Notre Dame Surges Late To Best Syracuse 72-56

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Notre Dame women’s basketball and Syracuse traded jabs throughout Sunday’s ACC matchup at the JMA Wireless Dome in upstate New York. When all was said and done the Fighting Irish (14-2, 5-1 ACC) delivered a fourth quarter knockout blow to win going away 72-56.

Guard Olivia Miles scored a game and season-high 23 points, 13 in the second half for the majority of the Irish damage on the day. The sophomore dished out seven assists and pulled down seven rebounds against the Orange (13-5, 4-3), who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.

Veteran guard Dara Mabrey was the only other Irish player to reach double figures with 15 points. It ended a run of six consecutive single digit games for the fifth-year guard. More importantly, she got the biggest part of her game, the 3-point shot, going after an extended slump.

Mabrey had hit just five of her last 31 3-point attempts over the previous six games entering the day, but finished with a flurry with two in a pivotal fourth quarter that saw Notre Dame outscore the Orange 22-11.

Mabrey missed her first four 3-point attempts, but connected late in the first half to give the Irish a 29-25 lead. It was the 298th triple of her career and the 800th combined 3-pointer for the three Mabrey sisters. Marina Mabrey ended her Irish career with 274 treys and Michaela Mabrey, who is now on the Irish coaching staff, hit 228 during her Notre Dame career.

Mabrey’s trey was the only one of seven Irish attempts in the first half that fell, as Notre Dame was just 1 for 10 from long range in the first 20 minutes. They finished a respectable 7 for 18 in the game, after hitting 4 of 8 in the game’s final 10 minutes.

After leading 31-26 at halftime, the Irish hit their first bucket to go up by seven to start the second half, but Syracuse went on an 8-0 run over the next 90 seconds to take a 34-33 lead. The teams traded leads nine times in the games and were tied six times.

Notre Dame closed the third quarter by hitting its last three shots, including a three by Sonia Citron, to take a 50-45 lead into the fourth. The trey by Citron from the right wing was her first bucket of the game. She hit another three from the right corner to make it 57-45 Irish with 7:43 to play, prompting a Syracuse timeout.

Citron’s long range shots along with Mabrey’s two fourth quarter treys and one more for good measure from Miles combined to put Notre Dame up 70-54 with 2:20 to play. Mabrey’s third and final three of the game was the 300th of her career.

The Orange entered the game leading the ACC with 10.8 steals per game, but had just seven Sunday afternoon and 11 points off turnovers, which the Fighting Irish were able to match.

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