Dodson, No. 20 Notre Dame finish off No. 3 NC State
The biggest win to date in the Niele Ivey regime of Notre Dame women’s basketball was a product of mental and physical toughness, led by grad senior Maya Dodson.
Ivey’s mentor and predecessor, Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw, was at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Ind., on Tuesday night as a fan to take it all in as No. 20 Notre Dame played like an awakening women’s college basketball giant in a 69-66 ambush of No. 3 NC State.
Dodson had 20 points, 10 rebounds and three steals — all game highs — in outdueling Wolfpack All-America center Elissa Cunane (13/7), the latter limited to just 23 minutes of playing time because of constant foul trouble.
As significant as who the Irish (17-4, 8-2 ACC) were in their first victory over a top five team since an 81-76 takedown of No. 2 UConn in the 2019 Final Four is who they weren’t Tuesday night.
A team that lost its poise in a close game’s most critical moments. Not that there weren’t anxious ones against a team that had won 18 successive games against ACC competition dating back to last season.
The Wolfpack (19-3, 10-1) got off two long 3s in the final five seconds with both of them bouncing off the rim. The nation’s No. 3 team nationally in 3-point shooting coming in (.399) finished 5-of-20 (.250).
“We’ve been in these moments and we’ve been working on it,” an emotional Ivey said. “We always talk about winning the fourth, and we’ve grown in that area. What I was really pleased about was that they went on a run, we didn’t panic.
“Normally we lose our composure. So they went on their run and then we countered their run. We got big stops. And we made big baskets and got to the free throw line — things like that. Early on in the season, we kind of fell apart. So this shows a lot of our growth.”
The Irish will get plenty of opportunities to test if it’s sustainable growth against the teams clumped in the upper-tier of the ACC standings. Virginia Tech (15-5, 7-2) is scheduled in on Thursday night at Purcell Pavilion if a forecasted heavy snowstorm doesn’t prevent the Hokies from getting to South Bend, Ind.
After that Notre Dame will face No. 12 Georgia Tech (18-4, 9-2) on the road and No. 4 Louisville (19-2, 9-1) twice in its last six regular-season games. The Irish could play a seventh, against last-place Virginia on the road (3-15, 0-8), if the league can wedge the postponed game in somewhere.
On Tuesday night NC State got out to an early 6-2 lead on a pair of 3-pointers from Kai Crutchfield. The Irish answered with an 8-0 run and never trailed thereafter. The ND lead swelled to as many as 12 points in the third quarter.
The Irish led by 10, 63-53, with 5:00 left in the fourth quarter when Dodson picked up her fourth foul and went to the bench. It took just over two minutes for the Wolfpack to whittle the lead down to three points, at which time Dodson re-entered.
It was 65-63 after NC State’s Diamond Johnson made one of two free throws at the 1:42 mark. Irish freshmen Sonia Citron and Olivia Miles then stepped up big from the free throw line, making two apiece for a 69-63 Irish advantage.
Neither team ended up scoring in the final 43 seconds after Cunane muscled up a shot in traffic and added a free throw for a three-point play.
Miles, coming off a career-high 30-point performance Sunday against Boston College, had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. Citron struggled with her shooting (1-of-12) but grabbed nine rebounds to go along with her four points.
Sam Brunelle hurt a knee and her head in a tumble to the ground in the first half and was taken to the locker room late in the first half. She did return in the second half and finished with 10 points. Abby Prohaska suffered a hit to the face and did not return.
The Irish tied a season low with eight turnovers. They outrebounded the Wolfpack 45-38, and Dodson had as many offensive rebounds (7) as NC State’s entire team.
“They’re huge,” Dodson said of ND’s 13 offensive boards. “They change the trajectory of a game.”
And maybe Notre Dame changed the trajectory of its season Tuesday night. In any event, the Irish, at the very least, made a step in the right direction.
“I’ve been a part of a lot of (big wins at ND), but just in the background,” said Ivey, a long-time assistant before leaving for a year to coach in the NBA and then return to succeed a retiring McGraw.
“So this is my first opportunity to strategize and lead this group to a victory, where everyone is on the edge of their seats. … That's why I’m kind of emotional, because it’s something I’ve always dreamt of. Just to be a part of it it’s just amazing.
“I’m just thankful and grateful for this group. I just feel like I get a chance to coach some of the best women in the world, and I never take it for granted.”
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