No. 3 Notre Dame Hands Stanford Worst Loss in Program History

The Stanford women's basketball program came into their matchup against No. 3 Notre Dame as huge underdogs, facing one of the top ranked teams in the nation, on the road. But this was meant to be a measuring stick game to see how far the program has to go in order to return to being dominant once more.

Five minutes into the first quarter, their breakout star Nunu Agara landed hard on her back and was promptly removed from the game. She did not return. Without Agara, Stanford's best player this season, the Cardinal ended up setting the wrong kind of program record with the 96-47 loss being the largest margin of defeat (49 points) in school history.

Stanford never held a lead in this one, and also nearly tied a program record for most turnovers in a game. They finished with 29, one shy of the record, which has occurred four previous times, most recently against UConn on December 21, 2007.

It was really the second quarter where the game turned ugly, with Notre Dame outscoring Stanford 33-7, and closing the quarter out on a 26-2 run. Stanford finished the first half with more turnovers (19) than points (15).

Agara went 0-for-3 with a rebound and an assist before exiting the game. Even if the Cardinal had her on the court, this one still would have been lopsided. She has been averaging 17.4 points per game, along with 8.1 rebounds, and two assists. She has certainly been the team's breakout star this season, and will give the Cardinal a building block for the next two years.

Tess Heal ended up leading the scoring for Stanford with ten points, adding two rebounds, two assists, a block, and two steals. She was the only Cardinal to score in double figures.

For Notre Dame, Hannah Hidalgo led the way in scoring with 24 points, followed closely by the woman that is presumed to go early in this summer's WNBA Draft, Olivia Miles, who put up 20 points in 26 minutes.

The Fighting Irish shot 55.4% from the field (36-of-65) and 52.9% from three (9-of-17), along with draining 15-of-17 free throws. Stanford's shooters were cold in this one, shooting 31.1% from the field and 27.3% from three, hitting just six of 22 attempts.

The one bit of good news for the Cardinal is that they only face one more ranked opponent the rest of the way, No. 17 Georgia Tech on Sunday, March 2 to end the season. That game will also be at home, where Stanford has fared a lot better, posting a 10-3 record.

With the loss, Stanford drops to 11-11 overall and just 3-8 in the conference. Even with some big wins down the stretch, they will be on the bubble when selection time comes. With seven games remaining, they may need to win out in order to have a shot at making the NCAA tournament next month.

At the very least, that game against Georgia Tech is looming as a must-win since they don't have a signature win this season.

Stanford's next game will be on Sunday, February 8 against Louisville, in Louisville at 9 a.m. (PT). The game is set to air on ESPN2.