SOUTH BEND – It would be a shame not have Notre Dame and Duke battle in next month’s ACC Tournament. After the thrilling battle for first place outright in the conference, the programs deserve to meet again. For the Irish, it would be a matter of getting revenge against the Blue Devils as they lost, 57-52, in front of a raucous crowd at Purcell Pavilion. It was the second loss to a team from the Tar Heel State in as many Sundays for the Irish after dropping a contest to NC State the previous week.
Although the Irish (18-4, 9-3) now are looking up at the Blue Devils (20-3, 10-2) in the ACC, this game was close throughout. The Irish took an eight-point lead late in the first half, but the Blue Devils refused to concede. Using their trademark tough defense and just enough offense, this game was destined to come down to the fourth quarter. That it did, and it wasn’t what the Irish were hoping for.
Neither team could score much in the final frame as during one stretch, they combined to miss 14 straight shots, keeping the score at 51-49 in favor of the Blue Devils. When the offense did somewhat pick up again, it was the Blue Devils that made just enough shots, and they held a 55-52 lead with 15.4 seconds left.
Given a chance to tie the score, the Irish instead turned the ball over when [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] lost it, and it was picked by Reigan Richardson. With the Irish forced to foul to try and extend the game, Elizabeth Balogun made two free throws to ice the game with 5.6 seconds left. That prompted the large crowd at Purcell Pavilion to head for the exits.
Celeste Taylor was the top Blue Devil with 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] led the Irish with 15 points and seven rebounds, [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] scored 14, and Miles added 11. Miles’ final six were the Irish’s only points in the entire fourth quarter.
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