In the event the Super Bowl later in the day turned out to be boring, Notre Dame and Florida State would have had you covered. Two teams stacked with talent and close to each other in the ACC standings battled it out and gave everything they had.
It was a shame one team had to lose. Fortunately for the Irish, they won this epic double-overtime contest, 98-94.
The Irish (18-5, 8-4) had chances to win the game in both regulation and the first overtime, but [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] missed a couple of potential game-winners. In between, [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag] made a defensive stop to keep the Seminoles (17-8, 8-5) from winning in regulation, even with little time left.
Ultimately, this game came down to the basics. With the scored tied at 94, Seminoles star Ta’Niya Latson, who scored a season-high 34 points, missed a shot out of a timeout with little time left on the shot clock. Hidalgo got the rebound, and the Irish got a timeout with 5.9 seconds left in double overtime.
Latson tried to intercept the subsequent inbound pass but fouled Sonia Citron instead. Citron, the ACC leader in free-throw percentage in conference games, calmly knocked down two shots from the charity stripe, giving the Irish a lead with 4.5 seconds remaining.
The Seminoles called their last timeout, but they never got another shot off. Watson stole the subsequent inbound pass, and Hidalgo recovered it before being fouled and icing the game with two of her own free throws. It was a win the Irish absolutely needed with NC State coming to South Bend on Thursday.
Hidalgo had a nice all-around game with 27 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and five steals. [autotag]Anna DeWolfe[/autotag] wasn’t far behind in the scoring column with a season-high 24 points, including six 3-pointers.
[autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] showed off her two-way skills with 19 points, 14 rebounds and four steals. Citron flirted with a double-double thanks to 18 points and eight boards.
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