Tag: Hannah Hidalgo

Notre Dame writer evaluates Irish star Hannah Hidalgo before USC showdown

Containing Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo will we a top priority for the USC women’s basketball team in its top-5 matchup against the Irish.

The No. 3 USC women’s basketball team has a big matchup this weekend against the No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Tipoff on Saturday from Galen Center is scheduled for just after 4 p.m. Eastern time. Rankings are courtesy of the USA TODAY Sports Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll. Ahead of the matchup, Geoffrey Clark of FightingIrishWire spoke about the strength of the Notre Dame team, guard Hannah Hidalgo, who is averaging 25 points per game, ranking fourth in the country.

“Hannah Hidalgo is a scoring and steals machine, and she has proved that constantly during her collegiate career. On top of that, she has the confidence required to be an elite college basketball player, and there is no challenge she won’t take on. She quite simply would be the best player on almost every team in the country,” Clark told us.

Hidalgo, a sophomore, will be one of the top priorities for the Trojans to deal with if they want to come out victorious in the biggest game of their young season. She is one of the many pieces that will make Saturday’s game a must-watch.

Check out our new podcast with Geoffrey Clark on USC-Notre Dame, the first really big women’s basketball game of the season:

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Notre Dame women’s basketball remains perfect with win over Lafayette

Another day, another victory.

The Notre Dame women’s basketball team is hurting right now. That’s evidenced by the fact that it had only six rotational players available against Lafayette. But the Irish are so talented that they barely had to break a sweat in a 91-55 victory.

The Irish (4-0) never trailed the Leopards (1-3) and did just about everything to keep their perfect record intact. Their offense was in sync as it typically is, which led to a program-record 15 3-pointer. Their defense also was smothering as usual. There was nothing to indicate that the Irish would slip up in this game.

All the Leopards could do was try and give a respectable showing to their home crowd, which they said they did on their postgame TV interviews. They should say that though after only scoring one less point than the Irish in the fourth quarter.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] led everybody with 29 points and five steals. [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] was equally lethal with 20 points and seven assists. [autotag]Emma Risch[/autotag] scored all 12 of her points off the bench on four 3-pointers.

[autotag]Kate Koval[/autotag] flirted with a triple-double with 11 points, 19 rebounds and seven blocks. [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] nearly achieved a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds while also accumulating six assists, three steals and three blocks.

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Notre Dame guards projected top-four picks ahead of WNBA draft lottery

This would reflect quite well on the Irish.

Notre Dame guards [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] and [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] are headed for the WNBA after this season. At least that’s the expectation. The real question is how high both players will be picked in the draft.

The WNBA draft lottery will take place Sunday. The participants are the Washington Mystics, Los Angeles Sparks, Dallas Wings and Chicago Sky. According to two projects, Miles and Citron both have a chance to be picked by one of those teams in the top four of the draft.

Tankathon has Miles and Citron going back-to-back at third and fourth, which would be an incredible accomplishment for the Irish. ESPN isn’t as optimistic with Miles going fourth and Citron projected as the final pick of the first round. ESPN previously had Miles going fifth and Citron 11th.

First things first though, both players are focused are bringing the Irish a national championship. Having [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] and rising freshman [autotag]Kate Koval[/autotag] with them will make the journey a lot easier.

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Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Notre Dame forward reaches stat line achieved only by Anthony Davis

Quite a comparison.

As excited as Notre Dame fans are about [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] and [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag], they want to look at a third potential star if they aren’t already. Freshman forward [autotag]Kate Koval[/autotag] was inserted into the starting lineup during the Irish’s season opener and has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Through three games, Koval has a total of 40 points, 33 rebounds, eight assists and 15 blocks. According to OptaSTATS, only one other Division I freshman, men or women, has achieved at least that stat line over that span. That freshman is Anthony Davis, who did it in his final three games with Kentucky en route to the 2012 national championship.

Davis’ stat line objectively was better at 42 points, 41 rebounds, eight assists and 17 blocks. That won him the Most Outstanding Player award.

Only time will tell whether Koval can keep up this level of production. That she already is drawing comparisons to Davis this early though indicates that the Irish might have hit yet another home run with her.

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Notre Dame women’s basketball gets third easy win vs. James Madison

The Irish continue to prove how deep they are.

The early part of Notre Dame’s schedule was set up in such a way that it seemingly wouldn’t be challenged early on. So far, that has proved to be the case. After cruising to easy wins over Mercyhurst and Purdue, the Irish continued that trend with a 92-46 victory over James Madison.

For the third time in as many games this season, the Irish (3-0) proved to have far more talent than their opponent, even with injuries tightening their rotation at the moment. That rotation might be tightened further after a hard knock to the floor caused [autotag]Liatu King[/autotag] to leave the game early in the fourth quarter with a head injury. Hopefully, she won’t be lost for very long if at all.

The Dukes (3-1) took their lone lead on a 3-pointer early in the first quarter. Most of the time though, the Irish had double the points of the Dukes or close to it. While the Irish were their usual strong selves on both ends, the Dukes did themselves no favors by making only 15 field goals and shooting a putrid 21.7% from the floor:

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] had a typical game of 24 points, six rebounds and four steals. [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] also played typically with 16 points, six rebounds and eight assists.

[autotag]Kate Koval[/autotag] quickly is becoming an early contender for ACC Rookie of the Year. A night in which she had a line of 14 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks will do that.

King scored 11 points before she went out, and [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag] also had 11 points to go with seven boards off the bench.

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Hannah Hidalgo added to another key award watch list

Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo is being watched for a prestigious award.

Notre Dame sophomore guard [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] is on the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Wade Watch List. She’s among 15 players being watched as a potential winner of the oldest, most prestigious player of the year award.

She was a Region I finalist for the 10-member WBCA Division I Coaches All-American team last season. Hidalgo is averaging 23.5 points per game, 8 rebounds per game, and 6 steals per games through two games so far this season.

She had 28 points against the Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday, which lead the Fighting Irish in scoring during their victory.

Hidalgo has already been named an AP Preseason All-American and the Preseason ACC Player of the Year.

If Hidalgo keeps it up, her trophy case could look mighty full when it’s all said and done.

Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo adjusts her headband during an exhibition game against Davenport on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend. Notre Dame won 101-41.

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Notre Dame, USC to be featured throughout NBC tripleheader Nov. 23

Don’t make any plans for that day.

Notre Dame and USC make up an intersectional rivalry unlike any other in the country. One upcoming Saturday will showcase both schools on national TV perhaps like never before.

NBC Sports has a longtime association with Irish football, and USC now is part of a Big Ten which has its games broadcast by the same company. And the stars are aligning for one heck of day.

NBC will kick off a tripleheader of coverage involving both schools with the Irish and Trojans women’s basketball teams meeting in Los Angeles at 4 p.m. EST. All eyes will be on that to see whether [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] and [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] get the best of JuJu Watkins and Kiki Iriafen. Both duos are incredibly dangerous.

Next will be the Irish football team’s annual Shamrock Series game with Army at Yankee Stadium. Wrapping up the day’s coverage will be the Trojans football team facing UCLA at the Rose Bowl. Both games will be the teams’ last before playing each other at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum the following week.

Clear your schedule for Nov. 23, Irish fans. It will be the right day to do so.

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Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Notre Dame women’s basketball clobbers Purdue on road for second win

Make that two blowout wins to start the season.

If an opponent isn’t contending for an ACC or national championship, Notre Dame is likely to run it out of the gym. That’s exactly what happened during the Irish’s first road game of the season against Purdue. Much like with the football team less than two months earlier, this game was never close as the Irish won, 102-58.

The Irish (2-0) scored the game’s first nine points before jumping out to an 18-3 lead and never looking back. Every time the Boilermakers (1-1) got any sort of momentum going, the Irish answered and often expanded their lead. They gave themselves more scoring chances with plays on both ends of the floor and took full advantage.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] had a trademark night with 28 points and six steals. [autotag]Liatu King[/autotag] did a tall player’s impression of Hidalgo, scoring 18 points and recording four steals. She also achieved a double-double with 15 rebounds.

[autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] scored 17 points, which included this ridiculous shot from beyond half-court as time expired on the third quarter:

[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] added 14 points in her season debut after missing the opener with an injury, and [autotag]Kate Koval[/autotag] grabbed 10 rebounds while coming within two-points of a double-double.

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Olivia Miles triple-double highlights Notre Dame season-opening win

Yeah, she’s back all right.

Notre Dame’s season opener against Mercyhurst was full of storylines. [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] was in her first meaningful game since the end of the 2022-23 regular season. The Lakers were playing their first game at the NCAA Division I level.

There was no denying Miles’ proper comeback story though. She recorded the fourth triple-double of her career (20 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) to help the Irish crush the Lakers, 105-61. Every starter scored in double figures.

Despite having only seven players healthy enough for their season opener, the Irish (1-0) never let the Lakers (0-1) in the contest. They imposed their will from the opening tip with a well-oiled offense, a stifling defense and numerous high-energy plays that the Lakers simply couldn’t keep up with.

[autotag]Liatu King[/autotag] marked her Irish debut with a double-double of 24 points and 11 rebounds. [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] just missed a double-double but had 19 points, nine boards and three steals.

[autotag]Kate Koval[/autotag] scored 18 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked five shots in her first collegiate game. [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag], who missed most of last season because of injury, completed her own comeback story with 17 points.

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Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo profiled for Associated Press story

She’s worthy of coverage for sure.

With the women’s basketball season about to get underway, major national media outlets are out to get the inside scoop. That means taking a look at the teams and players most likely to make this season a special one.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Notre Dame is expected to do big things during the 2024-25 season. Not the least of those reasons is [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag], who was a national player of the year finalist in her first season.

We could repeat every accolade and distinction Hidalgo achieved as a freshman, but Notre Dame women’s basketball fans know them by now. Not everybody knows though, so that’s where the Associated Press comes in.

Curt Rallo, who once covered the Irish for the South Bend Tribune, is the writer of an Associated Press story about Hidalgo. We learn about her honors, her attributes and a bit of her life before she joined the Irish.

Whatever the Irish do this season, Hidalgo will be the reason for it. There’s no way she won’t be.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

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