No. 9 Irish continue winning ways while working through identity crisis
Preseason All-American Olivia Miles turned an ankle Wednesday night on the road when she stepped on a Northwestern cheerleader out of bounds and later was ejected for picking up a second technical foul.
That ninth-ranked Notre Dame produced a dominating bottom line anyway — 92-58 over Northwestern at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill. — didn’t appease third-year Irish head coach Niele Ivey in the least.
These November games are about aligning with an identity of adding defensive intensity for 40 minutes consistently to a team that’s already learned to score in bunches, be unselfish and put a balanced lineup on the floor, no matter what combinations Ivey puts out there.
And knowing that they’ll need every bit of it for a string of ranked opponents that awaits the Irish (3-0) as soon as early next month.
“We want to continue to grow and get better from this game,” Ivey said, “but I just thought it was kind of a very ugly game.”
Some beauty that did peek through: A season-high 24 points from sophomore guard Sonia Citron on 8-of-10 shooting and a career-high four 3-pointers. Citron also led the Irish in rebounding with 10 as Notre Dame commanded the boards, 58-32, with 24 offensive rebounds.
Texas transfer center Lauren Ebo worked around foul trouble for 19 points — the most she’s scored in a Notre Dame, Texas or Penn State uniform.
And Miles was dazzling in her 24 minutes of court time before her unceremonious exit. The sophomore had 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals before departing for good at the 1:09 mark of the third quarter and the Irish leading 69-34.
Miles’ two technicals came from two separate incidents, the first of which left Northwestern with three fewer players available to the Wildcats for the second half.
The sequence began at the 1:13 mark of the second quarter with Miles sinking the second of two foul shots to give the Irish a 44-28 lead. Standing next to each other on the right side of the lane and jostling for a potential rebound, Notre Dame’s Natalija Marshall and Northwestern’s Paige Mott had locked arms and refused to unlock after the shot went in.
There was some minor shoving, and the other players on the floor converged around the two players, with Miles having words with Mott.
Three Northwestern players left the bench, including two starters, during the dust-up. And, by rule, all three were ejected, even though Courtney Shaw left the bench to pull Northwestern leading scorer and rebounder Caleigh Walsh back to the sideline. Reserve Jasmine McWilliams was the third Wildcat tossed.
Marshall and Mott were assessed intentional fouls, and Miles and Northwestern’s Caroline Lau each were assessed technical fouls. No free throws were shot subsequently, since the intentional and technical fouls offset.
The Irish finished the half on top 47-30, then put Northwestern (1-2) away with a 12-0 burst to start the third quarter. Miles had eight points in the knockout run, including two old-fashioned three-point plays.
It was 64-32 Irish at the 7:18 mark of the third quarter after Miles scored on an off-balanced layup. As she tried to regain her footing out of bounds, she stepped on the leg of a Northwestern cheerleader seated near the baseline and apparently oblivious to the notion of getting out of the way.
Miles stayed down for a while, rotating the left ankle she had twisted while lying on the ground, then came out of the game when play was whistled to stop.
She returned roughly two and a half minutes of game time later but didn’t last long. At the 1:09 mark Northwestern’s Hailey Weaver was called for a foul after some hard contact on Miles well away from the basket.
They apparently let each other know about it. Each was assessed a technical foul. But since it was Miles’ second of the game, she was ejected. The ejection does not affect Miles’ status for ND’s next game, a Sunday home matchup with Ball State.
“I just felt like we lost our composure,” Ivey said, “and we have to do a better job of not allowing circumstances to take us out of our character and our composure. And that's who we are, what we represent at Notre Dame. Just make sure we do things the right way, play the right way. So, it's a teaching moment.”
Ivey expected the team to have to work through some early-season turbulence, given that four new pieces this offseason joined the nine-player rotation — five if you count how little Marshall played last year while injured most of the season.
“I think we're still trying to figure out our identity,” Ivey said. “I feel like we show it in spurts. I think every game has been a different scenario. Last game we had some foul trouble. Today it was breakage of play. We're a team that can really get going offensively when we're pushing pace.
“And so, I feel like every game I'm learning what we look like. I talked about our cohesiveness getting a lot better in the last several weeks, and I think that that's still happening. But we still have a lot of areas to grow. I think every game you're going to see a little bit, hopefully, a better adjustment and also a better growth with this team.”
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