No. 2 Notre Dame Rolls Past Toledo
Using a 10-0 run to end the first quarter with a 25-11 advantage, Notre Dame (10-1) cruised thereafter to an 85-68 victory Sunday afternoon at Toledo.
The Irish led 44-32 at halftime, 64-49 after three quarters and had a 21-19 edge in the fourth quarter for the final 17-point margin over a scrappy Toledo team that lost by only two points to No. 8 UCLA during Thanksgiving weekend at the Cancun Challenge in Mexico.
It was Notre Dame’s first game in eight days, and it had no practice over five days while preparing for fall semester final exams last week. After converting only 17 of 38 (44.7 percent) from the floor in the first half, the Irish were 15 of 22 (68.2 percent) in the second.
Junior forward Brianna Turner dominated the paint with a season-high 26 points while converting 11 of 13 from the floor. Sophomore guard Marina Mabrey added 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting (2 of 3 from three-point range), while senior point guard Lindsay Allen had her typical steady contest with 10 points, eight assists, four steals and only one turnover in 32 minutes.
Off the bench, freshman forward Erin Boley continues to progress, contributing 12 points, highlighted by drilling 3 of 5 beyond the arc. Defensively, the Irish forced 27 turnovers and were plus-11 in that area en route to winning their 13th straight true road game, third most in the country.
Three-Point Play
1. A Turner For The Better — In her first two seasons at Notre Dame, Turner finished with field goal percentages of 65.2 and 59.3. Through the first 10 games this year, she was shooting only 55.4 percent (56 of 101) with too many in-close misses (including about five in the loss to No. 1 UConn). Most of her buckets are going to be around five feet from the basket, including numerous alley-oops or put-backs. The 11-of-13 (84.6 percent) performance against Toledo should get her back on track to the 60.0 to 65.0 percent figure targeted for her.
2. Health Update — Freshman guard Jackie Young (ankle) remained sidelined at Toledo, but sophomore point guard Ali Patberg (walking pneumonia) surprisingly was inserted for the final 3:06. With Christmas break on the horizon, the Irish still might not push it too much with them on Tuesday night at Michigan State . After the contest with the Spartans, Notre Dame won’t play again until visiting Chattanooga Dec. 27. The break in between should buy more time for a better return to health prior to beginning conference play Dec. 29 at North Carolina State.
3. Michigan State Next — The game at East Lansing on Tuesday night will have former Notre Dame player Taya Reimer as the top storyline for her new school. The former McDonald’s All-American left the Irish twice before transferring for good over the summer upon graduation. She has started all 11 games for the Spartans and is second in scoring (9.7 points per game) and third in rebounding (5.0). MSU’s two losses were an 88-55 shellacking at Oregon and 75-64 at Syracuse.
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