Notre Dame had every right to feel good about itself after Sunday’s 72-70 victory over Syracuse. The Irish (11-17, 6-10) had to get a little bit of offense down the stretch and then crack down on defense to defeat the Orange (15-12, 9-7), but they made it work. This was a positive in a season in which little has gone right.
Mikki Vaughn scored the final two of her career-high 21 points on two free throws to break a 70-all tie with 1:02 left. Syracuse had the ball at half court out of a timeout with 10.1 seconds left. Two missed shot attempts later, the Irish secured the victory. Credit goes to the defense for helping that happen.
Destinee Walker scored 16 points, tied her career high of six assists and recorded three steals. Katlyn Gilbert also dished out six assists and had three steals to go with 12 points. Sam Brunelle finished one rebound shy of a double-double while scoring 15 for the afternoon.