Notre Dame Women Rally But Fall Short In 75-67 Defeat to Minnesota
A Notre Dame non-conference slate filled with ebbs and flows achieved both Monday night during Wednesday night's 75-67 loss to Minnesota at Purcell Pavilion in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
After rallying from an 18-point deficit (33-15), Notre Dame took a 59-58 lead early in the fourth quarter before allowing the Golden Gophers to score on nine straight possessions and go on a 17-4 run to move ahead 75-63.
It marked the first defeat by the Fighting Irish (5-5) in the Challenge, where they are now 6-1, and they dropped to 0-3 all time versus the Golden Gophers (6-1).
"We cannot remember who we're supposed to guard," said an exasperated Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw afterwards of Minnesota's late run. "Really disappointed in just the overall lack of awareness of where the shooters were."
If there has been a consistency for Notre Dame this season it has been sputtering starts, and it plagued them again when Minnesota quickly went on an 8-0 run to take a 10-4 lead.
With 1:33 left in the first quarter, Notre Dame already had committed nine turnovers (it would finish with 15) but hung in while trailing only 15-9 at the end of the first 10-minute segment.
Notre Dame then dug itself a steep hole during a 7:01 stretch where it didn't score while falling behind 22-9, which then stretched to 33-15. Minnesota at that point had converted 7 of 15 shots from three-point range. Notre Dame did close the half with a 6-0 run to make it 33-21 at the intermission.
"They got really physical with us and we just caved," McGraw said. "We didn't stay strong, we let them push us around. We got scared and just wouldn't attack ... we've got a lot of work to do."
The Irish finally pulled within single digits at 51-43 with 50 seconds left in the third quarter and were still within range at 53-44 at the conclusion of the third.
Notre Dame then exploded out of the gates in the fourth quarter with a 13-3 run, taking a 57-56 lead on a backdoor layup by freshman forward Sam Brunelle on a feed from sophomore guard Katlyn Gilbert, and then again at on a layup by freshman guard Anaya Peoples (59-58) with 4:50 left in the contest.
Minnesota called time out, regrouped and took the lead for good on a trey by guard Gadiva Hubbard (game high 20 points), who then scored again inside and drilled another three. In a span of 2:30, the Golden Gophers went from 59-58 down to a 73-61 advantage.
"We completely stopped playing defense after we took the lead," McGraw summarized.
Brunelle led four Irish players in double figures with 19 points on 9 of 18 shooting from the floor, while Gilbert scored all 15 of her points in the second half. Peoples had nine points, 14 rebounds, six assists and only one turnover.
THREE-POINT PLAY
1. Toughest Part Still Ahead
With a road game at No. 4 UConn on Sunday and then hosting always tough and No. 16 DePaul next Wednesday, the 5-5 Irish will be hard pressed to enter conference play that begins Dec. 29 versus Clemson at .500. The Huskies and Blue Demons wrap up the non-conference portion of the schedule.
From Dec. 11 versus DePaul until 18 days later versus the Tigers, the lone competition the Irish will face is an exhibition match versus Guelph just to not get too rusty.
2. Troubles With The Trey
In addition to not finding the three-point shooters — Minnesota was 12 of 32 beyond the arc — Notre Dame was only 1 of 7 from deep range, a glaring 36-3 disparity in points. The Irish entered the contest 331st out of 348 Division I teams in three-pointers made per contest (3.3).
The combination of no true low-post presence and a reluctance or inability to score from beyond the arc makes for tough sledding and easier for opposing defenses.
3. Waiting On Mikayla Vaughn
The 6-3 forward, who suffered a knee sprain in the Nov. 5 opener that was projected to sideline her about six weeks, is expected to be back for the ACC opener versus Clemson on Dec. 29. Her health is pivotal to allow Brunelle to play more of a stretch-four role in the perimeter, which could then aid the three-point shooting as well as provide more low-post scoring and backdoor feeds from Vaughn.
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