Notre Dame makes quick work of Pittsburgh
It took almost four full quarters for No. 10-ranked Notre Dame to subdue a last-place Atlantic Coast Conference Pittsburgh team in South Bend on Feb. 9.
It took about four minutes – give or take – for the Irish to take control of Sunday’s follow-up matchup in Pittsburgh’s Petersen Events Center.
Less than a minute if you ask Jenna Brown.
“I thought KK’s (Bransford) steal on the first play of the game set the tone,” said the 5-foot-10 Brown, a reserve guard who had nine points and five rebounds in 17 minutes of an 83-43 rout that pushed the Irish to 22-4 overall and to 13-3 in the ACC to remain tied with conference co-leader Duke with a couple of regular season games remaining.
In the first meeting, without 6-4 center Lauren Ebo, Notre Dame struggled to a 69-63 victory. Pitt, now 10-17 and 3-13 in the league, trailed by only three with 3:29 to play earlier this month.
On Sunday, Notre Dame was up 13-5 and on its merry way a little more than four minutes in after a 3-pointer by Sonia Citron who was 3-for-4 from the 3-point line and shared team-high scoring honors with Maddy Westbeld with 13 points.
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Irish head coach Niele Ivey, still hoarse after last Thursday’s overtime thriller over Louisville, was understandably wary coming into Sunday’s game.
“I thought it was really going to be hard coming after an emotional win like that,” Ivey said. “So I just talked to the team about not being complacent and to make sure we come out locked-in, and they were that from the beginning.”
It was 24-8 after the first quarter – a little different than the first meeting when the Panthers led by a point, 14-13.
The Irish man-to-man defense was all over the Panthers, disappointing a Senior Day crowd of 2,829.
Notre Dame forced Pitt into three shot-clock violations, 17 turnovers in all and a woeful shooting performance of 28% from the field and 25% – 4-for-16 – from the 3-point line. The 43 points scored by Pittsburgh were the fewest scored against Notre Dame since Purdue Fort Wayne totaled 41 points on Dec. 21, 2021.
Dayshanette Harris, a 5-7 guard averaging nine points a game, had 20 points in the first meeting between Pittsburgh and Notre Dame this season. In 17 minutes Sunday, she had one point and was 0-for-6 from the field. Top scorer Liatu King (10.0 points a game), was held scoreless. Only Amber Brown, a 6-0 senior, did some slight damage, totaling 13 points for a team averaging 64.5 coming in.
It wasn’t all ND’s work – Pitt missed several open mid-range shots – but it is a little different when Ebo is waiting in the lane on drives to the basket.
She was in her second game back since missing five games because of a lower leg injury.
She played five minutes in the win over Louisville and 12 on Sunday, contributing 10 points, six rebounds, an assist and one of the team’s 10 steals. Notre Dame finished with a 36-16 edge in points in the paint. Looking healthy and moving well, Ebo came in averaging 9.5 points and almost seven rebounds a game.
“She's still restricted,” Ivey said of Ebo’s playing time. “She's gonna progress as she continues to heal, but she got a chance to get more minutes today, which was great.”
How good was the Irish defense? In one stretch in the second quarter, Notre Dame went 1-for-11 from the field with three straight turnovers (the Irish totaled 12) and Pitt could take only a small bite out of the deficit.
The Irish, 34-4 all-time against Pitt, closed the half out strong and led 40-16 at the break.
“We had 33 points coming off the bench – just as an offense that was a great overall team performance…,” Ivey said. “I thought especially today that the rotations were great. And I thought everybody came in and did something really positive that really helped us on both sides of the ball.”
The Irish were more on-point with their passing – nearly four fewer turnovers than their 15.6 average and 18 assists on 29 baskets.
It also came on a day when leading scorer Olivia Miles was way off offensively. Thursday night’s buzzer-beating hero was just 3-for-13 from the field and 1-for-6 on threes. But the 5-10 guard did have five assists and scrambled for a team-high 11 of Notre Dame’s 48 rebounds to 26 for Pitt. Notre Dame had 15 offensive rebounds to eight for Pitt.
Ultimately, nine players scored for the Irish with Nat Marshall, another reserve, adding nine.
“I think coach has been preaching it all year, just staying ready,” Brown said, “making sure we're paying attention and seeing where we can kind of take advantage of the game when we come in. So yeah, the bench was definitely ready to go, but I thought also the starters did a really great job of setting the tone.”
Notre Dame’s final regular season home game is Thursday at 6 p.m. EST against Georgia Tech (13-14, 4-12).
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