When your grad student guard goes 1-for-13 … when your second-leading scorer goes 1-for-8 … and when your seasoned junior forward goes 0-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 21 seconds of a tight contest, the odds don’t look good.
But playing hard can solve a lot and Notre Dame’s No. 7-ranked women’s basketball team (15-2, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) escaped with a 57-54 victory over Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum Thursday night.
And as a bonus on a day of clunky offensive play, the Irish climbed into a first-place tie in the ACC with Duke following its loss Thursday to North Carolina.
To survive the Tigers (12-8, 4-4 ACC), it was all about Notre Dame sophomore guard Olivia Miles, who is suddenly carrying the Irish offense on her back, and a sticky, well-schooled defense that forced a stunning 29 turnovers.
With guards Dara Mabrey (10.3 points a game) and Sonia Citron (13.9 points) suddenly in scoring funks, and usually steady hand Maddy Westbeld (72.7 free throw shooter) unable to put away an opponent at the line late in the game, they needed all those turnovers.
Against Clemson, it was Miles’ 20 points on 7-for-18 shooting, eight assists, four rebounds and four steals as head coach Niele Ivey needed her on the court for 39 minutes.
“We were led by, to me, one of the best point guards in the country — Liv was solid from the beginning to the end,” Ivey said. “I thought she did a great job of managing the team, but also putting the team on her back.”
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In the first half, Miles — coming off a 23-point performance in a win at Syracuse — was 5-for-6 from the field and had 12 points while the rest of the Irish went 5-for-22.
When the Irish finally started to break away, she was in the middle of most of it.
Her steal and feed to Westbeld for a layup gave ND a 51-49 edge with 3:45 to play.
On the next possession after a Mabrey miss, she grabbed a rebound and was fouled and made both shots for a 4-point lead.
With 50 seconds left, she came out of nowhere to block a shot by 6-foot Amari Robinson, the daughter of former Notre Dame men’s standout Keith Robinson. She leads Clemson in scoring (13.1 per game) and rebounding (6.6 per game), and wound up with 10 and eight, respectively.
The blocked shot led to two Westbeld free throws that gave the Irish a 57-51 lead with 29 seconds to play.
But Clemson had another push left.
The Tigers’ Brie Perpignan (11 points, 3-for-5 on threes), hit a three with 11 seconds to play to make it 57-54.
On ND’s possession Clemson trapped Citron on the sidelines near midcourt and after a review it was ruled she stepped on the line.
On the Clemson possession Daisha Bradford’s 3-point attempt under pressure from Mabrey was off and Westbeld was fouled on the rebound.
She missed both with three seconds left and Bradford collected the rebound and got off a half-court shot but it wasn’t close.
It looked like the Irish would run and hide at the start of the second half.
Coming out of the break, they hit the Tigers with an 8-0 run — all buckets from in the lane — to erase a three-point deficit and go up 34-29.
But the traction stopped there, and the ugly offensive numbers piled up.
For the game Notre Dame was 31.7% from the field, 19% on 4-for-21 from the 3-point arc, 62% from the line (13-for-21), 17 turnovers and 37 rebounds to Clemson’s 42.
Because of an early rash of turnovers — five in the first four minutes — the Irish got off just one shot in the first four minutes and fell behind 12-4 at the start. There were zero fastbreak points in the first half and seven for the game to 13 for Clemson.
There may be a lot to shore up offensively, but winning when nothing seems to be going well can provide its own kind of confidence.
“You know, we're barely scratching the surface,” Miles said of the performance level right now. “We were still winning and in the game and we were playing our worst. So playing our best (could be) a little scary. So once we get that — work on our start and our pace from the beginning, it's gonna be scary for sure.”
The Irish have been seeing a good dose of zone and haven’t been able to loosen it with the struggles from the perimeter.
The Irish came in making 4.8 threes a game and shooting at a 33.3% clip from the 3-point line. Until recently, it hasn’t mattered because the inside production has been so sound. Things did start to turn around in the second half — there were six points in the paint in the first half and 18 in the second, but it was hardly dominant. Clemson had 22 from the lane.
Mabrey’s lengthening slump as the primary 3-point shooter has been an issue. She entered the game shooting 35% from the field and 31% from the arc.
“We try not to make it a mental thing,” Ivey said. “I mean, she's a shooter. She'll find her way. She'll find her shots. Sometimes it's just a matter of shot selection. She has a coaching staff and myself who have a lot of confidence and her teammates have a lot of confidence in her and we always feel like her shot is going to go in. … Shooters are going to find a way to shoot out of their slump."
The Irish return home Sunday for a 2 p.m. EST match against Virginia (14-5, 3-5). It will be a homecoming for Notre Dame graduate Sam Brunelle. She transferred to play for her home state Cavaliers during the offseason. Brunelle is Virginia’s third-leading scorer with 11.4 points per game.
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