Tag: Niele Ivey

Notre Dame wins ugly game against cellar-dwelling Pittsburgh

Good thing they don’t give points for style.

If you watched Notre Dame’s game against Pittsburgh and didn’t know the ACC standings, you never would have known the Panthers are in last. A contest that few expected to be close was exactly that almost throughout. It couldn’t have been a pleasant feeling for [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] seeing her top-10 Irish struggle to shake the inferior Panthers. Still, she undoubtedly will take the 69-63 win.

The Irish (19-4, 10-3) led by as much as 11, but you probably would have forgotten that had you watched the game. There were eight lead changes, and the Panthers (8-16, 1-12) in front as late as early in the fourth quarter. The Irish ended up losing the field-goal percentage battle, .440-.431. The possibility of a real letdown after a tough loss against Duke four days earlier was real.

In the end, the Irish made more clutch plays. When [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] hit a 3 to extend their lead to six with two-and-a-half minutes to go, the game pretty much was sealed. While the Panthers had a chance to creep closer, they never did. The result is the Irish breathing a sigh of relief that they didn’t lose back-to-back games at home.

Citron scored 20 points and showcased her defensive skills with three steals and three blocks. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] achieved a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, and [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] did the same with 11 points and 13 assists. The Irish as a whole had significant advantages in rebounds (41-27), second-chance points (25-8) and fast-break points (10-1).

Perhaps [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag]’s presence could have allowed the Irish to assert their authority more. Instead, an injury kept her from playing once again. While she could be back soon, the Irish need to learn how to dominate without her or [autotag]Dara Mabrey[/autotag] in the lineup. Otherwise, their NCAA Tournament run could be a short one.

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Niele Ivey, Maddy Westbeld speak after loss to Duke knocks Irish out of first

Read some inside thoughts on the defeat.

SOUTH BEND – The good news for Notre Dame is there’s plenty of time to reclaim first place in the ACC after Duke claimed it.

The bad news is the 57-52 loss the Blue Devils handed the Irish means [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] will have to figure out how to play catch-up. That’s not where a team wants to be with less than a month to go before the ACC Tournament. Alas, the Irish have no choice.

[autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] played the entire game and had 15 points and seven rebounds. But she contributed to the Irish’s 2-of-13 shooting from the field in the fourth quarter, missing all three of her shots. In fact, the six points [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] scored in that frame were all the Irish produced. [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag] surely could have helped stop the bleeding had she been available, but we’ll never know for sure.

Here is some of what Ivey and Westbeld said about the Irish’s toughest loss this season:

Notre Dame’s Dara Mabrey done for season, career with ACL tear

Not what anyone wanted.

When [autotag]Dara Mabrey[/autotag] went down in excruciating pain during Notre Dame’s win over Virginia, many feared the worst. Unfortunately, those fears have come true. Mabrey announced on social media Monday that she has torn her ACL. Not only will this put the graduate student out for the season, but it’s the end of her collegiate career:

This is a bad loss for the Irish as Mabrey has been part of the same starting lineup [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] has had every game this season. Not only will she have to make alternate plans now, but the road to the ACC title might have just gotten a little tougher. Also, will the Irish be able to make as deep an NCAA Tournament run with [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag] or [autotag]KK Bransford[/autotag] as the new starter as they would have with Mabrey? A lot of questions just opened up.

Mabrey will finish five years of college basketball, the first two coming at Virginia Tech, with averages of 10.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists a game and a shooting slash line of .401/.380/.842. She started every game for the Irish the past three seasons and was their leading 3-point scorer in her first two. She leaves this season as the Irish’s top 3-point scorer with 33, and that figure certainly will be passed two or three times before the year ends.

Hopefully, Mabrey will be just as effective helping her team from the sidelines. With the stakes continuing to rise as the season goes on, the Irish need every advantage they can get. Mabrey becoming a de facto assistant coach should provide one.

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Despite rough patches, Notre Dame holds on against Clemson

That was ugly and close, but the outcome was desirable.

Except for the result, Notre Dame probably will want to forget its game against Clemson. The shooting left a lot to be desired, and the Tigers were a feisty group eager to snag another home victory against a ranked opponent after doing it against Virginia Tech this season. Yet somehow, the Irish hung on long enough to escape with a 57-54 victory.

The Irish (15-2, 6-1) struggled from the field all night, often missing open shots. While the Tigers (12-8, 3-5) weren’t much better, they took advantage of their opportunities more in the first half, leading by as much as nine. All signs pointed to the Irish dropping a game that a team of their stature should not. Then, they made four unanswered layups at the beginning of the third quarter to go up seven, and they mostly controlled the game from there.

Despite playing a better second half, the Irish nearly let the game get away. With [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] at the free-throw line in the final seconds and her team up three, she only needed to make one to all but assure victory. Instead, she missed both, and Daisha Bradford got the rebound. Bradford fired a prayer at the buzzer to try and send the game to overtime, but the shot wasn’t that close, and the Irish could exhale.

Both the Irish and Tigers made only 18 field goals, but the Irish attempted eight more shots, resulting a final field-goal percentage of .353. They also shot only 4 of 17 from 3-point range and were 11 of 17 from the charity stripe. You better believe [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] will emphasize shooting during the next practice.

[autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] was everything for the Irish once again. She had a line of 20 points, eight assists, four rebounds and four steals. Westbeld had 15 points and six boards, and [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] grabbed a game-high nine boards.

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Notre Dame’s Niele Ivey highlighted in coaches fashion story

Rock those outfits, Niele!

You might have noticed that Notre Dame coach [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] has had a very colorful wardrobe this season. More often than not, her game outfits have jumped out and often have a shade of green. She even has served as an inspiration to Jackson State coach Tomekia Reed. All of that and more is talked about in this story from ESPN-owned-and-operated website Andscape.

Perhaps the most interesting part about the story is that Ivey selects her wardrobe with help from best friend and former Irish teammate [autotag]Julie Henderson[/autotag], who now is a model. In fact, Henderson flies to South Bend at least once a month to provide that assistance. That’s how you know a friendship is real.

When asked to comment about her thought process for game outfits, Ivey said this:

“My first thing [is] the color scheme and then it’s kind of like a vibe and energy. So this year, I’m going to try to plan out more games in advance. I don’t mind patterns, but I think I like bold colors and sometimes I like bright colors. I kind of like showing my femininity a little bit more. I will say that that would probably be my beginning stage of understanding and learning fashion. I’m big on if I feel good in the clothes.”

Clearly, Ivey’s need to be fashionable has not affected her coaching as the Irish have a 12-2 record. Here’s to more of her rocking in both areas.

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Niele Ivey, KK Bransford, Cassandre Prosper speak after Notre Dame win

A lot of happy thoughts after that dominating victory.

SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame’s 85-48 win over Boston College was a coming-out party for a couple of new faces. [autotag]KK Bransford[/autotag] has been around throughout the season, and the freshman’s 17 points set a personal high for the season, not to mention tied with [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] for the game’s scoring lead. Early enrollee and Montreal native [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag] played her first home game and made the most of it with seven points and a game-high nine rounds.

All of this led to a happy [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] being joined by both freshmen in the postgame news conference. With the ease of the victory and the emergence of two players who could represent the program’s future, it was easy to feel relaxed when taking questions from the assembled media. The way this team is playing, there will be plenty more of those as the season continues. For now though, here is what they said:

Notre Dame readies to face Boston College on New Year’s Day

For your early New Year’s viewing.

Notre Dame won’t have much if any time to celebrate on New Year’s Eve. That’s because a game is scheduled for noon EST on New Year’s Day. The Irish will welcome Boston College to Purcell Pavilion. If you’re a fan of players really making noise in the ACC, this is the game for you.

This contest will feature the ACC’s top two assist leaders in the Irish’s [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] (7.8) and Eagles freshman Phenom Taina Mair (7.5), who also is the conference’s minutes leader (37.1). The Irish also will have to deal with Dontavia Waggoner, who leads the conference in steals. You better believe [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] will have her team ready for both players.

Since losing a heartbreaker at the buzzer to Maryland, the Irish have won five straight. They will look to continue that streak as ACC play began in earnest with Thursday’s win at Miami. If you want to see if they can, come out to Purcell Pavilion like we will be doing. Otherwise, you can watch on the ACC Network.

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Notre Dame suffers first loss on Maryland buzzer-beater

That was gut-wrenching.

There are ways to pick up your first loss of the season that don’t break your heart. That won’t be the case for this year’s Notre Dame squad thanks to how its final ACC-Big Ten Challenge game ended. No. 20 Maryland’s Diamond Miller scored the final two of her game-high 31 points on a pull-up jumper near the left elbow off a screen just as time expired. The basket gave the Terrapins a 74-72 win and prompted Miller to shush the Purcell Pavilion crowd.

It was a game that went back and forth until the very end. [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] completed a three-point play with 48 seconds left to give the No. 7 Irish (6-1) a 70-69 lead. Miller immediately followed that with a basket in the paint, prompting [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] to call a timeout. After the huddle broke, Miles missed a layup that [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag] couldn’t rebound cleanly, and the Terrapins (7-2) called a timeout to maintain possession.

Miller was fouled after the subsequent inbound pass, but she only was able to split two free throws. Ivey called her final timeout to draw up a play to tie the game or potentially give the Irish the lead. Miles inbounded the ball and found a wide-open [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] for a game-tying layup. The Terrapins took a timeout after that, setting the stage for Miller’s heroics.

Miller did a lot more than hit the game-winner at the buzzer. In addition to being the game’s leading scorer, she had a game-high 12 rebounds and a team-high five assists. Only Shyann Sellers joined Miller in double-digit scoring with 17 points.

Citron completed a double-double for the Irish with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Miles scored 14 and had a game-high seven assists. [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag] scored 10 and blocked three shots.

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Notre Dame dismantles Ball State, 95-60

The Irish keep rolling.

The following is courtesy of Notre Dame athletics:

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The most complete performance to date.

That was the way Karen & Kevin Keyes Head Coach Niele Ivey unquestioningly described her team’s 95-60 dismantling of Ball State (2-2) on Sunday at Purcell Pavilion to move to 4-0 on the year. No. 9 Notre Dame left little to no doubt from the start, scoring 27 points in both the first and second quarters and holding Ball State to just nine points in the second 10 minutes. Notre Dame led by as much as 39, and five Irish players finished with 10+ points for the second time this year.

A huge piece of that first-half deluge came as a result of guard Dara Mabrey’s five three-pointers before the break, the first time she’s had such a showing since sinking seven threes against Oklahoma in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Mabrey finished with a total of 19 points, three rebounds and three assists.

“Dara’s one of the best three-point shooters in the country,” Ivey said. “Seeing her light it up from the perimeter right away from the beginning of the game [is awesome].”

Notre Dame topped the Cardinals in every category, including bench points (41-17), fast breaks (19-11) and second chance points (15-6). The Irish blocked eight shots, including a season-high three from center Lauren Ebo. She had her first double-double in a Notre Dame uniform on Sunday, finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

A couple of newcomers posted career highs in the points category against the Cardinals; graduate student and Stanford transfer Jenna Brown had 10, while freshman KK Bransford posted 16.

“It was special for me, and it was special for my teammates to see what I can bring to the team,” Bransford said after the game. “Tonight I felt really confident just knowing that [my teammates] have my back.”

Bransford went 8-8 from the free throw line and posted six rebounds as well. She is the lone freshman currently on the team, but she played like a veteran on Sunday.

The depth and contributions across the board bode well for Ivey, who has hopes of making the Final Four for the 10th time in program history.

“I think that we’re just scratching the surface.”

Notre Dame heads to the Bahamas this week to play in the Goombay Splash for a Thanksgiving tournament. First up is a match against American (0-3) on Thursday at 4:15 p.m. The contest can be streamed on FloHoops, and additional information about the tournament can be found here.

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Niele Ivey, Sonia Citron speak after Notre Dame beats Northwestern

Hear what the Irish’s coach and game’s leading scorer had to say about this eventful win.

EVANSTON, Ill. — Notre Dame beat Northwestern, 92-58, in a game that seemed uneventful on the surface. However, some fireworks throughout kept things interesting, and this will be one of those rare 34-point games that is talked about within both programs for the rest of the season thanks to technical fouls and ejections. Both the win and those fireworks were talked about when [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] and [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] met with the media afterwards. Here is some of what was said: