Guard Play Leads Notre Dame Into Elite Eight
Junior guards Marina Mabrey and Arike Ogunbowale have not yet tasted a Final Four at Notre Dame.
The dynamic backcourt tandem did everything they could to help prevent that happening a third straight season while leading No. 1 seed Notre Dame to a 90-84 victory versus No. 4 seed Texas A&M on Saturday in the Spokane Regional.
With the victory, Notre Dame (32-3) advanced to the Elite Eight for the seventh time the past eight years, where it will play Pac-12 champion and No. 2 seed Oregon (33-4) on Monday night (9 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Ogunbowale and Mabrey combined for 52 points, 10-of-16 shooting from three-point range, 14 assists and only four turnovers while helping the Irish rally from a 37-24 first-half deficit.
Ogunbowale (27 points) continued her pace to set the single-season scoring average record for the Fighting Irish, but it was Mabrey’s (25 points) sharp-shooting beyond the arc that enabled them to tread water in the first half.
Mabrey converted a Notre Dame NCAA Tournament record seven treys in 11 attempts (and most in any game since Alicia Ratay had seven in 2003), with five of them coming in the first half to prevent the Aggies from gaining too much separation. Her volume of threes and assists (nine) were both career highs.
After Notre Dame fell behind 37-24, it closed the half on a 21-10 run to trail only 47-45 at the intermission — similar to the 45-45 halftime score last Sunday versus Villanova.
Ogunbowale began the game 1 of 6 from the field but in the closing minutes of the half made 3 of 4, including a three, while Mabrey added her fifth trey. Overall, the Irish converted nine of their last 10 field goals to conclude the first half.
Mabrey’s seventh and final three put the Irish ahead for good at 54-51 with 7:10 remaining in the third quarter, and they held a 68-63 edge entering the fourth quarter.
Led by explosive freshman guard Chennedy Carter (31 points and seven assists) as well as 5-11 inside force Anriel Howard (26 points and 14 rebounds, eight coming on offense), the Aggies came within 68-67 in the opening of the fourth quarter, but a Mabrey to Ogunbowale feed for a lay-in began an 11-3 Irish run.
Three consecutive treys by the Aggies continued to apply the pressure, but senior forward Kathryn Westbeld’s 17-foot jumper with 1:13 remaining to provide an 87-82 cushion was pretty much the dagger basket in the contest.
Whenever the Irish stick together at the end of a close game, Westbeld is often a glue that makes it happen.
Three-Point Play
1.The ‘Other’ Duo
While Mabrey and Ogunbowale were the standouts, sophomore guard Jackie Young was the finisher in the fourth quarter with her scoring (15 points overall, mainly on tough drives into traffic), rebounding (eight), passing (five assists) and defense.
Meanwhile, junior forward Jessica Shepard recorded her fifth consecutive double-double (12 points and 10 rebounds), a first by a Notre Dame player since 2002 with Jacqueline Batteast.
2. On The Rebound
Watching the game’s pattern and Irish head coach Muffet McGraw’s frustration, it appeared the Aggies’ Howard matched longtime NBA player Dwight Howard’s 30-rebound effort earlier this week while Texas A&M built a plus-20 advantage on the boards.
Yet when the final stats were compiled … Notre Dame finished with a 40-37 advantage on the boards (although lost 17-13 on the offensive end). Every so often it’s as bad as it looks, but this wasn’t one of them.
3. In Their Defense …
The Irish have allowed an average of 79.0 points in the three tournament games, generally not a good formula to reach one’s ultimate destination. Nevertheless, with a thin bench and an extremely small margin of error to get into foul trouble among the starters, sometimes some points on the floor need to be sacrificed.
Fortunately, the Irish have averaged a tournament-high 95.7 points, secure in the knowledge that it can out-gun most opposition on that end of the floor. Against Oregon, the Irish will meet “one of their own.” The Ducks lead the nation in three-point shooting accuracy (40.6 percent), joined Notre Dame, Connecticut and Baylor as the lone teams to convert 50 percent from the field this year, and the 82.6 scoring average is eighth nationally.
“We’re still waiting to play defense for 40 minutes,” Mabrey told ESPN after the game.
Whoever is committed to it and can execute it better on Monday will earn the right to advance to the Final Four.
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