It looked like Notre Dame might immediately suffer the effects of [autotag]Dara Mabrey[/autotag] being out for the season. After all, Florida State is a ranked team stacked with talent, so this wasn’t an opponent the Irish could take lightly. While that might not have been the case, trouble appeared to have been in the cards anyway. In the end, the Irish righted the ship and won, 70-47.
The Irish (17-2 8-1) had a rough first-half stretch as they missed 14 consecutive field-goal attempts, allowing the Seminoles (18-5, 7-3) to rattle off 14 unanswered points despite having their own shooting troubles. The Irish went down by 10 in the second quarter, but they completely made that deficit up and ultimately trailed by only one at halftime. They finally took firm control of the game in the third quarter by outscoring the Seminoles, 27-10. A nice fourth quarter gave them a 48-24 scoring advantage for the entire second half, effectively doubling up the visitors.
[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] led all players with 19 points. [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag], who took Mabrey’s starting spot for this game, achieved a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. [autotag]KK Bransford[/autotag] scored 15 off the bench. While [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] shot only 2 of 7 from the field on a seven-point night, she did have a game-high six assists.
This was not a pretty game if you like shooting. The teams combined for a field-goal percentage of .315, so any shooting enthusiasts who threw their remotes at their TVs could be forgiven (although we don’t condone that behavior). Still, the Irish were rolling on defense from the start, and that ultimately played a big role in the outcome. They’ll need that as they continue a stretch of three ranked opponents in four games.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]
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