SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Coming into Monday’s matchup, No. 1 Notre Dame amassed a 17-game win streak, breezing through its ACC schedule. No. 11 Duke finally looked to be the team to force the Fighting Irish outside of their comfort zone, until the third quarter rolled around.
Inside the iconic Purcell Pavilion, home to two-time NCAA Champions Notre Dame, Niele Ivey’s squad put up a dominating 64-49 performance against the Blue Devils. Most notably, Hannah Hidalgo and Sonia Citron combined for a total of 34 points.
Up 29-27 at the halftime break, Notre Dame put the pedal to the metal in the opening minutes of the second half, not allowing Duke to get a single point in 2:30 of game action.
Citron had a tough bucket in the paint at the 9:25 mark. Shortly after, she blocked Ashlon Jackon’s shot and eventually connected at the charity stripe.
Maddy Westbeld, the 6-foot-3 graduate, blocked Reigan Richardson's shot attempt. She kicked the ball out to Hidalgo, who then dished it off to Citron for a layup, making the crowd the loudest it had been all night. Lawson called a timeout as Notre Dame (23-2, 14-0 in the ACC) led 35-27.
Hoping that Lawson’s timeout would help refocus the Blue Devils (20-6, 11-3), things only took a turn for the worse. Citron snagged the ball from Duke and fed it to Westbeld and then Hidalgo, who hit a 3-pointer to make the score 40-28.
Notre Dame’s defense was on point when Citron intercepted the ball yet again and dished it off to Hidalgo for a tough layup. But Ivey’s squad wasn’t done yet. It was Hidalgo’s no-look pass to Olivia Miles to further advance the lead that really put the nail in the coffin.
Throughout the third quarter, Duke continually tried to convert on the offensive end, but Fournier led the Blue Devils in scoring with only four points. Conversely, Notre Dame forced six Duke turnovers, helping the Fighting Irish tally 21 points on 41% from the field in the third quarter, compared to Duke’s eight points and 18.2% from the field.
“It just felt like the beginning of that third quarter, they were playing downhill. We were playing uphill, even though the court was level, but it felt like that. You don't want to be playing in transition the whole night, because they have too many, too many weapons to do that,” head coach Kara Lawson said.
On Duke’s first possession of the game, Richardson, who was quiet during the past couple of games, started off strong with a tough and-one shot. With the Blue Devils not struggling to convert in the beginning minutes, the Fighting Irish did not back down; Miles hit an almost logo-level 3-pointer to bring the score to 6-5 in Duke’s favor. After a gritty play by Richardson, she retained possession for Duke and dished it off to Mair for an easy bucket, elevating Duke’s lead to three points.
Blue Devil point guard Taina Mair did not want Miles to be the only one who hit an impeccable 3-pointer. The Boston native drilled her own deep logo-level three to make the score 14-12 Duke.
That possession marked Mair’s ninth point of the game, where she had an outstanding first quarter performance, going 4-for-4 from the field.
“I thought Mair just competed. She was the best guard by far and it had nothing to do with her making shots. I just thought her competitive intensity was high,” Lawson said. “And you have to have that in games like this, you have to have multiple players playing with that high level of competitiveness. So I was really pleased with how she played”.
In the first half of the second quarter, it looked like a stalemate for both sides with Notre Dame only scoring three points off of free throws. However, just shy of the five-minute mark, Mair hit a pull-up jumper, the first of Duke’s second-quarter points, which was quite fitting given her outstanding first-quarter performance.
Yet shortly after, Citron faked a pass to Liza Karlen and instead hit her own 3-pointer, erupting the Fighting Irish crowd as they gained the lead 22-21.
At the 2:35 mark, Oluchi Okananwa connected on her first points of the game to bring the Duke lead to 27-24. But following the general theme of the game, Notre Dame did not let up. When Duke deflected the ball, the Fighting Irish regained possession, and Westbeld hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired.
A big third quarter from the Fighting Irish crushed any chance of a Blue Devil victory. To begin the fourth quarter, Hidalgo hit a tough basket in the paint at the 7:57 mark, marking the first points for either team in the final 10 minutes of the contest.
To close out the game, the Fighting Irish hit a buzzer-beater 3-pointer by Karlen, her first points of the night. There was nothing the Blue Devils could do to stop the top-ranked Fighting Irish, falling victim to the impeccable trifecta that is Citron, Hidalgo and Miles.
Next up for Duke is a home contest against Louisville Thursday at 7 p.m.
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