Notre Dame (#6) opened the week with a disappointing loss at Tennessee on Monday, but followed it up with wins at Boston College and North Carolina. The team moved to 18-3 on the season, with a 6-1 ACC record.

Monday: ND at Tennessee

Notre Dame traveled to Tennessee on Monday to kick off this season’s lineup of ESPN2 Big Monday games. Tennessee has been up and down the last couple of seasons, struggling to regain the dominance they experienced under late head coach Pat Summitt. Things got off to a rough start for the Irish, with Tennessee shooting well and rebounding early to jump out to an 11-2 lead before Notre Dame’s first timeout. However, Notre Dame responded with their own 11-2 run to tie the game at 13. After this, the Irish started to pull away, leading to a 25-18 lead at the end of the first quarter. Marina Mabrey and Jackie Young both had strong impacts on the Irish scoring early. Mabrey would finish the game with 17 points, and Young would finish with 10 on perfect 4-4 shooting. Freshman Erin Boley ended the first half with a three-pointer to put the Irish up 44-31.

At this point I think most ND fans were feeling pretty optimistic. Notre Dame had started to pull away, and the broadcasters pointed out that Notre Dame had won 157 consecutive games when leading at halftime. Time to settle in and enjoy the blowout, right? Wrong. The Irish defense struggled significantly in the third quarter, allowing Tennessee to cut the lead to 62-52. In the fourth quarter, the Lady Vols kept chipping away, cutting the lead to two points early. Mabrey hit a three for the Irish to go back up five at 65-60, but Tennessee wasn’t going away. With just 1:18 remaining in the game, Tennessee hit a three to take a two point lead over the Irish. Lindsay Allen was able to tie the game at 69, but Tennessee pulled ahead to 71-69. With over ten seconds remaining in the game, Notre Dame got the ball back down two. However, the Lady Vols had only one foul at this point in the quarter. With all the fouls they had to give, they were able to run the clock down to just over four seconds for Notre Dame’s last shot. Lindsay Allen missed a three, and the final score was 71-69.

I was a little skeptical of the number of fouls the Lady Vols still had to give at the end of the game, but I’m not going to try to pin this one on officiating. Notre Dame shouldn’t have been in a position where this mattered at the end of the game. The Irish led for 31 minutes and 39 seconds of game time, but were outscored 19-7 in the fourth quarter. They just didn’t do what was necessary to hold on to the lead and win the game.

Thursday: ND at Boston College

I’ve had this one marked on my calendar all year, despite the fact that Boston College is one of the worst teams in the ACC, because I live in the Boston area and actually got to watch this game in person. I was disappointed when the team was warming up to see Kathryn Westbeld in a walking boot. Apparently she injured her ankle in Wednesday’s practice. I haven’t heard anything about the extent of the injury, but I hope she’ll return to the lineup soon. Westbeld has been a great hustle player for the Irish this year, making clutch plays on both ends of the floor. With Westbeld out on Thursday, freshman Erin Boley made her first career start.

The game was fairly close through the first two quarters. ND struggled to defend the paint, giving up a lot of easy layups. They managed to hang on to an eight point halftime lead. Then things really opened up in the third quarter, when Notre Dame outscored the Eagles 31-15. Marina Mabrey scored 15 of her team-leading 21 points in the third quarter alone. However, it’s a good thing they had the big third quarter. They needed it. Once again, the fourth quarter was unimpressive. BC outscored the Irish in the fourth 19-6. ND held on to win with a final score of 80-69.

Some notable stats from the game: Notre Dame scored 23 points off of 20 BC turnovers. This was a huge advantage, but not one they can count on from their stronger opponents. Erin Boley performed well in her first start, with six points, four rebounds, and three assists in 21 minutes. She looked nervous on the bench before the game, but had a solid performance. Lindsay Allen had six assists, which put her over 700 for her career (702). It was also nice to see Ali Patberg scoring a little bit more in this game. She ended up with six points, but looked a lot more willing to take shots than she did early in the season. A couple of things stood out watching this one in person instead of on TV or streaming. Those of you who have been reading these recaps all season know that I am a big fan of Lindsay Allen’s play. In person, she was as good as advertised. Not only the stats, but just the way the other players look to her on the floor and the trust they and the coaches seem to have in her. It was fun to watch how little Muffet McGraw had to say for Allen to know what she wanted. She is a huge component of this team, and I think they are going to struggle without her next year. However, the other player that stood out to me in person was Ali Patberg. I already mentioned that she looked more willing to shoot in this game, but in between plays, or when fouls were called (or not called), she played with impressive passion. She was animated, fired up, really invested in the game. It was fun to see, and I hope she can build on that as the season goes on and she gets more minutes and more chances to score. She already looks pretty comfortable getting the team into their offense, so it should be fun to watch her develop.

Sunday: ND at North Carolina

Notre Dame wrapped up the week with a visit to North Carolina on Sunday. North Carolina, like BC, has struggled in ACC play with only one conference win thus far. Westbeld missed another game with her ankle injury, but this time Mychal Johnson got the start for the Irish. ND got off to a slow start once again, letting North Carolina guard Paris Kea score in double digits less than six minutes into the game. She passed her season scoring average in the first quarter. There was a bit of sloppy play for Irish early, leading to a back and forth first quarter that ended with a 24-21 Notre Dame lead.

The team really picked things up in the second quarter, playing much cleaner basketball and getting some great transition baskets. The Irish outscored the Tarheels 23-6 in the second for a 47-27 halftime lead. After holding down the fort in the third quarter, the Irish held on to a 63-45 lead. Patberg, Boley, and Young all provided good minutes for the team. Thanks to some solid play from the bench, the team was able to overcome the fourth quarter struggles that plagued them earlier in the week. They sustained and built on their lead in the fourth quarter, leading to a final score of 77-55. Brianna Turner, had a huge game, which Muffet McGraw described as one of her best, tallying 24 points, 12 rebounds, and six blocks. Allen added another 11 assists. ND outscored North Carolina in the paint 46-20, scored 24 points off of turnovers to North Carolina’s 11, and the bench outscored North Carolina’s bench 24-6. It was a pretty dominant performance to provide Muffet McGraw with her 750th win in her 30 years at Notre Dame.

Other News

Class of 2017 signee Danielle Patterson was named a McDonald’s High School All-American this week. She joins current ND players Allen, Turner, Westbeld, Mabrey, Ogunbowale, Patberg, Boley, and Young, all of whom previously received this honor.

Burger Basket Leaderboard

At Notre Dame home games where the Irish score 88 points or more, the fans in attendance receive coupons for a free burger. We’re tracking which player is responsible for feeding the fans the most often over the course of the season.

With three road games this week, there are no updates. The freshmen still share the lead.

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

Coming Up

Notre Dame plays two ACC home games this week, welcoming Duke to Purcell Pavilion on Thursday and Virginia on Sunday.