With no [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] or [autotag]Dara Mabrey[/autotag], Notre Dame relied heavily on its frontcourt for the NCAA Tournament. The problem with that is you only can succeed that way when the frontcourt is able to play.
When [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag] and [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag] both picked up their fourth fouls during the third quarter of the Irish’s Sweet 16 game against Maryland, the bottom fell out of what had been a competitive contest. With [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] forced to preserve Watson and Ebo for when they really might be needed, the Terrapins ended the quarter on a 13-1 run and never looked back in a 76-59 win, ending the Irish’s season.
The Irish (27-6) scored 13 unanswered points in the second quarter to take their biggest lead at eight. They remained in front by one at halftime but didn’t lead after that. While they tied the score five times in the third quarter, the smaller lineup they were forced to go to with their bigs in foul trouble ultimately caught up with them.
Diamond Miller and Shyanne Sellers combined to lead the guard-heavy Terrapins (28-6) with 30 of their 45 second-half points. They led by as much as 22 late in the fourth quarter as they punched their ticket to the Elite Eight.
After slow first halves, Miller and Sellers with 18 points apiece, and Sellers also had a game-high eight assists. Lavender Briggs scored 12 points in 25 minutes off the bench. Abby Meyers had 11 points and tied Miller for the team lead in steals with four. That gave Meyers and Miller eight of the Terrapins’ 15 steals.
[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] lived up to her reputation as the Irish’s all-purpose player with 14 points and seven rebounds, but she also committed four turnovers. [autotag]KK Bransford[/autotag] led the Irish with seven assists but had four turnovers of her own. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] scored nine points but tied [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag] with a team-high five turnovers before fouling out. Ebo fouled out with seven points in her final college game.
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