Notre Dame Women's Basketball Rides Rollercoaster To Win Over Syracuse

The Notre Dame and Syracuse women’s basketball teams went on a roller coaster ride Sunday afternoon at Purcell Pavilion. Both teams had highs. Both teams had lows. And in the end the Fighting Irish (20-4, 11-3 ACC) came out on top of the Orange (16-10, 7-8) with a 73-64 win.

Kylee Watson, who was playing on her birthday, led the Irish with 15 points, eight of them in a first quarter that saw Notre Dame hold a 19-18 lead. Watson was just 1 for 7 at the free throw line in last Thursday’s win over Pittsburgh, but she sank her first two foul shots of the game to start the scoring and finished 5 for 7 at the stripe.

Watson’s 15 points match her season-high. She hit double figures for the sixth time this season and for the first time since scoring 10 against Western Michigan on Dec. 21.

There were two ties and six lead changes in the first half, but Notre Dame established its authority midway through the second quarter by closing with a 15-2 run over the final 7:25. The Orange missed their last 13 shots from the field while the Irish hit 6 of 14 shots in the quarter to take a 36-24 lead into the locker room.

All that momentum went away in the third quarter, though as Syracuse used a 15-0 run to go up by four points with :27 seconds left in the quarter. The Orange hit eight straight shots at one point, including all three of their 3-point shots to outscore the Irish 30-16 in the frame and a 54-52 lead going into the game’s final 10 minutes.

Olivia Miles proceeded to score nine of her 13 points in the fourth quarter to help propel the Irish to a 21-10 edge over the final frame. Miles was 5 for 8 at the free throw line to help close it out. She had seven points and seven rebounds as well. Syracuse missed eight of its last nine shots.

Maddy Westbeld scored 14 points for her third straight double figure scoring game. She is averaging 14.6 a game over her last five. KK Bransford, whose birthday was Saturday, scored 10 points as well for her fourth double figure game in the last seven.

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