SOUTH BEND, Ind. — They battled for 45 minutes and there wasn’t a calm one among them.
Intense from the tip through regulation, there were 11 ties and nine lead changes before No. 10-ranked Notre Dame got two big 3-point shots to fall in overtime — one from Hannah Hidalgo and the other from Sonia Citron — to finally put away a talented and deep No. 4 Texas team, 80-70, in overtime Thursday evening in an SEC/ACC Challenge game.
A crowd of over 9,000 in Purcell Pavilion rocked all night to a bevy of big plays, but it was never louder than after Hidalgo’s three with 3:10 left in overtime — until Citron’s three 27 seconds later that gave the Irish a 76-70 edge after regulation ended tied at 68.
Texas — 7-1 after six blowout wins and a five-point win over No. 15 West Virginia — used 11 players and does a lot of things well, but 3-point shooting isn’t one of them. It came in shooting 26% from the arc and the Longhorns missed three over the final few minutes.
“You’re always going to lose a horse game against that team,” said Texas coach Vic Schaefer, who couldn’t believe his team had 23 turnovers (they average 14) against a 2-3 zone.
“There’s no way to sugarcoat that,’’ said Schaefer, whose team forces 27 turnovers a game and coaxed 17 from the Irish.
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Notre Dame fans, surely, were relieved to know that the team that looked out of sorts in consecutive losses (the first since 2021) to TCU and Utah in the Cayman Islands last Friday and Saturday, looked more like the team that beat then No. 3 USC on the road on Nov. 23.
Head coach Niele Ivey said the malaise was out of her team’s system when they stepped back on the Purcell Pavilion floor.
“We had a rough week, as everybody knows,” Ivey said. “We got back to work when we got home, and they were mentally tough. We had a couple really hard practices and film sessions, and they turned the page. They came out and they responded with their defense ...
“So really proud of this team. And the toughness and the response that we gave today, incredible performance. That's the result of them coming in and just getting back to work.’’
What may be most incredible is that the Irish played at such a high level against a bigger and stronger opponent with the same five players for all but 16 minutes.
Hidalgo was sensational. She came in averaging 24 and had 19 in the first half. Dealing with ramped up pressure in the second half, the scoring pace slowed but the contributions didn’t. She finished with 30 points (11-for-20, and 3-for-5 on threes) eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. She was everywhere.
And if you didn’t happen to catch the game on ESPN, try to check out the Hidalgo highlights.
The play of the night came early in the second quarter. While sitting on the floor after diving to make a midcourt steal, with her back to the Irish basket, she flung the ball, two-handed, over her head to a sprinting Olivia Miles who was racing toward the bucket. She hit her in stride and Miles hit the layup to jumpstart the Purcell crowd and create some momentum that led to a 39-34 edge at halftime.
“She's a big stage type player,” Ivey said of Hidalgo. “You know, the bright lights, she lives for these moments. So I knew that she was going to come out ready. But, I mean, she got a couple steals in the back court, makes a couple fantastic finishes and finds people for assists. And it just really electrified our whole group, our whole team, with her amazing play.”
Miles, who was recognized before the game for being the eighth Irish player to reach 1,000 points and 500 assists, went 6-for-11 and finished with 18 points and six assists.
Citron had 18 (5-for-13) to go with a career-high seven steals. And Liatu King added 10 points on a 4-for-7 night. She led the club with 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double.
Texas was led by 6-1 sophomore Madison Booker. The 16-point scorer came in shooting at a 52% clip and finished with 20, but was just 7-for-21 from the field. Shay Holle had 14 and hurt the Irish with her threes in the first half. She finished 4-for-8 from the arc.
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It was a struggle for the Irish on the boards, outrebounded 46-37 and 19-8 in offensive rebounds.
It helped Texas to a 73-63 edge in shots, but the Irish zone did its job limiting a 51% shooting team to just 37%. The Irish finished at 44%, including 47% on threes (8-for-17).
Notre Dame generally doesn’t play much zone.
But Ivey needed to give 6-5 freshman center Kate Koval all the help she could in the middle, and, with such a limited bench of eight healthy players, try to keep the Irish out of foul trouble.
“They were great,” Ivey said about adjusting to the zone. “They knew this was going to be the game plan. We’ve got to get great at it. We went back to fundamentals, broke it down. So I thought they responded really well.
“We had to focus on getting up and down, being very physical and just being smarter defensively. And I thought they came in and they really did a great job of following the game plan.”
Notre Dame didn’t hit its defensive stride in the first half when Texas went 6-for-13 on threes. But the Irish got Ivey’s halftime message, got out on the shooters, and the Longhorns went 2-for-11 on threes in the second half.
The Texas turnovers came in waves because of the Irish energy. When the ball went on the floor the Irish double-teamed and attacked like gnats.
But trying to keep 6-foot-6 Kyla Oldacre and 6-4 Taylor Jones away from the rim and avoid foul trouble was a challenge for Koval.
After not scoring in either game in the Cayman Islands, she finished with only four Thursday, but her value was on the defensive side and she worked around foul trouble (she finished with four) to play 35 minutes and record five blocks and four rebounds.
Even without Hidalgo scoring in the third quarter, the Irish were able to maintain their five-point lead at 53-48 heading into the final quarter.
But Texas got serious inside and after scoring just four points in the paint in the first half, it had 20 in the second.
A rebound put-back by Aaliyah Moore tied it at 57 with 6:45 to go and neither team led by more than three after that.
Under pressure from Hidalgo, Texas guard Rori Harmon drilled an 18-footer to tie the score at 66 with 7.7 seconds left.
With the crowd on its feet on the next ND possession, it watched Miles break down the defense and drive toward the basket. She got to the right side of the lane and lofted a shot off the glass over Oldacre for a 68-66 lead with two seconds to play.
Game over … but it wasn’t.
Inexplicably, King contested a short inbounds pass and was called for a foul on the senior Harmon.
She hit both free throws to send the game into overtime.
Ivey gave a big hand to the crowd.
“You know, they've shown up,” she said. “Our marketing team is doing a fantastic job of making sure that people are in the seats, and then they're not just here, they're loud. And we feed off of it, they really give us energy.”
The Irish won’t have that available in the next game when they open ACC play at Syracuse (ACCN) at noon EST on Sunday.
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