Notre Dame Women's Basketball Notebook After A Win Over Wake Forest

Notre Dame women’s basketball needed a big bounce back after last Sunday’s loss to North Carolina and a big bounce back is exactly what they got in Thursday’s 86-47 win over Wake Forest at Purcell Pavilion. The Fighting Irish dominated the first quarter 21-8 and kept steamrolling one of the best defensive teams in the country all night.

“To take a loss to North Carolina, we took it very personally,” Irish assistant Michaela Mabrey told the Notre Dame radio network after the win. “I thought the girls had a good a couple of days of practice and they we came in locked in. They knew the mission, they knew the game plan the whole time. Wake's a good team. (leading scorer) Jewel Spear is a great player, so we tried to limit her as much as we (could) and we really just wanted to dominate this game and I thought we came out with the right focus the entire game.”

Defense And Rebounding

Irish head coach Niele Ivey said before the game that she was looking for defensive intensity and rebounding as two of the keys to the game. The Irish didn’t have a double digit rebounder in the game, but they dominated 49-27 on the boards and the defense held the Demon Deacons to 31% shooting, including 24% from 3-point range.

“The last couple of days, I think they knew that we didn't come out with the right focus defensively in the North Carolina game,” Mabrey remarked. “So I think having that focus in today's game was a key. I thought they brought it and we knew (Wake Forest was) going to kind of play like a little five (out), I mean, I didn't know they were going to play a complete five out, but they did. And we had to come together on all the switches. They were really slipping stuff. I thought it was a great game for us to come back and be focused in, because it was a lot of attention to detail. Like jumping to the ball, they like UCLA cuts, we had to come together in our switches. It was a great game for us to play after the North Carolina game to really get refocused defensively. And I thought we did a great job.”

Maddy Westbeld’s Big Night

Maddy Westbeld scored a combined total of 10 points in Notre Dame’s previous two games, including four points in the loss to North Carolina on 2 for 10 shooting. But the junior forward tied her career-high with 25 points against Wake Forest, shooting 10 for 15 overall with a pair of 3-pointers.

Westbeld scored 10 points in the first quarter, thanks to a 3-pointer as the first 10 minutes of the game expired. She had 19 points on 8 for 11 shooting by halftime.

“Right from the beginning, you saw she was super confident,” Mabrey said. “I mean, she was great. I mean, there's no other thing you could say. It felt like she didn't miss a shot. I know she did, but it felt like she didn't miss a shot. But she was super confident and was taking everything that they gave her and I'm really happy that Maddy had a great game.

“We wanted to get downhill on them and we wanted to go a lot to the high-low,” Mabrey continued. “We worked on it all week. We really had to get better at our passing. So that's been an emphasis on offense for us the last few days. We've got to get better with our high-low passing and I thought we did a better job of it today. But it's something that’s just our emphasis in practice. So, we tried to get the ball inside a little bit and then we started to get her on the outside off pick and pops, because they were hedging, and we knew we could get those for her. But I thought she was great in transition. She made great decisions. I've said this before, we need Maddy. We need Maddy to go as far as we want to (in the NCAA Tournament).”

Prosperity For Prosper

Midseason enrollee Cassandre Prosper was playing in just her fourth career game Thursday night. She joined the team out of high school right after Christmas break and scored a total of seven points in her first three games. Prosper surpassed that total against Wake when she reached double figures for the first time with 12 points, 10 in the fourth quarter, on 4 of 7 shooting and a pair of 3-pointers.

“I'm so happy for her,” Mabrey proclaimed. “It's really hard to come in and be an early enrollee. It's not easy. And the thing about her is she's not afraid. She may not know what's going on all the time, but she's not afraid to let it go. I mean, it's sometimes hard to teach people that so glad we don't have to do that. But she's really coming into her own. She's a great player, and she's going to contribute well for our team.”

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