After jumping out to an early 15-8 lead, Notre Dame (1-2) fell to No. 24-ranked Michigan (3-0) on Thursday night at Purcell Pavilion by a 76-66 count while converting only one of its last 10 field goal attempts
Freshman Maddy Westbeld led the Fighting Irish with 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while sophomore guard Anaya Peoples and junior guard Dara Mabrey had 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The Wolverines opened the second quarter by converting seven consecutive field goals and built their lead up to 33-25 before the Irish closed with a 9-3 run to trail only 36-34 at the intermission.
Five times in the second half Notre Dame closed to within one point, the last at 56-55 on a drive by Peoples, but Michigan repeatedly answered with patient ball movement, timely three-pointers (7 of 19) and nearly flawless free throw shooting (17 of 19).
“The second half, we couldn’t get the stops that we needed to go out and run in transition — wasn’t too happy with our effort defensively in the second half,” Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said. “I know we have a young team and several additions that haven’t practiced a lot. Hopefully, we can come back Sunday with a better defensive effort.”
Junior forward Sam Brunelle and sophomore guard Katlyn Gilbert saw their first action of the season after returning from preseason health setbacks, but combined for only 3 of 12 shooting off the bench, with Brunelle fouling out in 17 minutes of action.
Notre Dame hosts IUPUI on Sunday before beginning conference play Dec. 13 versus Georgia Tech and Dec. 17 against Virginia Tech, both at home.
Three-Point Play
1. Continuing Continuity
There are lot of promising and gifted individual pieces to work with for the Irish, but it might take until mid- to late-January before Ivey and her staff begin to see it jell while tinkering with various lineups and finding the right positions/roles for everyone.
When 6-3 center Mikki Vaughn returns from knee surgery, possibly later this month, that will also add a new dynamic into roles that won’t come right away either. That is why we foresee the latter part of January as a time when continuity might begin to crystallize.
2. Not The Real Sam I Am
Brunelle’s injury likely set back her conditioning and timing (hence, five fouls in 17 minutes) while not being able to practice full time this preseason. It’s one thing to be available for action, but it’s quite another to be at optimum capacity and be effective over the course of 15, 20, 30 or more minutes against quality competition while shaking off so much rust.
When Brunelle and Westbeld can combine their forces down the road, the improvement should be conspicuous, particularly if both can stay out of foul trouble. If the injury lingers with Brunelle, frustration could set in.
3. Transition Game
The guard-oriented lineup is most effective with the fast break while trying to find itself in half-court sets, which has relied a little too often on one-one play. However, the Irish also were beat a little too often in transition defense. They relied a lot on zone because of foul trouble and matching up better against exceptional low-post player Naz Hillmon, who with 20 points (and 11 rebounds) was held about 11 under her average. Vaughn is such an X-factor down the road, particularly with how many quality minutes she would be able to supply down low.
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