Balanced Offense Leads Irish In Win Over Virginia Tech
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – All six Notre Dame players that saw action finished in double figures in the scoring column in Thursday evening’s 80-70 victory over Virginia Tech inside Purcell Pavilion.
The win improves Notre Dame’s record to 15-8 on the season and 7-5 in ACC play.
Hannah Hidalgo led the Irish with 16 points and stuffed the stat sheet with seven rebounds, six steals and five assists. The Fighting Irish trio of Cassandre Prosper, Iyana Moore and Gisela Sanchez each finished with 14 points.
In just her second game back from injury, KK Bransford provided a big spark off the bench, scoring 11 while adding six rebounds and two steals. Vanessa de Jesus also totaled 11 points to go along with five assists and three rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The visitors built an early seven-point advantage over the opening 10 minutes of play, holding a 21-14 lead at the end of the first frame. The Irish led 10-9 midway through the quarter before the Hokies finished on a 12-4 run.
The game was back-and-forth for the first 5 minutes of the second stanza, as Virginia Tech held an eight-point lead at 32-24 with 4:43 left in the half. Hidalgo then went on a personal 6-0 run to cut the deficit to just two at 32-30. The Hokies then scored the final four points of the half to take a 36-30 lead into the halftime intermission.
Hidalgo led all scorers with 14 points in the opening 20 minutes of action, including going 8-for-8 from the free-throw line.
Virginia Tech held a 41-34 lead with just under 8 minutes remaining in the third quarter before the Irish defense started creating havoc. Notre Dame reeled off 11 straight points, eight coming on the fastbreak, to put the Irish back in front for the first time since the early stages of the game at 45-41.
The Hokies managed to tie the game back up at 49-49 before back-to-back threes from Sanchez and Vanessa de Jesus gave the Irish a six-point lead. The visitors then scored the final bucket of the quarter to make it a four-point Notre Dame lead heading into the final 10 minutes of regulation at 55-51.
The score moved to 66-61 with 6:50 left in the fourth before Virginia Tech scored seven straight to retake the lead at 68-66 with 4 minutes remaining in the contest.
The Irish locked in on both ends of the floor down the stretch and answered in emphatic fashion, scoring 10 straight to take control of the game at 76-68 with less than a minute left on the clock. Moore knocked down all four of her free-throw attempts in the waning seconds to secure the 80-70 win in conference play.
NOTRE DAME STAT OF THE GAME
Notre Dame dominated the turnover battle, totaling just seven compared to Virginia Tech’s 21. The Irish outscored the Hokies 29-7 in points off turnovers. Fourteen of Virginia Tech’s 21 turnovers came via steals for Notre Dame.
NOTRE DAME NOTES
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Notre Dame has now won eight straight matchups against the Hokies and improve to 19-2 in the all-time series.
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The Fighting Irish were extremely efficient from the charity stripe, knocking down 18-of-19 free throws.
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After going 0-5 from three-point range in the first half Notre Dame went 6-for-10 from distance in the final 20 minutes of play.
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The Irish outscored the Hokies 34-24 in the paint.
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Hidalgo has finished in double figures in the scoring column in all 90 games of her career, the longest streak in program history.
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Thursday marked the 11th game this season that Hidalgo finished with five or more steals.
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Sanchez’s 14 points mark a high for ACC games this season.
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Bransford finished in double figures for the sixth time this season, despite only playing in 11 games.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Irish are back on the road, traveling to Charlottesville to take on Virginia at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 8. The game will air on ACCNX.
