Notre Dame Women Stay Unbeaten With Win Over Arizona State
Bimini, Bahamas – Notre Dame faced its toughest test of the season and came out on top with an 85-65 win over Arizona State (5-1) to close out play in the Goombay Splash Tournament.
The Fighting Irish (6-0) trailed 34-31 at halftime, their first halftime deficit of the season, but outscored the Sun Devils 24-11 in the 3rd quarter and 54-31 in the second half for the win.
Texas grad transfer Lauren Ebo was a force inside for the Irish all game. The 6-4 forward scored nine points in just under nine minutes after coming off the bench in the first half. She scored a game-high 20 points, the most she’s scored in a Notre Dame uniform, and tied teammate KK Bransford with a game high nine rebounds in 24 minutes.
Ebo battled ASU’s front court all night and won more battles than she lost. Ebo went 8 for 14 at the free throw line to help the Irish go 21 for 36 at the stripe in the game. Sun Devils Kayla Mokwah and Imogen Greenslade each fouled out trying to guard her. Treasure Hunt, who was averaging 12.0 points and 9.2 rebounds coming into the game, was held to six of each due to foul trouble of her own.
Notre Dame led by seven early in the 2nd quarter, but after Olivia Miles picked up her second foul, she sat for all but about a minute of the quarter, allowing the Sun Devils to erase the deficit and take a three-point lead into the locker room.
The Irish also switched from zone to man to man in the second half to help kickstart an offense that generate 18 fastbreak points.
“We didn’t do a great job of containing the ball, so I wanted to throw something out to change the flow and rhythm,” Irish head coach Niele Ivey said of the switch. “It helped, so we stuck with it.”
Miles played nearly the entire second half without picking up her third foul and finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
“We were aggressive from the jump,” Miles said after the win. “Playing great defense is always our focus. We did that. We got stops. We ran. Rebound and run. That’s what we do best.”
Bransford had 14 points to go with her nine boards. It’s her third straight game in double figures. She helped the Irish out rebound Arizona State 45-29, including a 29-13 advantage in the second half.
Sonia Citron scored 15 for the Irish, 13 in the second half, with seven rebounds. While Kylee Watson added 10 points to give Notre Dame five players in double figures.
Notre Dame went 2-0 on the trip to the Bahamas after a Thanksgiving Day win over American University.
“It’s such an amazing trip,” Ivey said. “Bimini has been so great to us. The games and the competition is really going to help us as we count down to ACC play.”
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