Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame WBB get defensive in ACC win over Miami
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — On a bone-chilling day outside, when Notre Dame’s shooting from the field only briefly thawed out indoors, the 18th-ranked Irish still found a way to evolve their game and improve their NCAA Tournament profile.
With defense. Smothering, sticky, relentless zone defense.
The ringleader on that front, freshman Hannah Hidalgo, provided enough of an offensive complement that Notre Dame was able to largely comfortably cruise to a 70-59 ACC women’s basketball victory Sunday over Miami at Purcell Pavilion.
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The nation’s third-leading scorer tied Beth Morgan’s Irish freshman record with her 13th 20-plus-point game — 25 points, to be precise, on Sunday — to go along with seven rebounds and seven steals. Hidalgo continues to lead that nation in that category, and she tied former All-American Skylar Diggins for the most career games (8) with six or more steals.
Fifteen games into her career.
“She has a gift, a God-given gift,” head coach Niele Ivey said, “and she just plays with so much passion. I'm starting not to be surprised with the things that she does. She just plays with so much energy and fearlessness … every game I'm expecting something dynamic from her.”
As a team Notre Dame (12-3, 3-2 ACC) was dynamic enough to force 26 turnovers and turn them into 31 points, harass Miami (11-5, 1-4) into 4-of-22 shooting from the 3-point stripe and block five shots, four of them from forward Kylee Watson.
It offset an uncharacteristic offensive struggle for senior forward Maddy Westbeld, who shot just 2-for-14 from the field and turned the ball over six times in her 100th career start and second game back from a concussion and having to wear a protective mask on her face.
Sonia Citron, in her third game back from a 7 1⁄2-week layoff due to injury, added 15 points for the Irish, while KK Bransford hit double figures for the third straight game, adding 10 points and eight rebounds.
“I thought KK was a huge spark for us,” Ivey said. “She was such a positive light defensively, offensively. I thought she showed great poise.”
The Purcell Pavilion crowd, generously listed at 5,905, showed something to behold as well. With temperatures hovering around minus-6 at tipoff and wind chills in the minus-30s, the Notre Dame athletic department offered free admission to any walk-ups without a ticket and exchanges for future games for anyone with a ticket who opted to stay home.
“I want to thank our fans,” Ivey said. “Especially with the weather, for them to come up to support us and show up for us the way that they do, we're so appreciative. We love playing at home, and we love playing in front of them.”
And those who came saw the teams combine to miss the first eight shots of the game. Miami’s Jaida Patrick finally sank a 3 at the 7:44 mark to break a scoreless tie. Nat Marshall accounted for ND’s first points, after six straight misses by the Irish, roughly a minute later. Patrick, one of five transfers on the Hurricanes' roster, lead Miami with 15 points.
Despite shooting just 6-of-21 from the field in the quarter, Notre Dame took a 15-13 lead at the end of the period. After Miami tied the game early in the second, Hidalgo started and finished a 10-0 Irish run that gave the Irish enough breathing room to lean into their defense and not be seriously threatened the rest of the way.
“Momentum building,” Ivey said of the 2-3 zone. “They're trusting it. They're understanding it more. In our starting lineup, the top of the zone is brand new to the system. So, I thought over time, it's a lot of learning. It’s a lot of teaching different defensive principles. And I think they're bought in with it. We're just getting better in it. Pressing full court in it. And we're understanding offenses. They have had great carryover from practice.”
The Irish, who started the day in an eighth-place tie with Duke in the ACC standings, look to make some headway toward future conference tournament seeding, on the road next week against two of the league’s struggling teams, Virginia (8-8, 0-5) on Thursday night and Wake Forest (4-13, 0-5) on Sunday.
With more records likely in store for Hidalgo along the way.
“I mean, I just come in and play basketball,” she said. “I'm just blessed to be able to break these records, but I'm just going out and having fun and then breaking them. And then the coaches let me know after the game.”
And with no thoughts about hitting a proverbial freshman wall.
“I don't like to play in fear,” Hidalgo said, “and obviously trusting in God. I know he's brought me this far. And I trust in my teammates and my coaches. I know if I'm in a slump, then my teammates are always going to step it up, and my coaches always have my back too.”
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