Notre Dame Survives Ohio State Rally, Upset Buckeyes En Route to Sweet 16

Notre Dame's season ended in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament as it was unable to hold onto a double-digit lead at Ohio State

Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Niele Ivey talks to guard Hannah Hidalgo (3) during the NCAA women's basketball tournament second round game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Jerome Schottenstein Center in Columbus on March 23, 2026. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When Notre Dame started the second half on a 7-2 run at Ohio State in Monday afternoon's Second Round NCAA Tournament game, it looked like it'd be fairly smooth sailing to the Sweet 16.

The quick burst out of halftime gave Notre Dame a 50-37 lead, and all of the momentum was on the side of the Fighting Irish, despite playing a road game in Columbus.

To Ohio State's credit, it came back in a hurry, going on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to three, and before long, it would be down to just one.

That's when Hannah Hidalgo took the game over for good, putting the Fighting Irish on her back, and the Buckeyes to bed for the 2025-26 season.

Notre Dame entered the final frame with a four-point lead at 58-54, as Iyana Moore buried a three to extend the lead to seven.

That began a 6-2 run to start the final frame and get Notre Dame's lead to 64-56 with just 7:45 to play.

Out of a timeout, Hidalgo's sixth steal of the night stunted another Buckeyes possession and on the other end, she was able to bury a 15-foot jumper while being fouled to stretch the lead to 10 despite missing the free throw.

From there, Notre Dame remained in control by slowing things down a bit and playing tenacious defense.

Hidalgo's three with time winding down on the shot clock and just 4:35 remaining in the game gave Notre Dame an 11-point lead that it wouldn't surrender as it closed out Ohio State with an 83-73 victory.

That three gave Hidalgo the record for the most points scored by a Notre Dame player in program history.

with her 21st point of the day, Hannah Hidalgo sets ANOTHER record!

she passes Arike Agunbowale for the Notre Dame single-season scoring record!#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/G3ztBvqFAJ

— Notre Dame Women's Basketball (@ndwbb) March 23, 2026

Hidalgo finished with 26 points, 13 rebounds, and eight steals on the day, pretty much doing exactly what one would expect an All-American to do on the NCAA Tournament stage.

Next Up for Notre Dame

Notre Dame advances to the Sweet 16 for the fifth year in a row and will play the winner of No. 2 Vanderbilt vs. No. 7 Illinois there.

For Notre Dame, it' serves as a chance to do something it hasn't done under head coach Niele Ivey, and that's advance to the Elite Eight. Despite making the Sweet 16 each of the last four seasons, Notre Dame has lost each of those games, including to TCU last spring.

If it were to win that game, a date with No. 1 UConn would almost certainly await in the Fort Worth Regional Final.

Notre Dame's Sweet 16 contest will be Friday in Fort Worth with the gametime still to be announced.