The warpath continues for Notre Dame women’s basketball. Back home after sweeping a three-game road trip, the Irish are 19-2 overall and 10-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play heading into Thursday’s home date with Stanford. They’ve got 14 consecutive wins under their belt and still have not lost on American soil this season.
Although the record and the streak may suggest otherwise, the recent road swing wasn’t all that easy for the third-ranked Irish. Notre Dame trailed at the end of one quarter before defeating Boston College and Virginia Tech. The Irish fell behind in the second quarter of Sunday’s 89-71 win at Louisville.
The struggle early, fight to pull away late formula has in a way, given Notre Dame some much-needed practice. More accustomed to blowouts, the Irish are seeing what it might look like when they’re a top seed in the NCAA Tournament and an underdog puts them on the ropes early. Head coach Niele Ivey appreciated the way her team handled the three-game set of battles.
“I saw a lot of toughness. We found ways to fight,” Ivey said after Sunday’s win at Louisville. “Wins look different, and I thought we found ways to win in all three of those matchups.”
“I think [we] showed a little bit of our resilience and composure. When the game wasn’t going our way, we didn’t hang our heads and just give up. We just started fighting … Winning on the road is really tough in the ACC.”
In Sunday’s win at the KFC Yum! Center, the Irish were dominant early. They grabbed each of the game’s first 10 rebounds, bullying Louisville into a 20-6 deficit before 10 minutes had passed. But the Cardinals had the answer in the second quarter, turning over the Irish repeatedly, grabbing offensive rebounds and nailing a series of three-pointers to take the lead.
Notre Dame, which went into halftime up a single point, had what it took to leave Louisville in the dust: a National Player of the Year candidate and some help from her friends.
Hidalgo named ACC Player of the Week
Notre Dame’s leader on Sunday, superstar guard Hannah Hidalgo just brought in her fourth ACC Player of the Week award this season after winning it twice last year. The sophomore has been deadly since Notre Dame lost its only two games at The Cayman Islands Classic, posting at least 23 points in 12 straight contests. She’s somehow improved her offensive numbers from last year, now averaging 26.1 points per game with a splendid shooting line of 50.1/42.5/85.5.
Hidalgo was the only player in the nation to reach the 30-point threshold twice last week. She first did it in Blacksburg, dropping 30 while totaling five assists and three steals. Three days later, she returned to her bag in Louisville, mixing 34 points with six rebounds and five helpers. Across both games, she was 22 for 38 from the field and a perfect 15 for 15 at the charity stripe.
“She’s a dog, and she came out with such fire and tenacity, and big plays, big shots — and we really fed off her energy,” Ivey said.
Three months into the season, Hidalgo’s synergy with graduate guard Olivia Miles continues to impress. Hidalgo’s offensive impact has only strengthened, while Miles’ presence has allowed her to step away from the pressure of consistently scoring in the 20s. Miles can focus on doing what she does best, leading the ACC in assists and surprising defenses with her drastically improved three-point shooting.
“Me and Liv, we’re the head of the snake, so the team kind of goes as we go,” Hidalgo said on Sunday. “We know that we have to put the team on our back and king of carry the team, whether that’s scoring or passing and creating for everyone, we’re here to do that because we’re just here to win.”
Circling back to Hidalgo’s performance on Sunday, it’s not always the sophomore’s ability to take over a game that makes Notre Dame so special. Last year, she delivered a 30-piece in Louisville, but the Irish lost. Why? Nobody else contributed more than 10 points.
This year, graduate forward Liatu King combined 12 rebounds and produced 16 points, Miles scored 17 and Notre Dame won by 18.
“It’s really dangerous, because we have so much firepower,” Hidalgo said. “Just having great teammates — it helps take some of the attention off of me … They have to pick their poison like Coach Ivey’s always saying.”
Hidalgo’s now knocking the door of the national scoring lead. With her 30-point outbursts, she sits less than a tenth of a point behind Florida State’s Ta’Niya Latson, whom Hidalgo will go head-to-head against on Feb. 27.
A new era for Stanford
The things we all would have done to see one of Tara VanDerveer’s Stanford teams opposed this year’s renditions of Notre Dame. Alas, it was not to be.
Stanford is going through a phase similar to Virginia Tech this season. The Cardinal lost an outstanding coach, VanDerveer, to retirement after 38 seasons, and with her several game-changing players. Kiki Iriafen, last year’s leading Cardinal scorer, transferred to USC to join forces with JuJu Watkins. Top rebounder and fellow double-double machine Cameron Brink moved on to the WNBA. Hannah Jump, the third Cardinal player who averaged double-figure scoring and started all 36 games last year, ran out of eligibility.
As a result, first-year head coach Kate Paye, a longtime assistant under VanDerveer, has a rebuilding job to accomplish. Stanford hasn’t had a season without 24 total wins and an NCAA Tournament victory since 1999. This year will likely buck that trend, as the Cardinal sit at 11-10 overall and 3-7 in ACC play.
On Sunday, the Cardinal lost a tough one at home to No. 15 North Carolina, 69-67. Stanford nearly erased what was a 15-point deficit late in the third quarter, but Carolina’s three-point shooting and depth scoring got it to the finish line.
“Obviously, it’s really disappointing. We were right there. We had an opportunity to pull this one out,” Paye said after the game. “I’m just really proud of how our team fought. To come back and be in a situation where we have an opportunity to win the game — we’re getting a lot of contributions from people who at the beginning of the season we didn’t.”
Like Notre Dame in Louisville, Stanford followed the lead of its top scorer on Sunday. Nunu Agara, a sophomore forward who appeared off the bench all of last season, paces the Cardinal with 17.4 points and 8.1 rebounds. She delivered 22 and 14 in those respective categories against the Tar Heels.
“Nunu is a workhorse,” Paye said. “She’s really growing into her own this season … I just love coaching the girl, and I’m really proud of her.”
On Sunday, Stanford didn’t have its outside shooting, normally a major strength. The Cardinal rank second only to Notre Dame in the ACC with a three-point percentage of 36.9. However, the team made just three of 14 deep shots against the Tar Heels, as Elena Bosgana, its second-best scorer, was 1 for 11 overall and 1 of 6 from behind the arc. Brooke Demetre and Tess Heal, Stanford’s respective leaders in threes made and three-point percentage, combined to attempt zero shots from downtown.
Overall, Stanford has had a mixed bag of results against elite opponents this season. Along with North Carolina, the Cardinal have taken No. 5 LSU and No. 22 Cal to the wire. At the same time, they lost by an average of 21.3 points to No. 11 Ohio State, No. 21 N.C. State and No. 16 Duke.
With two of the aforementioned close losses coming within the past two weeks, Paye senses her team moving closer to a breakthrough.
“There are no moral victories, but we know that we are making progress,” Paye stated. “Anybody that’s really watching our team can see it. We remain confident, we remain optimistic and we’re gonna do what we do.”
Notre Dame will battle Stanford for the seventh time at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday inside Purcell Pavilion. The Irish and Cardinal last met in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, clashing for the fourth time in five postseasons.
