.
After freshman forward Kate Koval’s illegal screen negated Citron’s deep three at the conclusion of the half, Notre Dame entered the intermission holding just a 39-36 edge. Georgia Tech forced 14 first-half turnovers for Notre Dame, which matched the team average for the season. Sixth-year head coach Nell Fortner’s stout defense also limited star graduate guard Olivia Miles to just two points on 1-for-6 shooting over the first 20 minutes. Westbeld and Citron shouldered much of the load for Ivey’s Irish, scoring 13 and 11 respectively, while Notre Dame also out-rebounded Georgia Tech 28-13.
The score was knotted at 39 apiece when junior guard Kara Dunn, who leads Georgia Tech with 16 points per game on the year, canned a triple on the opening possession of the second half. Dunn would score 10 points in the frame, but the Irish’s mix of matchup zone defense gave the Yellow Jackets fits to end the quarter. On the offensive end, key three pointers from Westbeld and junior guard Cassandre Prosper spearheaded an efficient charge which saw the Irish reclaim an 11-point lead heading into the fourth.
Ivey was proud of her group’s fight and effort amidst the Yellow Jackets’ run, saying, “We were resilient and came out with great energy in the third quarter.”
As a team, the Irish were 6-for-13 from distance on the night. “We’ve been putting on a clinic from three all season, so it felt good to be able to make some myself,” Westbeld added.
The final period went back and forth, but Georgia Tech was never able to shrink the lead to within single digits, and Notre Dame collected its 10th straight victory by an 81-66 score. The Irish were led by four double-digit scorers: Citron with 21 (9-for-13 from the field), Westbeld with 20 (8-for-11), Prosper with 15 (5-for-7), and Miles with 13 (6-for-13). Additionally, King hauled in 12 rebounds for her 14th double-digit rebounding game on the campaign, which also lifted her over 1,000 total between her career at Pittsburgh and Notre Dame.
Speaking specifically on Prosper’s conference career high, Ivey said, “Cass was ready to play and gave us great minutes on both ends of the court.”
The 81-66 triumph moved Notre Dame to 19-1 all-time against the Yellow Jackets, with the lone 82-67 defeat occurring on Dec. 13, 2020, in Ivey’s first ACC game as head coach.
The Yellow Jackets, who will host Clemson on Sunday following their third straight setback, were led by Dunn with 17 points and Morgan with 15.
The conference slate continues at home on Sunday when the SMU Mustangs travel to South Bend for the first ever ACC meeting between the two programs. The Irish will then embark on a three-game road trip with visits to Boston College, Virginia Tech and Louisville. Sunday night’s contest with SMU is set for a 6 p.m. tip-off on the ACC Network.
