In a league like the ACC, all it takes is one Sunday afternoon to change the picture. To kill a winning streak that had spanned months. To deny a push for perfection. To dethrone the vanguard of women’s college basketball.
All of that went down this weekend at the Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, and so did Notre Dame. The Irish dropped their first game on American soil since March 29, 2024, outlasted 104-95 in two overtimes by No. 13 NC State.
“We have to get better, learn from it and move forward,” Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said after the game.
The loss was Notre Dame’s first overall since the 0-2 excursion to the Cayman Islands Classic in late November. It snapped both a 19-game winning streak and a 15-0 start to the 18-game ACC schedule for the Irish, who will likely lose their recently bestowed No. 1 national ranking come Monday.
NC State entered Sunday’s game with both the upset possibility and the revenge factor fueling its fire. Notre Dame, after suffering an ugly home loss to the Wolfpack in February of last season, overcame NC State to win the ACC Tournament title in March.
The Pack’s start, which included a 12-3 run to take a 12-5 lead out of the gate, signaled their readiness to clap back at the Irish. Notre Dame kept the pace as it has all season, though, going to the first quarter in a 23-20 deficit on an 11-point start from sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo. Aziaha James paced the high-scoring Wolfpack with 8 points in the opening 10 minutes.
The frenetic pace slowed down a wee bit in quarter two, as Notre Dame briefly captured the lead on a Hidalgo 3-pointer less than two minutes in. Lorena Awou provided strong bench minutes for the Pack, collecting three offensive rebounds, while Saniya Rivers snatched up six on the opposite end of the floor. All told, NC State held the Irish scoreless across the final 1:50 of the first half, entering the locker room in a 40-36 lead.
The Wolfpack made an effort to pull away early in the second half, repeatedly building 6-point leads, only for the Irish to reel them back in. Eventually, Notre Dame’s ability to stick around was rewarded, as the Irish embarked on a 9-0 run to pull ahead midway through the third quarter. Senior guard Sonia Citron, whose bucket in transition put the Irish in front, awakened in quarter three, tallying 10 points after producing only 2 in the first half. With a go-ahead and-1 by Hidalgo in the final 34 seconds, Notre Dame transitioned to the fourth quarter with a 58-57 edge.
In an electrifying, 53-point fourth, Zoe Brooks took over, giving the Wolfpack slim lead after slim lead. Despite her 14-point outburst, the Irish never trailed by more than 3, responding time and time again. First, it was the interior work of graduate forwards Maddy Westbeld and Liatu King tying the score at the under-5 media timeout. Then, it was graduate guard Olivia Miles burying a triple to put the Irish ahead 71-70 with three minutes to play. Moments later, it was Citron on a steal and score to make it 75-74 with 1:40 remaining.
The exchanging of 1-point leads continued until the final 50 seconds, when Hidalgo turned the ball over with the Irish down 78-77. NC State, an awful free-throw shooting team at 66% coming into Sunday, began its parade to the foul stripe there and somehow could not miss. The Wolfpack were 24 for 26 from the line overall, making all 12 shots they attempted in the fourth quarter. Because of that, the best Notre Dame could do was pour in driving layups to remain within a point.
However, with four seconds left, the game reached do-or-die mode for Notre Dame. The Irish, down 84-81 at the time, had to find a way to score 3 points on their final possession. Inbounding from the frontcourt, they got the rock to Citron, who battled through air-tight defense to hoist a triple from the inner right wing. As the game clock ran down to 0.6 seconds, the shot splashed home, breathing life back into Notre Dame’s stab at ACC perfection.
Even the stoic Citron let out a few bursts of emotion, underscoring the highlight of her season-high 23-point day.
“Sonia was fantastic for us,” Ivey said. “That 3-point shot she hit to tie it was one of the best shots I’ve seen in a long time.”
Citron’s heroics continued into overtime, as she delivered three of Notre Dame’s four made baskets during the first five-minute period. Miles followed her second with a second-chance lay-in of her own, giving the Irish a 90-88 lead they would return to the offensive end with in the final 1:20. However, Miles made a critical error on that next trip, committing a double-dribble violation that wiped away Notre Dame’s chance at a two-possession lead.
Later, with the game tied at 92, Notre Dame had the last handle of overtime. Miles threw up a prayer of a 3-pointer with three seconds left, missing everything from the right corner. Westbeld caught it, though, drawing a shooting foul right as the buzzer sounded. As the Irish celebrated her opportunity to make a walk-off free throw, the officials went straight to the replay monitor, correctly ruling that the foul occurred after the horn and sending both teams to a second overtime.
As it turned out, Notre Dame needed that foul to avoid what was a 10-0 NC State run to start overtime number two. James headlined it with a driving, behind-the-back move on Miles that set up an easy lay-in and lifted the lid off the building. The crowd would only grow more intense as Hidalgo and Miles each fouled out in the final minute.
Brooks fittingly drew the curtains for NC State with a pair of free throws, marking the final 2 of her career-high 33 points.
“We didn't do a great job with our 1-on-1 defense. I also thought that our shot selection could have been a lot better at times today,” Ivey said “... But this was great for the women's game and great for the ACC to have a game like this."
Brooks double-doubled along with Rivers (14 points and 13 rebounds) for NC State. Freshman Tilda Trygger just missed one of her own with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Madison Hayes contributed 13 points.
For Notre Dame, Hidalgo led the charge with 26 points, while Citron added 23 and Miles 22. King was dominant on the interior as usual, totaling 16 points, 14 rebounds and four steals. The Irish, outside of Citron’s monstrous make, didn’t have their usual effectiveness from distance, making only seven of their 27 attempted 3-point shots. Both teams combined to score only 7 bench points.
Now only a game up on NC State (15-1 record to 14-2 record) in the ACC standings, the Irish cannot clinch an ACC regular season title until Thursday at the earliest. For that to happen, they would need to beat Florida State and have the Wolfpack lose to Wake Forest at home, a highly improbable outcome. The more likely scenario is that Notre Dame wins its final two home games against Florida State and Louisville while NC State goes 2-0 against Wake Forest and at SMU, pushing Notre Dame’s clinching day to Sunday, March 2.
The Irish will host the Seminoles at 8 p.m. inside Purcell Pavilion on Thursday before welcoming in Louisville for a noon tip on Sunday.
