With Notre Dame being one of the better ACC teams, those that aren’t so great are gunning for them. While that doesn’t necessarily mean an opponent win, it’s a sign the Irish can’t think any game they play is in the bag at any time. They were reminded of that in an 86-76 win over host Virginia.
The Irish (13-3, 4-2) led by as much as 20 in the third quarter and entered the fourth in front by 17. But the Cavaliers (8-9, 0-6), looking for their first conference win, refused to quit and slowly chipped away until they cut the deficit to six late in the quarter. It didn’t help that the Irish didn’t make a field goal for over five minutes.
The last couple of minutes showed which team is better and thus more deserving of the win. [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] made a layup to put the Irish up eight with 1:12 to go. From there, the Irish made six free throws, and they had their third straight win.
[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] led all scorers with 28 points, and that included making all 12 of her free throws. One of those free throws made her the 43rd player in Irish history to score 1,000 career points. She briefly checked out late in the game after being shaken up on a physical play but returned before the contest ended.
Hidalgo scored 23 points, picked up six steals and finished one assist shy of a double-double. This was a historic game for her, too. Now with 91 steals, she broke [autotag]Skylar Diggins[/autotag]’ Irish record for steal by a freshman. This also was her ninth game with at least six steals and 14th game with at least 20 points, both of them program freshman records.
[autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] still wore a mask from the injury she suffered earlier in the month but continued to prove that she only needed to miss one game. She scored 14 points, came a rebound short of a double-double and blocked two shots.
The Irish also were resourceful once again, scoring 26 points off 23 Cavaliers turnovers.
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