The up and down Notre Dame women’s basketball team did a great job inside Purcell Paviliomn to take down the 3rd place NC State Wolfpack in a 79-67 ACC matchup.
Irish Dominate NC State In 79-67 ACC Victory
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Fighting Irish turned in a complete performance in a commanding 79-67 win over NC State on Sunday afternoon inside Purcell Pavilion in a game sponsored by Beacon Health System.
The victory improves Notre Dame’s record to 16-9 on the season and 8-6 in ACC play with four games
remaining in the regular season.
The Irish featured a balanced offensive attack in the win, with four players scoring 13 or more points. Hannah Hidalgo led the way with 19 points to go along with eight rebounds, six steals and six assists. Cassandre Prosper and Iyana Moore each scored 14 and Malaya Cowles added 13.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish never trailed in the first frame and led by as many as eight at 10-2 just 4 minutes into the contest before holding a three-point advantage with the score 17-14 following the opening 10 minutes of play. Hidalgo led Notre Dame with seven points in the quarter.
NC State made a layup to start the second quarter to cut the Irish lead to one but Notre Dame roared back by scoring eight straight to push the advantage to nine at 25-16. Gisela Sanchez connected on two shots from beyond the arc to spur the run.
The Wolfpack connected on a jumper to trim the Irish advantage to seven and then Notre Dame took complete control of the rest of the half. The Irish outscored NC State 22-9 over the remaining 7:30 of play to take a commanding 47-27 lead into the halftime break.
All seven Notre Dame players that saw the court scored in the second stanza scored, led by Sanchez and Prosper who each recorded six points.
The Irish shot the ball well over the first 20 minutes of play, going 16-for-31 from the field and 7-of-12 from three-point range.
Notre Dame didn’t allow NC State to make a run to get back in the game coming out of the half, as it outscored the visitors 18-15 in the third quarter to take a 65-42 lead into the final 10 minutes of action.
NC State managed to score 25 points in the final frame but it was not enough, as the Irish cruised to the 79-67 victory.
NOTRE DAME STAT OF THE GAME
Notre Dame’s defense was everywhere and gave the Wolfpack fits, causing 22 in the win, which marks the most turnovers by NC State this season. The Irish capitalized by outscoring NC State 24-2 in points off turnovers.
NOTRE DAME NOTES
- Notre Dame improves to 11-6 against NC State in the all-time series.
- The 30-point second quarter marks ND’s sixth 30-point quarter of the season and first in ACC play.
- The Irish handed NC State its worst loss of the season on Sunday in the 12-point victory.
- Notre Dame finished with 17 steals, marking the 19th time the team has recorded double-digit steals in a game this season.
- The Irish never trailed for the duration of the 40 minutes.
- Hidalgo has finished in double figures in the scoring column in all 92 games of her career, the longest streak in program history.
- Sunday marked the 12th game this season that Hidalgo finished with five or more steals.
- Prosper finished with five steals, her second highest output of the season.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Irish hit the road for a midweek matchup against Wake Forest at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 19 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The game will be streamed on ACCNX.
