SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Having worked the sidelines for a long time, including 4-plus years now as head coach at Notre Dame, Niele Ivey was especially wary of the effort, discipline and focus of her club heading into Sunday’s contest against Loyola Maryland.
“Usually that game right before Christmas break is hard,” she noted, following a game that wasn’t.
She was left with no reason to doubt the maturity of her team afterward as the No. 3-ranked Irish overwhelmed the visiting Greyhounds (5-5), as expected, 97-54, in front of almost 8,000 in Purcell Pavilion.
The 10-2 Irish played hard, shot well, padded some stats and mostly had fun, to wrap up the non-conference part of the schedule.
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They did it without two starters, guard Sonia Citron and center Kate Koval, who Ivey said were rested because of general soreness.
“They were just a little sore, so we were trying to be proactive and let them get a little bit more rest going into the break,” said Ivey, whose team jumps into the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule next Sunday with a noon EST date at home against Virginia.
The prolific guard tandem of sophomore Hannah Hidalgo and senior Olivia Miles were equal parts potent and entertaining Sunday.
Hidalgo, second in the country in scoring coming into the game at 25 points a game, came within a bucket of her career high with 33 on 13-for-19 shooting, and Miles’ overall game has never been stronger as she recorded her fifth career triple-double with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
They put on a passing show late in the third quarter that lit up Purcell and Miles called “a cool sequence.”
That it was.
With the ball in her hands on a fast break, Miles raced cross court and into the lane. On the run, she slipped a bounce pass between her legs to Hidalgo, who was running down the left side of the lane. The pass hit Hidalgo in stride, and she dropped in the layup.
Then, seconds later, near midcourt following the inbounds, Hidalgo notched one of her five steals, and from her backside, flipped a backwards pass to teammate Liatu King, who saw the scrum and was racing toward the Irish basket. The ball just cleared the hand of a defender and King snatched it for another layup.
Bang, bang.
“I think in high school I did it a few times,” Miles said of the style of pass to Hidalgo. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Hannah and I just throw really crazy random passes to each other (in practice.)”
She wasn’t surprised when Hidalgo followed it up.
“She got on the floor, and I was like, ‘She may (throw it over her head),’ but knowing Hannah, it makes perfect sense why she did that. But yeah, it was just a cool sequence. Just a testament to our team and our identity.”
There’s an additional identity emerging for this team 12 games in, one that will give defenses another thing to worry about.
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The Irish entered the game No. 1 in the country in 3-point shooting percentage at 42.79 and it will go up following a 10-for-20 performance against Loyola.
Hidalgo was 4-for-7, Miles 4-for-6, Liza Karlen 1-for-1 and Emma Risch 1-for-4.
“I’m not surprised,” Ivey said. “They're always in the gym. I think Liv’s shot has really improved. You add Emma. Soni (Citron) worked on her shot. Hannah worked on her shot. So all of our guards are great shooters, but they also work. … It's all credit to our guards who are always in the gym and have really worked on their shooting.’’
Miles, especially, has surged, following a year away from the game to heal from knee surgery.
She entered the game at 47.9% on threes, a turnaround from her previous years of 22.8% as a junior, 27% as a sophomore and 10% as a freshman.
She is averaging 17 points (57% clip from the field) a game, but Miles usually hunts assists over points. She entered the game 11th in the country in assists per game at 6.4, another number that will climb following Sunday’s total.
Karlen, a graduate transfer from Marquette, had her most extended time (29 minutes) since coming back from a foot injury suffered in the exhibition game.
“I thought Liza was fantastic, her motor, her toughness today, her leadership,” Ivey said. “...She really was active.”
The 6-2 forward, playing in her third game for the Irish, figured to have an advantage inside — the Greyhounds’ tallest regular was 6-foot-1 — and she capitalized with 15 points on 6-for-12 shooting and seven rebounds to help the Irish to a 49-29 edge on the boards.
“I think anytime you come back from an injury, it's definitely more mental than anything,” Karlen said. “So kind of just staying patient with myself through the process and kind of, you know, getting a feel for my role and what that looks like.”
King continues to dominate inside. The 6-0 graduate transfer from Pittsburgh came in averaging a double-double and added another with 18 points (9-for-12) and 10 rebounds.
King entered the day shooting 57.6% from the field, good for 30th in the country.
The Irish had 58 points in the paint, 26 points off 17 Loyola turnovers, 20 fast break points, and shot 54% from the field. The Irish also had only 10 turnovers, five below their average, and forced the Greyhounds into a 35.5% shooting afternoon, though Laura Salmeron had a nice day going 10-for-20 and finishing with 23 points, 10 over her average.
All the numbers bode well for the Irish, who impressed enough in the non-conference part of the slate to be pegged to receive a No. 1 seed in March.
The bench also will get deeper when veteran and double-figure scorer Maddy Westbeld returns from her time off with a foot injury.
“I think our mindset, I think our defensive identity is getting better,” said Ivey, now 99-34 as the Irish head coach. “It's right where I need it to be. They are very locked in, and really focused, as you saw the last couple games, just playing with a lot of toughness, a lot of heart.
“And I think offensively, I like our pace. We're shooting the ball really well from three, but our pace is really good …”
“There's so many weapons on this team. They do a great job of sharing the ball. I'm excited for our depth. I think we're going to be a little bit healthier, and I think that's really going to help us be able to extend our defense, and, you know, be even more of a powerhouse offensively.”
Ivey has added two walk-ons to the roster, 5-10 freshman guard Luci Jensen from Brookfield, Wis., and 6-3 junior forward Bella Tehrani, a member of the Irish volleyball team, from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Both saw action in Sunday’s game.
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