When three-year starter and standout guard Sonia Citron went down with a sprained knee in Wednesday’s win over Northwestern, head coach Niele Ivey went to her old standby line that she has delivered often in her four-season Notre Dame coaching tenure: “Everyone just has to do a little bit more.”
KK Bransford, fortunately, did a LOT more in just her second game back from injury, as the 3-1 Irish turned back a capable 2-2 Illinois team, 79-68, in Saturday’s Citi Shamrock Classic at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington D.C.
The 5-11 guard/forward had 11 points, seven rebounds — including six of No. 16 Notre Dame’s 14 on the offensive glass — four assists, a block and some stout defense at critical moments in her 28 minutes on the floor.
“She's done a phenomenal job, coming back from (a leg) injury,” Ivey said. “She's had some amazing practices … And so, for her to be able to step up, she gives us an incredible offensive spark. And because she's very, very smart, I put her in multiple positions.
“Sometimes you see her as the point guard, sometimes she’s a forward — just doing whatever we need. … She does so many things well.”
So much is lost with the 6-1 junior Citron, who is expected back in weeks — a couple, to be specific, per Ivey — rather than months. This season it’s been averages of 20 points, four rebounds and two assists, plus her usual steady and heady play on both ends of the floor that the Irish have to replace.
For good reason, Ivey calls her “the heartbeat of our team.”
Hard to replace, but there’s still ample talent on the roster.
Freshman guard Hannah Hidalgo was again fantastic with 24 points – a bucket below her average — on 8-for-15 shooting, with eight assists and five of Notre Dame’s 36 rebounds. She did have seven turnovers but made up for a lot of that with six steals.
Ivey admitted that Hidalgo “has a lot of freedom.”
“You know, a superstar like her who has that dynamic game and flashy game, you’ve got to let her go,” Ivey said. “So, that's what I do. But she understands that there's times we're going to have to reel her in (defensively) and make sure we get a little bit more cohesive defensively. But that's what she does, she crushes the ball. She's very feisty, and that's always been her superpower.”
Sophomore Cass Prosper started in place of Citron, providing a strong-and-long defender. But she continued to struggle with her shot — under 20% for the season — and had just four points on 2-for-7 shooting, along with four fouls that limited her to 22 minutes.
Fouls were an issue for both clubs — 24 for the Irish and 23 for the Illini — with both teams victims of some curious calls.
Starting forward Kylee Watson didn’t last long and fouled out in 18 minutes. Prosper, Maddy Westbeld and Nat Marshall all finished with four fouls, and had minutes limited to a degree.
The issues could have produced serious trouble against an Illinois team (2-2) that was ranked in the preseason before a four-point road loss to Marquette.
The Illini returned 93 percent of their scoring from a 22-10 team that reached the Big Ten Tourney final and were without first-team All-Big Ten performer Makira Cook for the first three games of the season.
She was back Saturday and drew plenty of Irish attention, but still had 14 points (6-for-13 from the field).
Keeping the Illini afloat the entire game was 5-6 senior guard and North Carolina State transfer Genesis Bryant. Averaging 16 points coming in, she took the offense into her own hands, going 10-for-19 and 8-for-8 at the line for 31 points in 39 minutes. The Irish had few answers for her drives in the lane, along with three 3-point shots. But she also had eight of Illinois’ 21 turnovers — the Irish had 18 — as the Irish forced Illinois into a lot of one-on-one basketball.
Averaging 17 assists coming in, the Illini had only five Saturday.
Offensively for the Irish, senior Westbeld — averaging 13 points a game — stepped up with 12 points in the first quarter and 24 for the game with an efficient 10-for-16 shooting effort, including 3-for-3 on 3s.
“I think honestly, I've always played for Sonia,” Westbeld said. “She's a person who will give her all in every game, and so particularly today and for the rest of the games that she won't be with us, I think just trying to do those little things that she does that doesn't really fill up the stat sheet.
“We've been through adversity, we know what that is. And so it was the same thing. Last year we experienced playing without Liv (Olivia Miles). And so yeah, just trying to fill the void (against Illinois) of what they brought.”
A 9-0 run to end the half was big for the Irish, keeping the Illini pointless over the final 3:45 to push a one-point lead to 10 at the break, 37-27.
Illinois trimmed it to six at the start of the second half before Notre Dame regained control, getting a big hand from Bransford with five points over a two-minute stretch.
The lead grew to 20, at 70-50, on a Hidalgo drive with 6:11 to play, and the Irish were able to maintain control despite some struggles offensively down the stretch as they navigated foul trouble.
Each team shot at a 48% rate for the game, but key for the Irish was 7-for-13 shooting from the 3-point line along with 31 points off Illini turnovers. When they ran, they ran efficiently.
“We definitely have to pivot (with the Citron loss), but my message was play for each other and for everyone to step up,” said Ivey. “Everyone has to do a little bit more. Soni is kind of the heartbeat of our team, so I challenged everyone to do a little bit more and they all rose to the occasion. They rose to that challenge. And everybody gave a little bit more. You could tell the energy was great from the beginning.”
“Just fight through adversity,” she added, “and unfortunately, this group understands what that means after going through our adversity last year. But my messaging is still the same — we play for each other.”
Chicago State visits Purcell Pavilion Tuesday at 7 p.m (EST) before next Friday’s road trip to Ball State (5 p.m. start time).
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