SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The most lopsided loss in Stanford women’s basketball’s decorated history Thursday night probably said more about the rising state of Notre Dame women’s basketball than the deterioration of retired coaching legend Tara VanDerveer’s handoff to former assistant Kate Paye.
Consider Stanford’s most recent game was a 69-67 loss to No. 13 North Carolina, with the potentially game-tying shot rimming out at the buzzer, and that the Cardinal took sixth-ranked LSU into overtime in Baton Rouge earlier this season.
On Thursday night Stanford — one year removed from a 30-win season and four years removed from its most recent national title — unintentionally sent the Purcell Pavilion crowd home with free nachos.
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It was a byproduct of a scorching 96-47 loss to the No. 3 Irish in which the Cardinal amassed a season-high 29 turnovers, shot 31 percent from the field and couldn’t slow the Irish offense even when it included two walk-ons, Luci Jensen and Bella Tehrani, and former walk-on Sarah Cernugel.
Non-walk-on Liza Karlen’s 3-pointer pushed the Irish past the free-nachos threshold of 88 points with roughly five minutes left in the game. With a 50-15 halftime command fueled by a 26-2 run, the Irish (21-2, 11-0 ACC) were well on their way to their 15th straight victory long before that, and their third win in seven games with Stanford — the only ACC opponent to hold a series edge over the Irish.
“I mean, I think it's a big statement, very big statement,” Irish coach Niele Ivey said. “This [Stanford] is a storied program. And for our group to come out and play at such an elite level, I was really impressed. I was very proud of our group.
“They run a lot of the same actions, so I thought we did a great job with the scout and just imposed our will defensively against a program that has had so much success. That says a lot about this group. So, I'm grateful and blessed to be able to coach such incredible young athletes and women.”
And a group that still was fighting some adversity of its own.
Ivey announced after the game that sophomore guard Emma Risch’s season is over, with a recurrence of some issues in her surgically repaired hip.
“I think it was like cartilage, more damage and scar tissue that they had to fix,” Ivey said.
Risch played in 13 games this season, with her last outing a three-minute stint in an Irish road win on Jan. 23 at Boston College. The 6-1 Risch averaged 5.7 points and 1.8 rebounds, while shooting 44.4% from the field and 41.8% from the 3-point arc.
The former McDonald’s All-American from Melbourne, Fla., was limited to seven games last season and underwent hip surgery on Jan. 4, 2024.
“Just unfortunate, but on the road to recovery,” Ivey said, “so just praying for her.”
Senior forward Liatu King, meanwhile, donned a protective mask after taking a hit to the face late in Sunday’s 89-71 win at Louisville. And she didn’t back off one bit Thursday night of her typical, in-your-face physicality right from the start.
In the game’s opening moments, she got a steal, put up a shot in traffic and secured a rebound in a seated position after getting knocked on her rump.
King finished with eight points, eight rebounds and five steals in 21 minutes.
“She just does so many things,” Ivey said of the Pitt grad transfer. “She does all the dirty work. I thought she was great defensively. I was worried — contact this week, she was not allowed to have any contact around her. So, Maddy [Westbeld] can speak on that, having to go through that last year.
“But she does so many things well for us. She doesn't have to always score the basketball, like she does a great job of rebounding. And I just thought she was really active, even with the mask. But she's a super, super physical player, and unfortunately she has to wear this mask for a couple more weeks.”
Ironically, Westbeld had to wear a protective mask last year for a few weeks after taking a hit to the face from King when the two were opponents instead of teammates.
Meanwhile, Irish sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo shook off a slow shooting start — 0-for-6 from the field — to hit nine of her last 10 and finished with a game-high 24 points. She and Florida State junior guard Ti’Niya Latson came into the night tied for the nation’s top scoring average at 26.1 points per game.
Latson moved slightly ahead with a 27-point performance Thursday night in a 101-68 Seminole road win at Virginia.
Olivia Miles continued her renaissance season, after missing last season recovering from ACL surgery. She had 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and was 4-of-6 on 3s for the nation’s top-shooting team from the 3-point arc.
“Yeah, coach Ivy just got on my head about the one I took from damn near half court,” Miles said with a laugh. “So, maybe not as confident, but I think when you're hurt — and especially hurt as bad as I was — there's really not much you can do other than shoot.
“So, I feel like I took the time to really rep those shots and just gain confidence and trust in myself that I've worked so hard on it. So, I might as well just let it fly, and that’s worked out for me.”
The nation’s No. 4 overall shooting team was well over its 49.9%, at 55.4%
Maddy Westbeld and Cass Prosper each contributed 13 points for Notre Dame.
Tess Heal scored 10 points to lead Stanford, which saw leading scorer and rebounder Nunu Agara leave the game with an injury midway through the first quarter and not re-enter thereafter.
The Cardinal, picked to finish seventh in the ACC after winning the Pac-12 last season in the league’s last year of existence, fell to 11-11 overall and 3-8 in the league. Its 4-10 mark since the beginning of December is the worst 14-game stretch since VanDerveer’s first season in 1985-86 to end that season.
And the program’s streak of 36 straight NCAA appearances getting extended looks like a long shot now.
The Irish, meanwhile, move on to play 21st-ranked Cal (19-5, 7-4) at home on Super Bowl Sunday. Tipoff is 2 p.m. on ACC Network.
“One of our core values is love,” Ivey said. “And you could tell this group really loves each other, and they're unselfish. There's a lot of sacrifice that goes into having a team with so much talent, and the goal is the goal. They want to win, and they're very competitive.
“So, when we have an unselfish group, it looks like that. And so they all do a great job of trying to play their roles but also trying to make each other better.”
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