The Notre Dame Women’s Basketball team was back home inside Purcell Pavilion on Monday night to host the MAC’s Central Michigan Chippewas. The Irish played steady ball from start to finish, and saw five
players score in double digits in an 83-51 win over CMU. One of the odd stats from the game is that Notre Dame only went to the foul line ONE time for ONE shot.
From the Notre Dame press release:
No. 19 Irish Dominate CMU, 83-51
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 19 Fighting Irish secured a 32-point victory over Central Michigan on Monday evening inside Purcell Pavilion, winning by a final score of 83-51. The victory improves Notre Dame to 5-1 on the season.
Five Irish players finished in double figures led by Hannah Hidalgo’s 25 points on 12-of-19 shooting. Iyana Moore and KK Bransford each finished with 12, Cassandre Prosper added 11 and Gisela Sanchez chipped in 10.
The Irish defense swarmed the Chippewas for all 40 minutes, swiping 22 steals on the evening. Hidalgo led the charge with six while Moore and Cowles recorded five and four, respectively.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish built an early five-point lead at 20-15 over the first 10 minutes of action, never trailing in the first quarter. Notre Dame was very balanced offensively in the frame with six different players scoring on a combined 9-of-18 shooting from the field.
After each team scored to open the second stanza the Irish ripped off a 13-0 run to take a commanding 17-point lead at 35-18 with four minutes left in the half. However, Central Michigan refused to go away, scoring eight unanswered points of their own to cut the lead to single digits at 35-26.
Notre Dame scored five of the last eight points of the half to take a 40-29 lead into the break.
Hidalgo led the Irish with 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting after the opening 20 minutes of play. Notre Dame recorded eight steals while only having four turnovers in the first half, which helped open up the double-digit lead.
The Chippewas scored the first bucket of the third quarter before the Irish went on a 12-0 run over a three-minute stretch to take their largest lead of the night at 52-31. By the end of the third quarter Notre Dame led by a score of 59-41.
The Irish ran away with the game in the final frame, outscoring the visitors 24-10 to cruise to an 83-51 victory.
NOTRE DAME STAT OF THE NIGHT
The Irish dominated in transition, scoring 28 fast break points while not giving up a single fast break point to the Chippewas.
NOTRE DAME NOTES
- Notre Dame improves to 6-1 against Central Michigan in the all-time series, including winning each of the last six matchups.
- The Irish have recorded double-digit steals in all six games this season.
- ND has recorded 10 or more steals in 50-of-75 games since the beginning of the 2023-24 season.
- The win gives the Fighting Irish 18 straight victories at home in non-conference regular season play.
- Hidalgo has now recorded 56 career 20+ point games, moving into a tie with Beth Morgan for second most in program history.
- Moore tied her career high for steals in a game with four.
- Cowles tied her season high for steals with four.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Irish have the rest of the week off before traveling down to Mississippi to take on No. 13 Ole Miss in the ACC/SEC Challenge at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, Dec. 4. The game will air on ESPN2.
