It’s rare for a nonconference game to come up in January and even rarer for them to feel so good. In front of a prime-time TV audience, Notre Dame had the chance to show what it could do against longtime rival UConn.
By the end, people had to question what the Irish couldn’t do. They got the signature win of their season by upsetting the Huskies, 82-67, for the second straight year, this time on their home floor. Halting the Huskies’ 13-game winning streak and spoiling a night in which they honored past national championship teams was not a bad response to the home loss to Syracuse two days earlier.
The Irish (15-4) trailed by 12 early in the second quarter but went into halftime on a 26-5 run that ended with a [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Huskies (17-4) came back to take a three-point lead late in the third quarter, but the Irish scored six unanswered to finish the frame.
The fourth quarter saw the Irish take advantage of poor Huskies shooting (2 of 12 from the field), and they outscored their hosts, 22-10, sending several Huskies fans to the exits early.
Hidalgo was held without a steal for the first time in her collegiate career, but she more than made up for that by scoring 34 points, the most for an Irish freshman, to go with 10 rebounds and six assists. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] was almost as impressive with 23 points, including three 3s.
[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] scored 15 points, and [autotag]Natalija Marshall[/autotag] added 10 off the bench.
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