Notre Dame Women Close Out Wake Forest, 79-72
With Notre Dame holding a 67-53 lead on Thursday afternoon versus Wake Forest and seven minutes remaining in the contest, the Demon Deacons might have felt they had the Fighting Irish right where they wanted them.
A week earlier, Notre Dame had a 14-point fourth-quarter advantage at Boston College (58-44), and a commanding 60-48 lead with 2:41 remaining before losing 64-61.
Indeed, Wake Forest cut the lead to 72-67 before a three-point attempt of theirs rimmed in and out, and it trailed only 75-72 with 29.3 seconds remaining when head coach Niele Ivey’s Fighting Irish squad closed out with a 79-72 win with some free throw shooting and a defensive stop.
Notre Dame improved to 6-5 overall and 4-3 in the ACC, while Wake Forest is now 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the league.
The Demon Deacons were led by a shooting clinic from 5-10 senior guard Gina Conti, whose 29 points featured 8-of-12 marksmanship from three-point range.
“We’re still working on that,” Ivey said of finishing games. “I definitely felt like we learned being in that situation last week. I think sometimes we get tight just because of the time and score, turning the ball over … it’s just something we’re going to have to grow through, honestly. … You can only learn from those situations by being in them.”
Freshman forward Maddy Westbeld tallied a career-high 25 points, hauled in nine rebounds, dished out four assists and grabbed three steals to lead the Irish. Senior center Mikki Vaughn added 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting, helping the Irish to a 42-28 scoring advantage in the paint, and contributed a career-high four blocked shots on defense.
As strong as she was inside, Westbeld also converted an NBA-range three at the halftime horn, buried a clutch trey to make it 72-62 to briefly stem Wake Forest’s momentum, and in between converted a desperation jumper as the shot clock sounded.
“She’s one of the most confident players I’ve ever been around,” Ivey said. “… She’s fearless, always working on her game. She’s a special player. She’s come in with a college body, but she’s also come in with an upperclassman mentality, and you don’t see that too often as far as having women coming in right away with confidence. I was most impressed by her work ethic, her approach to getting better every day.
“… She’s a very coachable kid and she’s a very team-oriented player. She never wants the glory, she just wants the team to win. She’s just a winner. I’m blessed to have her. She’s going to be one of the best to ever go through this program, and it’s really exciting to see her growth.”
Junior guard Abby Prohaska stuffed the stat sheet with team highs in assists (seven) and steals (three) to go with eight points and five rebounds in just more than 21 minutes of action.
“She’s our glue, the toughest player that I have,” Ivey said of Prohaska. “Everyone feeds off her energy. She brings it every day, she’s always in the gym, always working on her game. She’s going to do whatever it takes — take the charge, get the rebound, make the defensive stop … everybody respects it.”
Three-Point Play
1. Bouncing Back
Notre Dame has shown it can shake off a loss, not having lost two in a row this season, but now it must demonstrate it can also handle success. The Irish host Boston College Sunday. It was the Eagles' dramatic comeback in the closing minutes that has prevented a four-game losing streak by Notre Dame and knocking on the door of a national ranking.
Next week there the Irish have a two-game swing to Virginia Tech (Jan. 21) and North Carolina (Jan. 24). Notre Dame defeated the Hokies 84-78 at home in December in a well-played competitive contest. That road trip should reveal much on whether the team can get into the NCAA Tournament.
2. Better Ball Movement
After recording only 13 assists and committing 23 turnovers (six in the final 2:41) at Boston College, the Irish totaled 22 assists (on 33 field goals) and 11 turnovers versus the Demon Deacons. Too much dribbling is still prevalent, but some of was overcome with better than 50-percent shooting.
However, five of the 11 turnovers came in the fourth quarter when Wake Forest started applying three-quarters or full-court pressure.
3. Injury Update
Junior guard Katlyn Gilbert, last year’s third-leading scoring, will be out at least a couple more weeks while healing from a foot injury. Sophomore forward Sam Brunelle wore a protective mask after taking an inadvertent shot on the bridge of her nose in the game last week at Boston College.
----
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• Sign up for Blue & Gold's news alerts and daily newsletter.
• Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @Rivals_Singer, @PatrickEngel_, @MasonPlummer_ and @AndrewMentock.
• Like us on Facebook.