SOUTH BEND – Notre Dame has to be feeling confident after knocking Southern Utah out of the NCAA Tournament, 82-56, in the first round. The Irish let the Thunderbirds know early and often that this game that was being played in their house would be played on their terms.
Whenever the Thunderbirds showed the slightest chance of coming back – and it was very slight – the Irish doubled down on both ends of the floor. It was such a blowout that little-used [autotag]Sarah Cernugel[/autotag] entered the game near its conclusion. The Purcell Pavilion definitely would have exploded had she made either of her two field-goal attempts, one which came from 3-point range. Alas, she remains scoreless for the season except for her lone basket Dec. 10 against Merrimack.
Cernguel was one of several people [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] talked about in her postgame news conference. She was joined by top scorer [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] (20 points) and dominant veteran big [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag] (14 points, 10 rebounds). Here’s what they had to say: