Notre Dame Women Roll To Season-Opening Win Over Northern Illinois

Notre Dame, Ind. - Notre Dame women’s basketball got its season off on the right foot with a dominating 88-48 win over visiting Northern Illinois on Monday nigh at Purcell Pavilion. Olivia Miles led a balanced Irish scoring attack with 17 points, while adding 10 rebounds, six assists and six steals.

“She crashed the boards really hard, but her pace and just her overall vision,” Irish associate head coach Carol Owens said after the season-opening win. “She can pass, she can find the open shooters and scorers. I just thought overall we had a balanced attack.”

Mabrey Makes It Rain

Fifth-year senior Dara Mabrey was Notre Dame’s second-leading scorer with 16 points. She scored 13 of them in the second half and finished the night 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Mabrey’s night started slowly. She was 0 for 3 in the first quarter, but hit 5 of 8 overall shots in the second half, including three of her four 3-pointers.

"Never lose your confidence as a shooter,” Mabrey said after the victory. "You have to have short term memory.”

Mabrey transferred to Notre Dame two years ago after playing her first two years at Virginia Tech. She is now beginning her fifth year of eligibility, which was granted due to the pandemic. She is excited for her third season playing for the Irish

"(It means) absolutely everything,” stated Mabrey. "I couldn’t imagine it another way. I was really emotional at the start of the game. I’m ready to give my all for this university and this team.”

Mabrey is among four returning starters from last year’s Sweet 16 team. The Irish added three transfers and freshman guard KK Bransford to the roster. She likes the way the team has continued to gel.

"It's awesome,” Mabrey proclaimed. "It takes time for sure, but so far it’s been great, because everyone’s got the right mindset. We have a collective understanding of what we want to do and at the end of the day that’s going to beat out all odds, being on the same page.

Transfers Shine

Two of the incoming transfers are forwards Lauren Ebo from Texas and Kylee Watson from Oregon. Ebo scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds in her Irish debut.

"Ebo just has a nice, soft touch around the basket,” Owens stated. "She’s coming into her own and to our system, but she can score.”

The 6-4 Watson debuted with nine points on 4 of 7 shooting. She dished out four assists and blocked two shots.

"Kylee brings a different kind of energy,” Owens said. "I mean, defensively and offensively. She can run the floor, she can handle the ball a little bit, she can get to the basket, so she does a lot of different things that I think help our team overall in terms of their energy. She has a motor.”

Watson started and played nearly 25 minutes. Ebo spelled her off the bench initially, but they also saw the court together in different stretches.

"They play well together,” Owens said. "We’re still working on that. That’s definitely a work in progress in terms of just working together. It’s going to come with more games and all that, but just really pleased with those two.”

Defensive Focus

Notre Dame’s primary focus against the Huskies was defending the 3-point line. The Huskies hit 15 3-pointers in their exhibition win last week and averaged 7.3 made 3s per game last season.

"We knew going in that one, they shoot the 3 very well,” said Owens. "They had made 15 3s in their exhibition game and then they had a really good scorer inside with (A’Jah) Davis. I think she does a really good job and in the MAC she does an awesome job. I think she was First Team All-MAC. We know that teams know that we like to get the ball inside and we knew they were going to help off as much as they could.”

Northern Illinois hit just 5 of 17 from long range against the Irish.

Finish Strong

Notre Dame outscored NIU in every quarter, including a 27-10 third quarter margin, but the closest quarter of the night was the fourth, in which Notre Dame owned just a 20-14 advantage.

"We want to finish,” Owens explained. "I felt like we had some lulls where we kind of either turned it over or didn’t execute our offense. I think we’ve got to do that for four quarters throughout. We can’t take our foot off the gas. I think we just have to focus on finishing four quarters. Whoever comes in the game has got to have the same intensity for four quarters.

"We’ve got a lot of work to do,” continued the Irish assistant. "Defense is something that we’re focused, because we know we can score, but there’s going to be times where the ball’s not going to get in the basket and we’ve got to get stops when we can.”

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