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Notre Dame Blasts Boston College Behind Strong Backcourt Performance

Guards Dara Mabrey and Destinee Walker were outstanding in Notre Dame's 83-73 win over Boston College
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Notre Dame came into today's matchup against Boston College winners of three of their last four games, and the only loss came after the Irish gave up a double-digit fourth quarter lead to the Eagles.

Notre Dame got redemption today, and this time it would not lose its big fourth quarter lead, beating the Eagles 83-73.

Boston College led for much of the first 14 minutes, which included a 20-14 at the 8:33 mark of the second quarter before the Fighting Irish started chipping away. Over the next eight minutes the Irish offense heated up, at one point knocking down 12-14 points during a stretch that turned a 20-14 deficit into a 39-29 Notre Dame lead.

Notre Dame outscored Boston College 27-13 in the final eight and a half minutes of the second quarter to take a 41-33 lead into the break.

The Irish offense was sloppy coming out of halftime, turning the ball over six times and allowing Boston College to grab seven offensive rebounds that turned into six second chance points. Those mistakes allowed the Eagles to control the third period and tie the game at 51-51, and trail just two points heading into the final ten minutes.

This was the period Boston College dominated in its come from behind win over the Irish last week, outscoring Notre Dame 22-11 to earn a 64-61 win.

Notre Dame reversed those fortunes on their home court thanks to outstanding play down the stretch by guards Destinee Walker and Dara Mabrey, who combined to score the first 15 Irish points of the quarter. Notre Dame jumped out to a 70-59 lead during that hot stretch in which Walker scored 10 points.

Boston College answered with a quick 6-2 run, but Mabrey answered with a triple to put the lead back to double digits, and the Eagles never got closer than seven points the remainder of the game as Walker put the game away from the free throw line.

Mabrey led the Irish with 21 points on an incredibly efficient 7-8 shooting, including 3-4 from behind the arc. She was also a perfect 4-4 from the line and dished out five assists to go with three steals.

Walker scored 20 points on 8-13 shooting and she too was perfect from the line (3-3). 

Forward Maddy Westbeld scored 13 points and grabbed seven boards, Mikayla Vaughn chipped in with 10 points and sophomore guard Anaya Peoples had a tremendous all-around game, scoring nine points, 11 rebounds, five assistants and four steals.

Notre Dame improves to 7-5 on the season and 5-3 in conference play. The Irish have now won four of their last five games and have now beaten a second opponent that toppled the Irish in their first matchup. Notre Dame will get a chance to do that a third time when they travel to Virginia Tech on Thursday to take on the Hokies.

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