The #5 Irish picked up right where they left off last week, adding lopsided wins over Pittsburgh and #8 Florida State. Jessica Shepard also picked up ACC Player of the Week honors. I did mention last week that I wouldn’t mind a few more of the low-stress, never-in-doubt wins for the Irish, so it was thoughtful of them to deliver.

Game 1: #5 Notre Dame at Pittsburgh

The Irish started off a little flat at Pittsburgh on Thursday, but the lack of enthusiasm was short-lived. Pitt took the early 7-3 lead before the Irish charged ahead to retake the lead at 10-9 with 3:43 remaining in the first quarter. They led the rest of the game. Once again, ND’s passing was on display. The players are regularly passing up good shots to get the ball to a teammate for an even better shot. They also held Pitt scoreless for more than three minutes in the first quarter and held a 20-11 lead going into the second quarter. It was in the second quarter that the Irish really pulled away from the Panthers, making it clear that the win was not going to be in doubt. During the first half, the Irish outrebounded Pitt 25-13 and made all 12 of their free throws. Jessica Shepard collected 19 points in the first half alone. By halftime, ND had stretched to a 44-21 lead.

The Irish continued to show their relatively new ability to stay very active on defense, collecting 14 steals during the game and making everything difficult for the Panthers. It feels like a lightbulb went on for the team around halftime of the Tennessee comeback (“Hey, if we play good defense, we can score more too!”), and they have looked like a different team ever since. The fact that they have been able to elevate the defense this way while also staying out of foul trouble is really impressive, and will be key to their continued success. With the short bench this team really can’t afford for any of the starters to get into early foul trouble, and they have managed to avoid it so far. They continued to grow their lead in the third quarter, reaching 67-36 by its end.

With a sizable lead in the fourth quarter, all three walk-ons were able to see some playing time again. In fact, when Marina Mabrey left the game with 3:56 remaining, it was the last we saw of the starters. Kaitlin Cole remains the preferred walk-on, and she contributed four points in her eight minutes in this game. The long stretch with the starters on the bench also gave us a chance to see what good chemistry the team seems to have. The starters seem genuinely delighted when the bench is playing well, which is nice to see. After growing the lead to 40 with 2:46 remaining, Pitt made a couple of threes down the stretch to make the final score a little closer at 87-53. Jessica Shepard led the scoring with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Mabrey added a very well-rounded performance with 21 points and 5 each of rebounds, assists, and steals. Ogunbowale also contributed 14 points. The biggest difference in this one came in the paint, as ND chipped in 48 points in the paint to Pitt’s 18. During a stretch of the third quarter when Patterson, Westbeld, and Nelson were on the court together, the announcers even talked about ND’s “size advantage” – a phrase that Irish fans haven’t heard often to describe their team in recent years.

Game 2: #5 Notre Dame at #8 Florida State

I expected a close game when the Irish visited the Seminoles on Sunday. The records were close, the rankings were close, and Florida State had been selling $1 tickets to the game in order to draw a record crowd. They succeeded in that, surpassing their old record by more than 3,000 attendees, but that was about their only success of the day. The great passing continued for the Irish as they looked right at home in front of the big crowd. Despite a couple of early threes for FSU’s Imani Wright, the Irish got out to an 11-6 lead before the first media timeout. The Irish offense continued clicking. Ogunbowale scored 8 points in the first quarter as ND took a 29-14 lead.

Kathryn Westbeld continued to play the important glue role she has taken on for this team, but also found ways to score more in this game. FSU turnovers led to good transition offense for the Irish. The Seminoles, on the other hand, didn’t score their first field goal of the second quarter until more than six minutes in. At that point they had a little scoring flurry to cut the lead to 39-23, but a timeout got the Irish back on track. ND led 48-29 at the half.

FSU came out playing more aggressively to kick off the second half, but the Irish were able to respond. They continued to hold the large lead and by the end of the third quarter had grown the lead to 72-43. Jackie Young had a strong performance in this game, doing a little bit of everything on both sides of the ball. She would finish with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, a block and a steal. The Irish led by as many as 34 in the closing minutes of the game. A Marina Mabrey three with just over a minute to go got the Irish to 100 points, their final basket in a 100-69 victory. As they continued their unselfish play, six Notre Dame players scored in double figures. Westbeld led the team with a career high 21 points to go along with 12 rebounds. The Irish once again dominated their opponent in the paint, outscoring FSU in that area 66-24.

Following her great performances in both games this week, Jessica Shepard was named the ACC Player of the Week on Monday. This is the second week in a row that the honor has gone to a Notre Dame player after Ogunbowale picked it up last week.

Burger Basket Leaderboard (Season 2)

(At Notre Dame home games where the Irish score 88 points or more, the fans in attendance receive coupons for a free burger. I’m tracking which player is responsible for feeding the fans the most often over the course of the season).

Both games this week were on the road, so there were no changes to the leaderboard. The Mabrey-Nelson tie holds for another week.

Marina Mabrey – 2

Kristina Nelson – 2

Arike Ogunbowale – 1

Lili Thompson – 1

Coming Up

The Irish will play two of the ACC’s traditional powerhouses this week. On Thursday, they will host North Carolina. The Tar Heels have struggled lately, missing the NCAA Tournament the last two years after losing several players to transfers. They’ve had some ups and downs this season, standing at 14-7 with a 4-4 ACC record, and are coming off a loss to Virginia.

On Sunday, the Irish will travel to #19 Duke. The 17-5 Blue Devils stand at 6-3 in the ACC. Lexie Brown, who transferred from Maryland after two strong seasons there, leads Duke with 20.4 points per game.