Watson helps Notre Dame WBB produce a strong encore to upset of UConn
In the emotion of what Niele Ivey sensed Saturday night could be a season-defining turning point, the Notre Dame women’s basketball coach chose her words deliberately in putting a bow on a stunning road upset of heavy favorite UConn.
“This is who we are,” she said.
As in, really who the 14th-ranked Irish are. And at least on Thursday night in Atlanta, in their first crack at an encore, that same version of Notre Dame showed up again — and bludgeoned host Georgia Tech, 85-48.
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A Notre Dame freshman scoring record that took 32 seasons to break — point guard Hannah Hidalgo’s 34 in the 82-67 uprising in Storrs, Conn. — didn’t even last a game. She outscored the Yellow Jackets (13-9, 4-6 ACC) in the first half by herself, 18-17, and finished with a new record 35 points before watching the final 2:40 from the bench.
The Irish (16-4, 6-3) put Georgia Tech away early at McCamish Pavilion with the most prolific run of the season — 26-0 — that started at the 6:22 mark of the first quarter and finally ended at the 6:11 mark of period 2, when a Tonie Morgan jumper made a tiny dent in the Irish lead, then reduced to 35-11.
The unexpected offensive complement to Hidalgo Thursday night came from senior forward Kylee Watson, who started the early knockout run and finished with 19 points — five more than her previous season high — on 8-of-10 shooting.
“I knew I had to be more aggressive, especially offensively,” said the 6-foot-4 former Oregon Duck, who added nine rebounds, four assists, two blocked shots and a steal. “And I think a lot of it had to do with everyone making such great reads.
“I feel like it really came easy tonight. I feel like a lot of my points came off the pick and roll, and Hannah just making great drives.”
And if Watson can become a more consistent contributor on the offensive end?
“To see her make great decisions versus the double team, as a coach, is awesome,” Ivey said. “The things we’re working on, they’re translating onto the court.”
The Irish defense, especially, didn’t get lost in translation.
Notre Dame came out with its sticky zone, though switched to man defense late, and held Georgia Tech to 25 percent shooting from the field and just six makes in 34 attempts from the 3-point arc. The Irish forced 17 turnovers, six of them in the form of Hidalgo steals.
The nation’s leader in that stat category now sits at 103 for the season, passing the 2012 version of Skylar Diggins for No. 2 in the single-season list. Diggins in 2013 set the record that still stands at 114.
“We’ve been really focused on locking in and being consistent defensively,” Ivey said. “That’s something I’ve been stressing the last couple of weeks. And for them to come out with that type of dominant performance defensively, I’m really proud.”
Hidalgo also chipped in eight assists and two rebounds. She was 15-of-25 from the field, 1-of-4 from 3, and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line.
“She’s going to do whatever we need,” Ivey said of Hidalgo. “She's a great scorer. She does a great job of getting to her spots and we just feed off of that.”
The Irish improved to 18-1 all time in the series with Georgia Tech, including all eight staged in Atlanta. Yellow Jackets coach Nell Fortner, who drafted and coached Ivey out of ND when Fortner was the coach and GM of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, watched as nation’s fourth-best road shooting team exceeded their mark of 49.6% coming in canned 52 percent from the field Thursday night.
Next up for the Irish is Pittsburgh (7-15, 1-8) at home in a Sunday matinee (2 p.m. EST), with a road date at ACC leader Louisville to follow next Thursday. The Panthers, 69-38 losers at home to Duke on Thursday night, toyed with an upset over the Irish at Pitt back on Jan. 4 before succumbing 71-66. But perhaps this really is a different Notre Dame team with more missing pieces back and the chemistry building?
“For the team’s confidence, this win that we had on the road — especially after UConn — is something that we talked about,” Watson said. “A lot of times these games can be like trap games, especially when you come off a big win like that. So, it’s really big to continue the momentum as we hit the late-season stretch.”
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