In a pair of close road games this week, #7 Notre Dame came out ahead with wins over Clemson and #21 Syracuse. They go into the last week of the regular season in sole possession of first place in the ACC.

Thursday: #7 Notre Dame at Clemson

The Irish traveled to Clemson on Thursday to take on the Tigers. Junior Kathryn Westbeld missed the game with her lingering ankle injury, and freshman Erin Boley continued to start in her place. However, Mychal Johnson did play for the Irish for the first time since her shoulder injury in late January. The game started with a series of runs. Notre Dame jumped out to a 4-0 lead, then Clemson went on a 6-0 run of their own, then Notre Dame responded with a 13-0 run to take a 19-6 lead. Clemson tried to slow the game down for the Irish, frequently using the entire shot clock on their possessions. By the end of the first quarter, Notre Dame led 27-16. Freshman Jackie Young continued to provide valuable minutes for ND, and the team survived a lengthy second quarter scoring drought to hold a 43-34 lead at halftime.

The Irish came out of the half with renewed energy, opening with an 8-0 run to force a Clemson timeout. However, once again, Clemson followed this with a scoring burst of their own to cut the lead back down to nine. During a somewhat sloppy third quarter, Clemson was able to chip into the Irish lead. With just over two minutes remaining in the quarter, two Clemson free throws cut the lead to six. However, sophomore Marina Mabrey answered with a three-pointer, and Lindsay Allen followed that with two made free throws to stretch the lead back to 11. They ended the quarter up ten at 62-52. Clemson refused to go quietly however, and continued to threaten the Irish lead in the fourth quarter. Marina Mabrey seemed to answer every time the Tigers got close. With five and a half minutes left in the game, Clemson got within five points and Mabrey answered with a long two. With less than two and a half minutes left Clemson cut the lead to three at 80-77. Mabrey answered with another basket. With 11.5 seconds remaining in the game, Notre Dame was up only two points. Clemson fouled Mabrey, who made the pair of free throws and gave the Irish the 84-80 final score.

Mabrey scored a career high 29 points in this game, 24 of which came in the second half. Arike Ogunbowale also added 15 points, and Lindsay Allen was just short of a double-double, with 11 points, nine rebounds, and five assists.

Sunday: #7 Notre Dame at #21 Syracuse

For Sunday’s game at #21 Syracuse, Kathryn Westbeld made her return to the starting lineup. Notre Dame faced a talented Syracuse team that made it to the championship game in last year’s NCAA tournament. They were also met by a crowd of over 11,000 fans, a new attendance record for the Syracuse women’s team. In fact, the previous record was less than 5,000 fans. With the support of the large crowd, Syracuse got off to a hot start. Going 4-4 from the floor, they took an early 11-2 lead over the Irish. The Orange put a lot of pressure on Notre Dame, especially on Lindsay Allen bringing the ball up the floor, and the Irish struggled to get things clicking on both ends of the floor. Notre Dame trailed by as many as 13 in a first quarter where Syracuse did not miss a shot until the 5:10 mark. Jackie Young did contribute better defense when she entered the game, making some good hustle plays. Marina Mabrey started the game making her first three three-point attempts, for nine of ND’s first 15 points. Like in Thursday’s game, Mabrey’s play kept the game in reach early. She cut the Syracuse lead to five at 26-21 with less than two minutes remaining in the first quarter. The Irish trailed by six to end the quarter. In the second quarter, the Irish were able to stay closer but not able to catch the Orange. With 4:13 left in the half a layup from Westbeld cut the deficit to two, but Syracuse followed this with another run. After a half where it felt like very little had gone right, Notre Dame trailed by eight with a score of 43-35.

Notre Dame opened the third quarter playing better on both ends of the floor. With a few defensive stops and the offense running smoothly, they were able to tie the game at 46 on a layup from Brianna Turner. Syracuse fought back with a 7-0 run of their own. Notre Dame continued to battle, however, and while Syracuse retook the lead Notre Dame only trailed by four at the end of the third quarter. From the end of the third quarter into the beginning of the fourth, the Irish hit their stride and took off on a 15-0 run. With 7:51 remaining in the game, Turner was fouled on a made layup that gave the Irish their first lead at 65-63. She missed the free throw, but the Irish got the rebound and put it back for a 67-63 lead and would not trail again in the game. With only 11.7 seconds left in the game, the Irish held a one-point lead. Mabrey was fouled and made both free throws for an 83-80 lead. Syracuse missed their three-point attempt, Turner got the rebound and was fouled with 1.6 seconds left. She made both free throws to put the 85-80 win in the books.

Despite the frustration of the first half, this ended up being a good win over a ranked opponent. Offensive rebounding was a huge difference-maker for the Irish in this game, particularly down the stretch. The Irish out-rebounded the Orange 44-20, including 18-5 in offensive rebounds. The game also featured some great individual performances. Turner reached a new career-high with her 31 point performance on 13-14 shooting. Mabrey added 22 points, and Jackie Young recorded a career-high 12 rebounds. The game earned the Irish a double-bye in the upcoming ACC Tournament. Hopefully the whole team will be healthy by then, but it doesn’t look like promising. Mychal Johnson, playing in just her second game since injuring her shoulder, appeared to get kicked in the ankle right before halftime and spent the second half on the bench in a walking boot.

Observations

That was a stressful week. Both games were closer than I’d have liked, but I can’t argue with the outcomes. The ACC schedule has been a battle pretty much start to finish this year, and two more wins to clinch a double-bye make for a pretty good week. Hopefully the team can close out the regular season with two strong performances this week, and hopefully Johnson’s ankle injury isn’t serious.

Marina Mabrey sure seems to be peaking at the right time. She has had three straight 20+ point games. This week she repeatedly made the clutch shots to keep games close when her teammates were struggling. She is a reliable free throw shooter, even under pressure in late game situations. She hit free throws to seal both games this week. She also seems to channel her emotions better than she did as a freshman or even early this year. I recall her being prone to picking up some silly frustration fouls, and she seems to have that under control. It will be nice to be able to count on Mabrey during the postseason.

For the team as a whole, free throw shooting continues to be an issue. The team made 63.6% of their free throws against Syracuse, and has made just over 70% on the season. This could cost them in close games like the two they played this week, and they’re lucky it hasn’t yet. I’m not sure this is something that can be fixed at this point in the season, but I hope it improves anyway.

Other News

Awards and nominations continue to pile up. Jackie Young was named the ACC Rookie of the Week for the second time this season, after scoring 16 points against Louisville and racking up five assists and eight rebounds against Georgia Tech. Lindsay Allen has been named one of ten finalists for the Senior CLASS Award. Fans can vote for this one, so check it out if you are interested. Finally, head coach Muffet McGraw has been named one of 14 finalists for this year’s class of inductees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. She was also a finalist last year. Inductees will be announced during the men’s Final Four in April.

Burger Basket Leaderboard

Two away games this week, so no updates. Two more chances this week for someone to pull ahead!

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

Coming Up

Going into the last week of the regular season, Notre Dame sits in first place in the ACC and looks to clinch their fourth consecutive ACC regular season title. The Irish will host Boston College on Thursday, after defeating them 80-69 at BC in January. On Sunday, the Irish will host second-place #4 Florida State, a game which will determine the regular season ACC champion and top-seed for the ACC tournament.