© Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Notre Dame Dominates Ole Miss To Advance To The Sweet 16
Notre Dame advanced to the Sweet 16 with a convincing win over Ole Miss
Notre Dame entered the NCAA Tournament as one of the hottest teams in women's basketball, and that continued as the Irish dominated Ole Miss to earn their third straight trip to the Sweet 16. The Irish controlled action throughout their 71-56 win over the Rebels.
Ole Miss (24-9) started the scoring with a Rita Igbokwe lay in, but it would be the one and only lead of the game for the Rebels. Notre Dame (28-6) went on the attack and blitzed Ole Miss in the opening quarter. Star freshman Hannah Hidalgo had six early points, but Notre Dame beat the Rebels thanks to a strong all-around team performance.
Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld and Anna DeWolfe all made triples in the opening quarter as the Irish jumped out to a 21-9 lead after one. Five different Irish players scored in the first quarter, and the Irish defense forced seven Ole Miss turnovers in the first ten minutes.
Notre Dame kept pouring it on in the second quarter as Maddy Westbeld heated up. The senior went 4-4 from the field in the second quarter, leading the Irish with nine points, and 14 points at halftime. Her triple at the 5:10 mark pushed the Irish lead the 33-14, its biggest of the game. Every time Ole Miss tried to cut the lead down, the Irish would answer, and Westbeld's jumper at the buzzer put the Irish up 43-26 at the break.
The Irish dominated inside throughout the first half, scoring 18 points in the paint, but it was the defense that forced 13 first half turnovers and held Ole Miss to 11-29 shooting in the opening half that allowed the Irish to gain and keep such a big lead.
Westbeld and Citron kicked off the third quarter the way the second ended as the Irish extended the lead to 51-28. Just like we saw in the second quarter, every time Ole Miss tried to cut into the lead, getting it down to 15, the Irish pushed it right back up. Ole Miss cut it to 55-40 with just over two minutes left in the third, but the Irish answered with a quick 6-0 run to push the lead back to 21.
Westbeld and Hidalgo each scored six points in the third quarter, and Citron dished out four assists in the third as the Irish continued to dominate the Rebels.
Ole Miss never got the score closer than 13 in the final quarter as the Irish cruised to victory.
The win over Ole Miss was Notre Dame's 10th straight victory, and they dominated an Ole Miss team that also entered the tournament playing very good basketball. The Rebels had won eight of their previous nine games, with the only loss coming to defending national champ LSU in the SEC Tournament. Ole Miss beat Marquette 67-55 in the first round, but they were no match for Notre Dame's inside-out dominance.
Westbeld led all scorers with 20 points, and Citron had a double-double, scoring 17 points and leading the Irish with10 rebounds and 6 assists. Hidalgo had 19 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. Anna DeWolfe and Natalija Marshall didn't stuff the box score, but both made big plays scoring and passing as the Irish broke the game open in the first half.
The win gives head coach Niele Ivey her third straight Sweet 16 appearance. It also gave the fourth-year head coach her highest career win total. Notre Dame will take on 3-seed Oregon State in the Sweet 16 on Friday. A win gives Ivey her deepest run yet as the Irish head coach.
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