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No. 2 Notre Dame Defeats Miami, 83-76

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Marina Mabrey led the Irish in points (21) and assists (7) in the 83-76 win versus Miami.
Marina Mabrey led the Irish in points (21) and assists (7) in the 83-76 win versus Miami. (Joe Raymond)
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Great scorers can’t necessarily possess a conscience on the basketball court. Fortunately, Notre Dame junior guard Arike Ogunbowale did not during Thursday night’s 83-76 victory against Miami in Purcell Pavilion.

After converting only 1-of-12 from the field through the first three quarters in which the score was tied at 55, Ogunbowale tallied 12 of her 20 points during the decisive fourth quarter, making 3-of-5 from the field and 6-of-7 from the foul line.

The No. 2-ranked Irish are now 14-1 overall and 3-0 in the ACC, while the always competitive Hurricanes — one of two league teams to defeat Notre Dame the past five years — fall to 11-4, and 1-1 in the conference.

The charity stripe proved to be a huge difference, with Ogunbowale converting her first 12 there before missing her final attempt. Notre Dame was 22-of-26 overall from the foul line while Miami was 9-of-12.

The Fighting Irish “Iron Five” starting lineup all finished with double-figure scoring, led by junior Marina Mabrey’s 21, with 14 coming in the first half. Mabrey also handed out a team high seven assists and had four rebounds while playing all but the final four seconds.

Notre Dame is down to seven scholarship players this season after senior graduate transfer guard Lili Thompson became the fourth victim of a season-ending ACL tear during Sunday’s win at Wake Forest.

“We can’t let that give us an excuse,” said Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw. “You only play them five at a time, and we need the five people on the court to be ready to play.”

Nevertheless, McGraw does acknowledge that in 30-plus years of her Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coaching career what the Irish have experienced this year is surreal.

“It’s unprecedented, I’ve never seen anything like this in my career,” McGraw admitted. “We had some injuries in 1997, but we got people back…this has been really hard to overcome. It’s getting so we’re almost afraid to practice. That’s what our problem is going to be down the stretch. We have to figure out a way to get some things done in practice.

“I don’t think there’s enough chocolate in the world to get me through what’s going on right now. I understand there’s a shortage of chocolate, so that’s really going to hurt me the next couple of days.”

Miami jumped to a 6-0 lead in the first 58 seconds and led by as many as 11 in the first quarter before the Irish, who began 1-of-8 from the field, closed to within 22-18 at the end of the first 10 minutes.

Mabrey sparked a second-quarter surge with her shooting, passing and leadership on the floor to propel the Irish to a 40-36 halftime advantage.

Yet just like at the start of the game, the Hurricanes opened with a 6-0 run in the first 1:05 of the second half to force a quick Notre Dame timeout. The Irish responded again to build a 55-50 lead, but Miami tallied the last five of the quarter to leave the contest tied at 55.

That’s when Ogunbowale led the fourth-quarter surge in which the Irish outscored the Hurricanes 28-21. Notre Dame converted 9-of-15 field goals (60 percent) in the fourth quarter after not shooting better than 41 percent in any of the first three quarters.

Next up for the Irish is a trip to Georgia Tech for a Sunday 2 p.m. tip-off.


Three-Point Play

1. Pressing The Issue

Thompson was considered the one true point guard on the team, although Mabrey has proven plenty capable there with some help from Jackie Young and Ogunbowale. In half-court sets they have been fine, but full-court pressure was a problem versus Miami, and future opponents might try to exploit it as well. The Irish had 16 turnovers, many with sloppy passing against the press in which they often did not move to the ball or make themselves available for a pass.


2. Aggression Vs. Smart Play

With such a short bench the Irish need to stay out of foul trouble, and they committed only 12 versus Miami. The Hurricanes were trying to force it inside to create foul problems, and did score 48 points in the paint. Some of the defensive issues this year could be attributable to some tentativeness of not wanting to get into foul trouble and possibly playing a little looser. McGraw still believes much more upgrade is needed on that end while still staying out of foul trouble.


3. Film Review

McGraw said that because the Irish are down to seven scholarship players, more days will be taken off from practice on the court and a heavier concentration will be placed on reviewing tape. Rest will have to come more during practices than the games, and a natural paranoia has developed about incurring any more injuries.

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