The college basketball season has officially ended for the Notre Dame Women’s team after falling to the No. 1 ranked UConn Huskies 70-52 in an Elite 8 matchup. The Irish played their old rival much better than they did earlier in the season, but the Huskies were just too much — and showed why they’re unbeaten and the best team in women’s basketball this season.
Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, but the high level that the Irish were playing at during this tourney run, if they had been in any other region
— perhaps these two team would have met in the Final Four.
Perhaps, but that wasn’t the case, and Niele Ivey and her Irish squad will have to go to work to start getting ready for next season.
Irish Fall to No. 1 Huskies in Elite Eight
FORT WORTH, Texas – Notre Dame’s magical NCAA Tournament run came to an end in the Elite Eight on Sunday inside Dickies Arena, falling to top-seeded UConn by a score of 70-52.
The Fighting Irish ended the season with a record of 25-11 and made it to an NCAA Tournament Regional Final for the first time since 2019.
Hannah Hidalgo led the Irish with 22 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals, completing one of the greatest seasons by an individual in NCAA history.
The junior set the ACC and Notre Dame record for points in a season with 909 and became the only player in NCAA history on the men’s or women’s side to record over 200 steals in a season (202).
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish held a 5-4 lead midway through the first frame, as Cassandre Prosper made the opening layup and Vanessa de Jesus knocked down a shot from beyond the arc to give them the early lead.
UConn responded with 11 of the next 13 points to take an eight-point lead at 15-7 with just under 2 minutes remaining in the quarter. The two sides traded baskets and the Huskies scored right before the buzzer to make the score 20-11 after the first 10 minutes of action.
Hidalgo scored the first nine points for the Irish in the second stanza to cut the UConn lead to four at 24-20 with just under 5 minutes left in the half. The Huskies then scored the next six to push the lead to double digits at 30-20.
Notre Dame refused to go away, scoring the next five points off two free throws from de Jesus and a three from KK Bransfort to cut the lead in half at 30-25. The Huskies hit an acrobatic layup right before the halftime whistle to make the score 32-25 at the break.
The Huskies scored six of the first seven points coming out of the intermission to stretch their lead to 12. The Irish answered with four straight from Hidalgo to make it 38-30 with 7:52 left in the third.
After a UConn bucket, Hidalgo converted an and-one layup and hit the free throw to cut it back to seven. The Huskies then rattled off seven straight points to take their largest lead of the afternoon at 14 with the score 47-33. The Irish were able to connect on a three pointer courtesy of de Jesus to send the game into the fourth at 47-36.
The two sides traded baskets for the 3 minutes of the fourth frame, moving the score to 54-42, before UConn scored nine of the next 11 to push its lead to 19 at 63-44 with 5:43 remaining in regulation.
Notre Dame was able to cut the lead down to 15 on two occasions but were unable to get any closer the rest of the way, as the Huskies went on to win by a score of 70-52.
