Notre Dame Shrugs Off Slow Start To Beat Clemson

There was never a doubt. Notre Dame women’s basketball did not play it’s best game of the season Thursday night at Clemson, but the No. 7 Fighting Irish shrugged off a slow start to beat the host Tigers 57-54 in their fourth game on the road in their last six games.

The Fighting Irish (15-2, 6-1 ACC) had just one more point (8) than turnovers (7) in the first quarter and found themselves trailing Clemson (12-8, 3-5 ACC), which had lost three of its previous four games entering the night.

Notre Dame took just one shot, an Olivia Miles 3-pointer on their first possession, and turned the ball over five times, four on Clemson steals, in the first 3:30 of the game and trailed 8-2. Four steals by Clemson. The Irish hit just one of their first seven shots, but closed the first quarter on a 6-0 run.

Miles finished with a game-high 20 points on 7 for 18 overall shooting, including a season-high three 3-pointers. Two of her treys came in the second quarter as Notre Dame hit its final three shots of the first half to pull to within 29-26 after trailing by as many as nine points.

Clemson came into the night No. 2 in the ACC with 10.2 steals a game. The Tigers had five of their 11 steals on the night in the first quarter and forced a total of 17 Irish turnovers. But Notre Dame’s defense forced 29 turnovers of its own and outscored Clemson 21-13 in points off turnovers in the game.

Forward Kylee Watson hit back to back shots to start the second half and gave the Irish a 30-29 lead, then a steal by guard Dara Mabrey finished with a dish to Miles made it a 6-0 run and a 32-29 lead just 1:34 into the second half, prompting a Clemson timeout. Forward Maddy Westbeld followed that with another bucket to make it an 8-0 run.

Clemson battled back and took a 47-44 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Notre Dame remained poised and fought its way back into the lead of a game that featured three ties and four lead changes.

Westbeld scored six of Notre Dame’s last eight points, including the last two at the free throw line and finished with 15 points.

After Notre Dame committed a turnover with 5.9 seconds to play, Clemson put up a 3 that missed. Westbeld grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 3.1 seconds left. She missed a pair of free throws and Clemson had one more chance on a half court shot that bounced off the top of the backboard at the final horn.

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