The women’s basketball team had a great week, defeating ranked opponent Louisville on Monday and following it up with a win over Georgia Tech on Sunday. They seem well positioned for the last two weeks of the regular season.

Monday: #12 Louisville at #7 Notre Dame

#7 Notre Dame opened the week on Monday hosting #12 Louisville. Once again, for both of this week’s games, freshman Erin Boley started for the Irish in place of injured Kathryn Westbeld. Westbeld has been coming off the bench since injuring her ankle. The Irish started off the game ice cold, going 0-5 from the floor to start out. However, they soon settled into a close contest in the first quarter. The Irish took their first lead at 13-12 on a Westbeld jumper, and stretched the lead to 19-14 to end the quarter. Playing great defense and finding their offensive rhythm, the Irish extended their lead throughout the second quarter. Louisville struggled with turnovers during this same stretch, including a particularly embarrassing five-second violation trying to inbound the ball after a made ND basket. By halftime the Irish led 50-28 and had committed zero turnovers.

The impressive offensive performance continued as the third quarter began. The team showed clean passing and good decision-making – things fans have been looking for all season. Louisville had a little bit of a run in the third, but the ND defense was able to keep it from becoming an issue and the Irish held a 67-49 lead going into the fourth quarter. Louisville continued to try to chip away at the Irish lead in the final quarter. Notre Dame struggled to find an answer for Louisville’s Asia Durr, who scored 31 points in the game. However, ND was able to go on their own run to extend the lead back to 20. The final score was 85-66. The Irish finished the game with 20 assists to only three turnovers, while scoring 25 points off of Louisville turnovers. Five Notre Dame players scored in double figures (Ogunbowale, Young, Allen, Westbeld, and Turner). Lindsay Allen also had eight assists, which moved her past Skylar Diggins for second place on the Notre Dame career assists list, and past Kristi Toliver for second place on the ACC career assists list. This may have been the team’s best overall game so far this season.

Sunday: Georgia Tech at #7 Notre Dame

On Sunday, the Irish hosted Georgia Tech in the second game of their home-and-home series. Mychal Johnson continues to recover from a shoulder injury and did not play, and Ali Patberg missed the game with the flu. The game got off to a bit of an odd start when Georgia Tech was given two free throws before the tip off for a Notre Dame administrative technical foul. Apparently, ND changed their starting lineup after it had been submitted. Georgia Tech seemed to be making everything early in the first quarter and jumped out to a lead over the Irish. ND settled in as the quarter went on, and went on an 8-0 run to take a 22-19 lead before the end of the quarter. The offense continued to click in the second quarter, with Marina Mabrey looking particularly comfortable and Westbeld making a difference during her time on the court. Notre Dame took a 48-39 lead into the half.

The Irish started the second half with decent defense but some trouble shooting. The cold shooting did not last long, however. ND looked very comfortable going inside to Turner, and Georgia Tech struggled to defend her. By the end of the quarter, the Irish lead had grown to 71-56. Georgia Tech opened the fourth quarter with a run to cut the ND lead to single digits at 71-62, but Lindsay Allen responded with a three-point play that kicked off a Notre Dame run to extend the lead to 80-62. Georgia Tech struggled from the free throw line and was not able to cut into the lead after this. The game ended with a 90-69 Irish victory. The Irish had four double-figure scorers, led by Mabrey with 25 points. Turner added 21 points and five blocks, Ogunbowale contributed 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Allen added 12 points of her own. ND outscored Georgia Tech in the paint 58-28.

Observations

Lindsay Allen seemed to be more aggressive offensively this week, looking for her own shot a bit more. On Monday she still had eight assists, but on Sunday she had only two – well below her season average of nearly eight per game. Allen has always been good at contributing what the team needs, and this may be a reflection of the fact that they might need more scoring from her the rest of the season. The Irish are playing with a shorter bench than usual, and will need everyone to contribute. There have been issues with injuries and illnesses all year. The team has only been fully healthy for two games. Johnson is expected to return from her shoulder injury by the postseason, and Westbeld has been playing through her ankle injury, but they may both be limited in their minutes.

Despite these issues, I was really pleased with how the team looked this week. The offense is looking much cleaner. Passing is much improved since early in the season, and the team seems to be communicating better. The balanced scoring is reassuring also, with multiple players scoring in double-figures and different players stepping up from night to night. Unlike in some past years, the scoring load is not falling primarily to one player. The defense is also looking fairly solid. Hopefully the team continues to build on this progress in the last couple of weeks of the regular season.

Other News

Notre Dame players are all over the national award watchlists this week. Lindsay Allen, Arike Ogunbowale, and Brianna Turner were all included on the Naismith Trophy Top 30 list. Allen and Turner were also included on the Wooden Award Top 20. For the third year, Allen has been named a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which goes to the nation’s top point guard.

Burger Basket Leaderboard

We have a new addition to the list this week, as Marina Mabrey scored the 88th point in Sunday’s game.

Erin Boley – 2
Jackie Young – 2
Marina Mabrey – 1
Arike Ogunbowale – 1

Coming Up

The Irish will be seeing a lot of orange this week, with a game at Clemson on Thursday and a visit to Syracuse on Sunday. With just two weeks left in the regular season, Notre Dame and Florida State are in a battle for the ACC regular season title. If both teams win their remaining games, it may come down to the last regular season game when Florida State visits ND on February 26th.