FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Hannah Hidalgo already had her unusual triple-double and the NCAA single-season record for steals when she made the play that ultimately sent Notre Dame to the Elite Eight of March Madness.
Mikayla Blakes ended up with two chances to answer for Vanderbilt in a matchup of two of the nation's top three scorers in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
The Fighting Irish's sparkplug was the one leaping with joy at the buzzer.
Hidalgo
had 31 points, 11 rebounds, 10 steals and the assist on the go-ahead bucket in the final minute, leading Notre Dame to a 67-64 victory over the higher-seeded Commodores on Friday.
After soaring between two defenders to catch an inbound pass, Hidalgo immediately flipped a bounce pass to Cassandre Prosper under the basket for a two-point lead with 22 seconds to go.
The sixth-seeded Fighting Irish (25-10) will play either top-seeded and undefeated UConn or North Carolina in the Fort Worth Regional 1 final Sunday.
Blakes, the Division I scoring leader, rallied from a rough shooting start to finish with 26 points for Vanderbilt, but lost the ball out of bounds on the dribble after Prosper's go-ahead shot, then missed a 3-pointer as time expired.
The No. 2 seed Commodores (29-5) were in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009.
“It was like, we didn’t do all this work just for it to be over right now,” said Hidalgo, the No. 3 scorer in Division 1. “I was telling the girls, I’m like, ‘This is not our last game playing together. We’re going to figure it out and win this game so we can be able to play a game together again.’”
In a game full of big plays from Hidalgo on her way to the steals record, the biggest didn’t have anything to do with the categories in her unusual triple-double, the third of her career. Although it did lead to her team-leading seventh assist.
With a high-arching inbound pass coming down as she ran between two defenders, the 5-foot-6 Hidalgo soared to make the catch, came down and immediately found Prosper all alone at the rim.
After Blakes lost the ball dribbling toward the basket for what would have been a tying shot, the Commodores had to foul three times just to get Notre Dame to the free-throw line.
Prosper missed the first of two free throws to give Vanderbilt a chance. Standout freshman Aubrey Galvan, who was a big reason the Commodores were even in the game late, missed a 3 but got her own rebound and found Blakes.
The high-scoring sophomore who missed her first eight shots was off target from beyond the arc, completing a 7-of-26 showing for her as Vanderbilt matched its season worst at 35% shooting for the game.
“Starting the game, I guess, human. I miss shots,” said Blakes, whose 27% was also her lowest of the season. “So I wouldn’t say it was nerves or anything like that. I can’t perform for my team like that in a moment as big as this. The last play with the ball, I guess just dribbled it off my foot. I saw an open lane, but I guess I moved too fast.”
Hidalgo needed four steals to break Chastadie Barrs’ mark of 192 set with Lamar in 2018-19. She got that in the first quarter and ended the game one shy of being the first with 200 in a season.
She'll probably hit that milestone in the regional final.
Hidalgo was already just the second player to have at least eight steals in multiple NCAA Tournament games. She had eight in each of Notre Dame’s first two tourney wins, over Fairfield and Ohio State.
Three of Hidalgo’s steals came quickly against Vanderbilt midway through the second quarter.
She grabbed the ball out of Sacha Washington’s hands and went in alone for a layup, then stole a bad pass near midcourt. Her seventh steal soon after led to another easy layup for a 23-11 lead.
“I think everybody knows, but we just feed off of her,” said Prosper, who scored 15 points. “Her defensive intensity, it just fires us to do the same thing. You don’t want to be on a team where one player is bringing all that effort and energy and then you’re not responding the same way.”
Vanderbilt was 3-20 from the field and 0-9 on 3-pointers midway through the second quarter when Galvan, who scored 24 points, hit consecutive shots behind the arc after a spectacular layup. She flipped the ball over her head as she turned away from the basket, part of a 12-2 run that erased most of a 12-point deficit.
The Commodores were down six early in the fourth quarter when Blakes converted a three-point play and Galvan hit a tying 3.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
