Notre Dame has momentum after winning its third straight, 74-52, over Pittsburgh on Sunday night. After trailing, 17-14, to end the first quarter, the Irish (10-14, 5-7) had their best scoring frame in the second with 24 points while the struggling Panthers (4-19, 1-11) shot 3 of 17 from the field. The Irish took over from there, playing their game while Pittsburgh made only 18 field goals. As the Panthers made only 2 of 18 field-goal attempts in a four-point fourth quarter, Muffet McGraw emptied her bench, which allowed volleyball player Kristin Baer to enter the game and score the first basket of her collegiate basketball career.
Destinee Walker scored a game-high 24 points and led all shooters with four 3-pointers despite foul trouble that caused her to miss nearly the entire third quarter. Katlyn Gilbert scored 17 points to go with a team-high five assists. Sam Brunelle scored 10, and Mikayla Vaughn grabbed 10 rebounds in exactly 19 minutes.
Despite the relatively easy contest for Notre Dame, Pittsburgh only had 13 turnovers compared to 18 for the Irish.