muffett mcgraw – Syndication Server

Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Irish Pulverize Panthers

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.

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.

Choice for Notre Dame’s Athletic Moment of the Decade an Obvious One

McGraw’s Irish had an all-time decade where deep NCAA Tournament runs were simply protocol.

No matter what sport you’re a fan of, if you’re a fan of Notre Dame athletics you had an incredibly memorable decade.

The football team returned to national prominence, twice going unbeaten in the regular season and making an appearance in the BCS Championship Game in 2012 and in the College Football Playoff in 2018.

Mike Brey’s basketball team reached heights that haven’t been seen in South Bend in a very long time as the Fighting Irish peaked mid-decade, winning the ACC in 2015 before nearly pulling the upset of unbeaten Kentucky in the Midwest Regional Final and coming within a buzzer-beater of going to the Final Four. They’d return to the Elite Eight a year later before falling to North Carolina as well.

The men’s hockey team made seven appearances in the NCAA Tournament, something they had done just four times previously. Three times they made the Frozen Four including a national final appearance in 2018.

As much as there was to get excited about there was one team that stuck out more than any others, and by a pretty significant margin.

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