Category: Women’s Basketball

Notre Dame dominates Purdue – quick recap

It’s always good to beat Purdue!

The No. 14 Notre Dame women’s basketball team had no trouble at all against in-state rival Purdue Sunday, trouncing the Boilermakers 76-39.

Hannah Hidalgo had a great floor game for the Irish as she led in nearly every category.  Her 23 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, and 7 steals played a huge part in the game being such a blowout.

Nat Marshall was huge for Notre Dame, blocking six shots and scoring 14 points in the victory.

Notre Dame started hot, jumping out to an 11-0 lead before Purdue scored a point.  The Boilermakers bounced back quickly with a 7-0 run themeselves but that was about as close as things would get.

Notre Dame held Purdue to just 7 second quarter points and held a 35-18 halftime advantage in which they never looked back.

Before the game, a Muffet McGraw statue was unveiled outside Purcell Pavillion.  Much of the sold out crowd attended that ceremony before stepping in and watching the Irish dominate.

Notre Dame is now 8-1 on the season and hosts Western Michigan on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.

Women’s basketball national scoring leaders as of Dec. 10 (and steals)

Hannah Hidalgo is a special player.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] continues to be a phenomenal player for Notre Dame. She still is one of the top scorers in the country and leads everybody in steals. Let’s take a look at how she relates to those scorers. As a bonus, we’ve included how each leading scorer is at taking the ball away:

ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Dec. 10

Guess who’s leading for Notre Dame?

ACC teams are about to get to the middle of December. Full-time conference play isn’t here yet, but it’s creeping closer. Now is the time for all teams to get their mistakes out of the way before the games really start to count. For now though, here are the players atop the major statistical leaderboards:

Hannah Hidalgo is USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year

Congrats, Hannah!

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] only has played college basketball for a month, but the Notre Dame freshman phenom already is making an impact. She’s the nation’s leader in steals (6.0 a game) and one of its top scorers (23.6 points a game). But that doesn’t begin to describe what she’s done overall this year.

Hidalgo has won the prestigious USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year award for how well she did in international play this season. During the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup, she averaged 10.7 points and 5.4 assists a game to help the U.S. win the gold medal. Joni Taylor, her coach from that tournament, said it best:

“Hannah Hidalgo is a name you will not forget.”

In winning this award, Hidalgo is joining elite company in more ways than one. She is only the fourth player to win it before beginning her collegiate career, joining Paige Bueckers, Brianna Stewart and Janelle Bailey.

Many women’s basketball legends, some of which remain active and others are enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame, have won this award since it was first given out in 1980. These include Diana Taurasi, Teresa Edwards, Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, Cheryl Miller, Katrina McClain, A’ja Wilson, Maya Moore, Tina Charles, Katie Smith, Natalie Williams, Ruthie Bolton, Chamique Holdsclaw, Seimone Augustus and Lynette Woodard.

If that list is any indication, Hidalgo is on her way to becoming not only an Irish legend but a legend of the sport. It probably wouldn’t surprise her either because she indicated such when Fighting Irish Wire asked her about it after the Irish’s win over Lafayette:

“No, I’m not surprised at all. I think I know what God has blessed me with, and so, it’s a lot easier when I have teammates like the ones that I do. That makes the game just so much easier.”

Here’s to the latest of what should be many more honors for someone who’s just getting started.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Niele Ivey, Hannah Hidalgo, Kylee Watson speak after Notre Dame win

Here how the Irish felt after their latest win.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Sometimes, the calendar dictates that you play a solid game. Notre Dame has final exams next week, and the women’s basketball team won’t play again until those exams are finished. That meant it was time to show Lafayette what it could do, even with injuries shortening the number of healthy bodies to eight. A 96-42 victory meant mission accomplished.

[autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] understandably was in an upbeat mood after the win, and she brought in two of her stars to share in her postgame news conference, although there were a few more players who would have been just as worthy of meeting the media afterwards. [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] had what’s become a typical night for her of 26 points and six steals. [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag] scored 14 points (eight in the third quarter) and had five rebounds.

Numerous topics were discussed in the news conference. In fact, Fighting Irish Wire got to ask the first question after Ivey’s opening statement. Here the answers to that and many of the rest of the questions that were asked:

Notre Dame crushes Lafayette ahead of layoff

Another night at the office for the Irish in nonconference play.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame won’t play again until after final exams at the university are completed next week. That meant a strong performance Wednesday against Lafayette was a must. There was no problem with that whatsoever as the Irish cruised to a wire-to-wire 96-42 victory in which each of their dressed players scored.

While the Irish (7-1) played well in the first half, it wasn’t enough to completely fend off the Leopards (4-5). Although a loss was unlikely even at that point, it still would have been for the Irish take a stranglehold on the game. They did just that in the third quarter, clamping down on defense and outscoring the Leopards, 28-8. Even with the fourth quarter merely a formality on this night, they continued to lay down the hammer and had a 30-11 scoring advantage.

By the time it was over, the Leopards had a whole bunch of goose eggs, if not slightly better, on their side of the stats sheet. The Irish did not allow any field goals off turnovers, fast breaks or second chances. Most impressively, they didn’t let the Leopards get to the free-throw line until the fourth quarter.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] had another huge game with 26 points and padded her national steals lead with six takeaways. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] achieved a double-double of 17 points and 19 rebounds. [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag] scored 14, and [autotag]Anna DeWolfe[/autotag] had 10 points to go with three of her own steals.

[autotag]Natalija Marshall[/autotag] came off the bench to score 12 and grab eight boards as well as lead the Irish with six assists.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Women’s basketball national scoring leaders as of Dec. 3

See how much Hannah Hidalgo is scoring among her peers.

Here’s how Notre Dame’s [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] ranks among the national scoring leaders:

ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Dec. 3

Guess who’s representing Notre Dame?

We still have a few weeks before ACC play begins. Still, this past week, we started to see some more stability atop the statistical leaderboards as the criteria for making them tightened a bit. That means the numbers we’re seeing are a bit more honest. Here’s who we have atop those leaderboards right now;

Notre Dame downs Lady Vols in ACC/SEC Challenge

Irish win a battle of blue bloods!

Despite trailing by as many as 16 points in the third quarter Wednesday night Notre Dame was able to rally and beat Tennessee in the ACC/SEC Challenge, 74-69.

The Fighting Irish women’s basketball team improved to 6-1 on the year after rallying in Konxville.

Notre Dame fought hard to get back in the game as KK Ransford finally gave the Irish the lead via a free throw with just 47 seconds to play.  From there it turned into a free throw fest for Notre Dame as they eventually won by the final four-point margin.

Maddy Westbeld and Natalija Marshall led Notre Dame in scoring, putting up 15 points each in the victory.

The win is Notre Dame’s sixth-straight (6-1) after dropping the season opener to South Carolina.  Tennessee falls to just 4-3.

ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Nov. 26

One Notre Dame player leads two categories still.

We are heading into the end of November. What does this mean as far as college basketball? Not much because no conference games have been played yet, so we only are left to imagine how well the current statistical leaders will play against that competition. Until then, here are those leaders as we get close to December: