Notre Dame Women's Basketball Hosts Syracuse In Annual 'Think Pink' Game

Notre Dame Women’s basketball looks for back-to-back wins on Sunday when it hosts Syracuse. The Fighting Irish beat Pittsburgh 69-63 on Thursday night.

Where: Notre Dame, Ind. – Purcell Pavilion
When: Sunday, Feb. 12 – 4:00 PM EST
Network: ACC Network – Sam Ravech and Kelly Gramlich
Radio: ND Radio Network, 99.9 FM WQLQ in South Bend – Sean Stires PBP

Let's take a look at today’s matchup:

NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (19-4, 10-3 ACC)

Head Coach: Niele Ivey (53-22 – 3rd season at Notre Dame)

Notre Dame is coming off a hard earned 69-63 win over Pittsburgh Thursday night. The game featured five ties and eight lead changes before the Irish were able to put the game away by outscoring the Panthers 22-17 in the fourth quarter.

Sonia Citron led the Irish with 20 points. She hit a 3-pointer and another jumper from the left elbow late in the fourth quarter to help propel the Fighting Irish to the win.

Olivia Miles and Maddy Westbeld each turned in double-doubles for Notre Dame. Miles had 11 points and 13 assists, seven of the dishes in the fourth quarter. Westbeld registered 17 points and 10 rebounds. She and Citron combined to score 17 of Notre Dame’s fourth quarter points with Miles assisting on seven of nine field goals in the game’s final 10 minutes.

Projected Irish Starting Lineup

G Olivia Miles- 5-10, Soph. - 15.0 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 7.1 APG
G Sonia Citron - 6-1, Soph – 14.4 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.0 APG
F Kylee Watson - 6-4, Jr – 5.9 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 23 BLK
F Maddy Westbeld - 6-3, Jr. – 11.0 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 34 BLK
G KK Bransford – 5-11, Fr. - 8.0 PPG, 2.9 RPG

SYRACUSE ORANGE (16-9, 7-7 ACC)

Head Coach: Felisha Legette-Jack (16-9 in 1st season at school, 358-286 in 21st overall)

Syracuse is coming off a 75-67 upset of No. 14 North Carolina Thursday night. The Orange out rebounded the Tar Heels 43-29 thanks in part to Dariauna Lewis’ 14 points and 15 rebounds.

Orange leading scorer Dyashia Fair has been on a tear lately. The ACC’s second-leading scorer (20.1 ppg) has scored at least 23 points in four of her last five games. She went for a season-high 36 points against Virginia on Jan. 26 and is coming off a 23-point effort that included four 3-pointers in Sunday’s upset of North Carolina.

The win over the No. 14 Tar Heels is the first of first-year head coach Felisha Legette-Jack's Syracuse tenure and the first for the Orange since Dec. 21, 2021.

Projected Starting Lineup

G Dyaisha Fair - Stats – 20.1 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 4.3 APG
G Georgia Woolley - Stats – 11.6 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 2.0 APG
F Dariauna Lewis - Stats – 9.4 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 33 BLK
G Alaina Rice – Stats – 6.9 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.5 APG
G Kyra Wood - Stats – 3.1, 3.8 RPG, 22 BLK

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Notre Dame won 72-56 at Syracuse in the first meeting back on Jan. 15. Miles led the Irish with 23 points, while also dishing out seven assists and pulling down seven rebounds. Dara Mabrey was the only other Irish player in double figures with 15 points. Mabrey suffered a season-ending knee injury a week later vs Virginia.

Fair (14) and Asia Strong (11) were the only Syracuse players in double figures. The Irish led the Orange by just five points entering the fourth quarter, but hit 9 of 15 shots, including four 3-pointers, in the final 10 minutes to outscore Syracuse 22-11 to secure the win.

The Irish (76.6 ppg) and Orange (74.5 ppg) are the second and third best scoring teams in the ACC. Notre Dame has the No. 3 scoring defense (58.2) while Syracuse ranks No. 15 (67.4).

Sunday’s game is also Notre Dame’s annual “Think Pink” game for women’s cancers awareness. Survivors will be honored on the court, with more awareness for the cause to be included before and throughout the game. Teams will also wear pink themed uniforms.

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Irish Breakdown Content

2023 Scholarship Chart
2023 Football Schedule

Notre Dame 2023 Scholarship Offers
Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Offense
2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Defense

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