No. 5 Notre Dame Romps Past Virginia, 83-47
Thirteen was good fortune for Notre Dame during Friday’s 83-47 blowout of Virginia in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals in Greensboro, N.C.
It was 28-2 Notre Dame’s 13th consecutive win and it is now also 13-0 all time in the ACC Tournament. The Fighting Irish will play tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU) versus Florida State.
Junior guard Marina Mabrey led four Notre Dame players in double-figure scoring with 24 points, highlighted by 5-of-8 from three-point range, and she also paced the squad in assists with seven.
The Irish offense remained typically efficient while shooting 53.3 percent from the floor (32-of-60), while Virginia shot a paltry 24.6 percent (17-of-69) against the 2-3 zone.
After falling behind 20-2 to begin the game in their 83-69 loss at home to Notre Dame Feb. 15, Virginia had a better start, even taking a 10-9 lead halfway through the first quarter. The Irish then tallied the next nine points and outscored the Cavaliers 16-2 to close out the first quarter and start the second.
Although Virginia stayed within single digits at 29-20, the Irish converted 12 of their next 14 field goal attempts while first building the halftime lead to 40-27 and then eventually extending it to 59-33. At one point during that span, the Cavaliers converted only one field goal in 13 attempts.
Mabrey began the second half by scoring eight straight points to basically put away the game against Virginia, which is now 18-13 but projected to make the NCAA Tournament.
Three-Point Play
1. Buying Time
With the potential of playing three games in three days, head coach Muffet McGraw maximized the use of the bench to help minimize the minutes of the starters. Juniors Arike Ogunbowale and Jessica Shepard were limited to 27 and 26 minutes, respectively, while senior Kathryn Westbeld, who has never totally recovered from an ankle issue last year, had only 24.
“I know after one game I’m waking up in the morning feeling like I’ve been hit by a bus,” said Westbeld earlier this week. “But I think we’re in great shape right now.”
Off the bench, graduate student Kristina Nelson (25 minutes) and freshman Danielle Patterson (20 minutes) each tallied six points, but just as valued was the three walk-ons were inserted for a combined 15 minutes, with Kristen Cole playing eight and Maureen Butler adding two buckets.
2. Lead Guard
There may have been some thought that with Mabrey handling most of the point or “lead guard” duties where she would have to look for others with greater frequency, her own shooting might suffer. In the last five games, though, she’s converted 31-of-51 (60.8 percent) from the floor and 15-of-24 (62.5 percent) from beyond the arc. Those are numbers a low-post player would envy, never mind a guard.
3. Arike & Asia
McGraw was outspoken earlier this week in believing that Ogunbowale should have been the ACC Player of the Year over Louisville’s Asia Durr. Probably the deciding factor was in the head-to-head meeting Jan. 11. Durr scored 36 points on 13-of-18 shooting (8-of-10 from three) while Ogunbowale had five points on a 2-of-9 effort.
While eking out a 73-70 win on Friday versus Virginia Tech, Durr was only 3-of-19 (1-of-9 from three), which goes to show anyone can or will have a bad night. Ogunbowale made her first two shots against Virginia and then was 3-of-12 thereafter, and was 4-of-9 from the line. Look for both to pick it back up tomorrow for the possible collision course on Sunday.
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