Notre Dame Fights Off Mississippi State To Advance To Sweet 16

Notre Dame expected a physical game when it hosted Mississippi State Sunday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA Women’s basketball tournament. When the dust settled the Fighting Irish (27-6) walked off the Purcell Pavilion court both victorious and the more physical team in a 53-48 win over the Bulldogs (22-11).

Mississippi State’s fast and athletic guards hugged Notre Dame throughout the game and it showed early as the third seeded Irish led just 9-3 against the Greenville 1 Region’s No. 11 seed. Cassandre Prosper and KK Bransford each picked up two first quarter fouls, challenging Notre Dame’s guard depth with All-American Olivia Miles and Dara Mabrey both out for the remainder of the season with knee injuries.

With the perimeter challenged early, the Irish front court went to work. Mississippi State made 11 of 19 3-pointers in its upset of sixth-seeded Creighton Friday night, but they came out cold on Sunday. The Bulldog’s first four treys missed the mark and Maddy Westbeld grabbed boards all four times. She had five rebounds in the first 10 minutes and finished with a season-high 15, just missing a double-double with nine points.

Meanwhile, forward Lauren Ebo spent half of her afternoon snatching rebounds and the other half setting screens to free up teammates from Mississippi State’s relentless defense.

Ebo snatched 18 rebounds, one off her career high, and scored 10 points for her fifth double-double of the season and her second in as many NCAA games this weekend.

She was whistled for an illegal screen in the second quarter when she and 5’7 point guard Anastasia Hayes collided. The 6-4 Ebo had the last word when Hayes was hit with back-to-back fouls for running into Ebo.

The Irish led 26-23 at halftime and then opened the second half with a 7-0 run to go up by 10 and took a 41-33 lead into the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs went on a 10-0 run of its own to open the fourth quarter.

After missing their first 14 shots behind the 3-point arc, Kourtney Weber hit a pair to tie the game at 41-41 with 6:46 to play. Notre Dame went cold down the stretch but never relinquished the lead.

The Fighting Irish went without a field goal in the game’s final 3:03, but Bransford, who never picked up another foul after the first quarter, hit a pair of late free throws to finish with nine points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Sonia Citron was the target of the Bulldog defense most of the afternoon. She was just 1 for 7 from the field in the first half and hit her only other field goal early in the second half when the 6-1 guard posted up Hayes.

Citron finished 2 for 12 from the floor but was 10 for 14 at the free throw line, including five in the final 1:05 to put the game away.

Notre Dame dominated the boards 49-32 to outrebound their two weekend opponents by a combined 102-57 margin. They owned a 30-18 advantage in the paint while holding 6-5 Second Team All-SEC forward Jessika Carter to team highs of eight points and six rebounds.

The Irish are now headed to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season and for the 19th time in program history. They will play No. 2 seed Maryland on Saturday in Greenville, SC in the Regional Semifinals.

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