Notre Dame Women's Basketball Extends Winning Streak With Wake Forest Road Win
Winston-Salem, N.C. -- After a bevy of upsets in the last four days, one thing has become clear in the early grind of the ACC women’s basketball season: the win is what matters. Notre Dame (14-3, 4-2 ACC) fought through a sluggish second half on Sunday to down Wake Forest (4-14, 0-7) 75-56 to run its current winning streak to four games.
There were three upsets in ACC play Thursday and two more on Sunday, including Virginia taking down No. 15 Florida State. Notre Dame finds itself tied with Virginia Tech for fourth place in the conference after Sunday’s games. The Hokies were one of Thursday’s upset victims.
The Irish avoided an upset run by Virginia Thursday night after seeing a 20-point lead shrink to six points with under three minutes to play. The Cavaliers picked up their first ACC win on Sunday with a 91-87 win at No. 15 Florida State.
Notre Dame rained 3s on Wake Forest in Sunday’s road victory. Led by four long range shots by Sonia Citron, who finished with 18 points, the Irish connected on 10 of 18 shots behind the arc.
Hannah Hidalgo led the Irish with a game-high 21 points. The freshman point guard hit three treys of her own, including on her first shot of the game. That 3 was initially rule a 2, but changed upon review during the first media timeout. Hidalgo has scored at least 21 points in 15 of the first 17 games of her career.
The game was never as in doubt as it felt at times. The Fighting Irish pushed to a 19-point lead midway through the third quarter after Citron and Hidalgo hit 3-pointers in back-to-back possessions to make it 57-38 Irish with 4:00 to go in the third. The offense disappeared after that though.
The Irish didn’t hit another shot in the quarter after and Wake closed on a 6-0 run over the final 2:29 to make it a 54-39 game going into the final 10 minutes. Notre Dame turned the ball over six times in the last 4:11 and 10 times overall in the third quarter. They had 16 turnovers overall leading to 12 Wake Forest points.
Notre Dame hit 4 of 8 shots, including the two 3s, in the third quarter, while the Demon Deacons were 4 of 17 and 0 for 6, as the Irish only outscored their hosts 12-11 in the frame.
KK Bransford and Maddy Westbeld each finished with 10 points for the Irish. Bransford has reached double figures in four of her last five games, while Westbeld, who had nine rebounds for a second straight game, has hit double digits in 14 of her 16 games this season.
The schedule gets tougher for Notre Dame this week. The Irish host a rematch with Syracuse Thursday night. The Orange knocked off the Irish 86-81 to open ACC play back on Dec. 31. Notre Dame steps out of conference play for the last time this season when they head to No. 9 UConn Saturday night.
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