SOUTH BEND, Ind. – It probably shouldn’t have taken this long for Notre Dame to earn back-to-back ACC wins. Then again, this is a conference that is stacked with winning teams, and a couple of them took advantage of the Irish’s depth being cut into by injuries.
While not all the way back on the health front, the Irish have had more bodies available lately, and that translates into easier games. Such was the case when they soundly defeated Miami, 70-59, on a freezing cold day in South Bend. It was their first time this season in which they beat consecutive conference opponents.
Throughout the game, the Irish (12-3, 3-2) went through some dry spells that allowed the Hurricanes (11-5, 1-4) to stay within an arm’s length of making it a contest again. However, the Hurricanes couldn’t overcome a second quarter in which the Irish went on a 10-0 run and ultimately had a 25-11 scoring advantage. So while it wasn’t the toughest win for the Irish this season, it wasn’t the easiest either.
[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] reached seven steals for the fifth time this season while also scoring a game-high 25 points and grabbing seven rebounds. She also drew fouls, led fast breaks and knocked shots away out of bounds. In short, her dream freshman season added another chapter.
[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] continued to show she’s recovered from her earlier knee injury enough to make a difference. Still wearing a knee brace, she scored 15 points, including a game-high three 3-pointers.
Off the bench, [autotag]KK Bransford[/autotag] contributed 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
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