Tag: destinee walker

Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Trying Season Continues at Duke

Haley Gorecki went on an 8-0 run by herself to draw Duke within one at 42-41 before Notre Dame’s final field goal of the night came with Sam Brunelle hitting her career-high fourth three and the Irish a 45-41 lead with 6:34 to go.

On a night that the Notre Dame Women’s basketball team played their best defensive quarter and half of the season, they fell in perhaps their most-frustrating loss of the season, a 50-47 decision at Duke on Thursday night as three turnovers in the final minute did the Irish in.

“I thought we lost that game entirely on our own – the turnovers were just so costly down the stretch. We couldn’t even get shots” Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said after the game.

The Irish got off to a very fast start, going on a 14-2 run in the first quarter and not allowing a point the final 6:37 of the first frame, taking a 14-4 lead to the second quarter.

Duke’s offense came alive to the tune of 16 second quarter points but Notre Dame’s Mikki Vaughn led the Irish with eight points in the quarter herself to help aid Notre Dame to 15 themselves in the second quarter which led to a 29-20 halftime lead.

A 9-0 Duke run in the third quarter cut the Irish lead to three at 34-31, but Notre Dame responded with a run of their own to stretch the lead back to 40-33 entering the fourth.

Destinee Walker kicked off the fourth with a layup that pushed the Irish lead to nine but unfortunately that accounted for half of her made field goals on the night and Notre Dame would score just five more points on the night.

Haley Gorecki went on an 8-0 run by herself to draw Duke within one at 42-41 before Notre Dame’s final field goal of the night came with Sam Brunelle hitting her career-high fourth three and the Irish a 45-41 lead with 6:34 to go.

The Irish however would be turnover-happy down the stretch and only score again by sinking a couple of free throws as Duke rallied to win 50-47 on their home court.

The loss drops Notre Dame to just 6-12 overall and 1-5 in ACC play while Duke improved to 9-8 overall and 3-3 in the ACC.

Notre Dame looks for their second conference win of the season again Sunday when they return home to take on Miami in a game that can be seen on ACC Network.

 

Notre Dame: Women’s Basketball Nears .500 Mark With Victory at Pitt

Notre Dame flew out of the gate to start the second half, going on a 7-0 run, with five points coming from Destinee Walker.  An 8-0 run by Pitt later in the quarter kept things closer than anyone associated with the Irish would have liked, but ultimately they still took a 46-36 lead into the final frame.

The Notre Dame women’s basketball team (6-8, 1-1) kicked off 2020 with a 60-52 over now 3-10, Pitt. Destinee Walker helped lead the way with with sixteen points, five of which proved to be huge in the stretch run.

Mikki Vaughn tied her career high of 17 points and nearly earned a double-double with nine boards while Anaya Peoples earned her third double-double in the last four games with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

How It Happened

The opening quarter saw the teams play to an 8-8 draw before the Irish got off to a much quicker start in the second. Midway through the period, the Notre Dame offense found a little rhythm, recording a stretch in which they made 5-of-6 from the field to take a 24-18 lead before Peoples drained a jumper at the buzzer, to give the Irish a 30-22 halftime lead, in large part due to the 17 turnovers they forced in the first half.

Notre Dame flew out of the gate to start the second half, going on a 7-0 run, with five points coming from Walker.  An 8-0 run by Pitt later in the quarter kept things closer than anyone associated with the Irish would have liked, but ultimately they still took a 46-36 lead into the final frame.

A quick fourth quarter start for Pitt saw them cut the Irish lead to three before the Notre Dame weathered the storm and closed things out.  Leading by five with 23 seconds left, Walker came up big again with a crucial steal which translated to two Irish free-throws from Walker, as the grad transfer helped seal the victory.

The women return to the court Sunday afternoon when they’ll take on 7-6 Syracuse.