Notre Dame hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament this weekend. The Irish picked up wins over Robert Morris and Purdue while advancing to their eighth straight Sweet Sixteen, but may have lost star junior Brianna Turner to a knee injury in the process.

Friday: Notre Dame vs. Robert Morris

The top-seeded Irish opened the tournament against 16-seed Robert Morris on Friday. As expected, they came away with a comfortable victory, giving Irish fans something extra to celebrate this St. Patrick’s Day. Once again, freshman Erin Boley started in place of junior Kathryn Westbeld, who was given another chance to rest her injured ankle. Notre Dame jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but Robert Morris answered with a 10-0 run of their own to tie the game. The Irish seemed to wake up after that, and answered with a 14-2 run of their own to end the first quarter. They extended their lead during the second quarter, taking a 39-25 lead into the half. They continued to build on this lead through the second half, allowing Westbeld to rest the entire game and the starters to rest the last few minutes as well. The Irish dominated the glass, coming away with a 52-23 rebounding advantage while holding Robert Morris to 26.6% shooting for the game. The game ended in a 79-49 Irish win. Four ND players finished in double figures, led by Arike Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey with 15 points apiece. Ogunbowale collected a double-double by adding 10 rebounds. Brianna Turner also contributed a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Lindsay Allen rounded out the scoring with a balanced game, providing 14 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.

Sunday: Notre Dame vs. Purdue

Friday’s win moved the Irish into the second round to face 9-seed Purdue. The in-state opponents had not played since 2012. Kathryn Westbeld returned to the starting lineup for the game. The Irish struggled with some cold shooting early in the game, and also struggled to defend Purdue. The Boilermakers had taken a 17-13 lead by the end of the first quarter. Purdue came out looking comfortable and ready to play, not at all intimidated by the opponent or the stakes. In the first quarter, the Boilermakers outrebounded the Irish 16-8, leading to a 5-0 Purdue advantage in second-chance points. Notre Dame went on a bit of a run early in the second quarter, with a Boley three taking the lead from Purdue at 21-19. While it was a bit of back and forth early, the Irish quickly turned it around and went on a big second quarter run. The offense looked cleaner and more comfortable as they settled in, and they were able to get good looks inside to Turner, who capitalized on the opportunity with 4-4 shooting in the second quarter. Freshman Jackie Young also shot 4-4 during the run, and Mabrey was 3-3. All of this combined led to the Irish outscoring the Boilermakers 32-16 in the second quarter. ND led 45-33 at the half, but a new problem had emerged. With 48.4 seconds left in the second quarter, Brianna Turner went down with a knee injury and was taken straight to the locker room.

Turner returned to the bench for the second half and watched the rest of the game with no brace on the knee, but did not participate in any warm-ups or game action. Early in the third quarter, it looked like the Irish were going to manage her absence reasonably well. Purdue started the quarter strong, but the Irish had answers for them and stretched their lead to as much as 16. Young and Ogunbowale continued to play hard and make a big impact on the game. However, a Purdue run cut the lead to seven with about two minutes remaining in the quarter. ND was able to stretch it back to 11, leading 66-55 to end the quarter. With 8:37 remaining in the game, Westbeld picked up her fourth foul. Kristina Nelson got some additional playing time as a result. Purdue continued to chip away at the Irish lead, going on a 7-0 run that ended when Mabrey made two free throws awarded as the result of a technical foul on Purdue’s head coach, Sharon Versyp. This was one of several questionable calls by the officials on both sides. Also in the fourth quarter were an incorrect out-of-bounds call resulting in Purdue getting possession of the basketball, and a called “kicked ball” that Mabrey did not actually appear to touch on replay. However, more important in the fourth quarter was Notre Dame’s inability to score in the last few minutes of the game. Lindsay Allen scored their last points of regulation with 5:18 remaining, after which ND went 0-7 to close out the quarter. Purdue chipped away at the deficit during this time, outscoring the Irish 19-8 in the quarter. With 32.5 seconds remaining and a two point Irish lead, Westbeld fouled out of the game. Purdue made both free throws to tie the game at 74. After a missed shot by Allen, Purdue didn’t manage to get a shot off before the buzzer, so the game headed to overtime.

Fortunately, the Irish found their footing again during the overtime period. With the game tied again at 78, Allen made a layup and Mabrey got the steal on Purdue’s subsequent possession and scored again to give the Irish an 82-78 lead. In the last 13 seconds of the overtime period, Mabrey made 2-2 free throws and Ogunbowale made 4-4 to close out the game with a final score of 88-82. After shooting over 54% in the first half and falling to 36% in the second half, the Irish were able to win the game shooting 57% in overtime. Mabrey gave the Irish 21 points, while Ogunbowale scored 18 and Young scored 16. Turner added 10 points in the first half before her injury. Allen had another impressive day, racking up eight assists with zero turnovers. The Irish will be moving on to their eighth straight Sweet 16.

Observations

Obviously the big question mark at this point is Turner’s injury, and the team’s ability to adapt to it. Turner was expected to undergo an MRI on Monday, and late in the day the word was that she was still being evaluated and no definitive news would come before Tuesday. While things didn’t look good in real time, Irish fans are clinging to hope that perhaps the injury was not as bad as it seemed at first. However, I think the team has to be planning to play without her. Even if the injury wasn’t as bad as it seemed, she would still be likely to miss at least one game. It was clear when Turner left the game that the Irish struggled without her. There isn’t a backup who can contribute what she does on both ends of the floor. Without her, the Irish will have to revamp their style of play. When Turner’s shoulder was injured last year, McGraw played a small lineup a large part of the time, rather than trying to just swap out Nelson for Turner. It will be interesting to see if she goes with the same strategy here.

It’s also hard to know how much of the struggle on Sunday can be attributed to the emotions the team felt when Turner was injured. With time to practice playing without her, there will surely be some improvement, but her presence is still going to be missed. The Irish have their work cut out for them with a talented Ohio State team waiting for them in Lexington.

Other News

There were a couple more honors to report on since the last update. Brianna Turner was named a second-team All-American by ESPNW, and Lindsay Allen has been named as a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award for the third time. While there are some other great point guards nominated, and with a flashier, higher-scoring style of play, I don’t know that there is another player who contributes as much to her team as Allen does. She may not have the points every night, but they don’t win these games without her.

Burger Basket Leaderboard

I’m not sure about the policy on the promotion, but if the NCAA Tournament games at home count and the 88 points doesn’t have to be in regulation, the 88 point performance on Sunday made one last change to the leaderboard. Ogunbowale’s last free throw (in an 8-8 performance) hit the milestone and moved her into a three-way tie for the win.

Arike Ogunbowale – 2
Erin Boley – 2
Jackie Young – 2
Marina Mabrey – 1

Coming Up

The Irish will travel to Lexington for the Sweet 16, where they will face fifth-seed Ohio State on Friday. Ohio State is coached by former Irish assistant Kevin McGuff. If the team can get the win on Friday, they will move on to an Elite Eight game against the winner of Friday’s matchup between two-seed Stanford and three-seed Texas.