WBB | Arike Ogunbowale Hits a Career Milestone as Notre Dame Wins by 50
Senior guard Arike Ogunbowale became just the fifth Notre Dame player to score two thousand career points as the Irish routed Binghamton 103 to 53 at Purcell Pavilion on Sunday afternoon. Ironically, it came on a day when she had season lows for points (13) and shots attempts (10). However, she only needed seven points today to join Skylar Diggins-Smith, Ruth Riley, Beth Cunningham and Katrina Gaither in the exclusive two thousand point club. She hit a pull up jumper early in the second quarter to register points 2,000 and 2,001.
After the game, Ogunbowale was asked if scoring two thousand points was one of her goals when she enrolled at Notre Dame:
“No. My goal was to win the national championship — a couple — so that’s what the real goal is. I think it’s just an honor to do it at this school that so many great players have come through.”
All Irish starters scored in double figures today as ND shot 66% from the field in racking up 89 points through the first three quarters. The Irish put the game away with a 21 to nothing run to start the second quarter and a 15 to 2 run to start the third. Notre Dame made its first 10 shots from the field to start the game.
Jackie Young and Marina Mabrey both scored 21 points to lead the Irish. Young added 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals, while Mabrey had 10 of ND’s 27 assists on the day. The assist total pleased head coach Muffet McGraw:
“I was really excited about the way the game played out because we’ve really been working on a little more motion, a little more rhythm to the offense. I was just thrilled that we had 27 assists tonight. That’s a season-high — we’ve definitely been lacking in that area. We really shared the ball and just moved. It was really fun to watch.”
Jessica Shepard scored 18 on a perfect shooting day — 8 for 8 from the field and 2 for 2 from the line, and Brianna Turner scored 14 to go with 9 rebounds.
Ogunbowale grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds to lead the Irish. She also had 5 assists and two steals.
After the game, McGraw reflected on Ogunbowale’s milestone:
“It is amazing what she’s done. Her freshman year coming off the bench, she didn’t score a lot of points, so it’s really come in the last three years. She’s such a great offensive player. She is so exciting to watch. I think she’s the most exciting player in college basketball. I’m thrilled that she got two thousand. She definitely deserves to be in that group. She’s one of the very special players that we’ve had here. I’m so happy for her and I can’t wait to see what’s next for her down the road because we have a lot of season to go.”
Notre Dame started the fourth quarter with just one starter on the floor (Mabrey), and she went to the bench within the first two minutes. The Irish played most of the fourth quarter with two freshman (Jordan Nixon and Danielle Cosgrove), sophomore Mikki Vaughn, and two walk-ons (Maureen Butler and Nicole Benz).
For the game, ND scored 34 fast break points to none for the Bearcats. They dominated the paint 52 to 12 and scored 29 points off 21 Binghamton turnovers. The Irish won the rebounding battle 49 to 35.
Binghamton had two double-figure scorers — Rebecca Carmody with 12 and Lizzy Spindler with 10. The Bearcats made 8 three-point baskets — but in 40 attempts. They shot 20% from beyond the arc and 28.6% overall.
Notre Dame started the game with just eight scholarship players available. Abby Prohaska was sidelined with the flu, and Dani Patterson continues to recover from a sore knee. McGraw expects Prohaska back for the next game and Patterson by this weekend.
Up next for the 9-1 Irish — Western Kentucky — Wednesday evening at Purcell followed by a road trip Saturday to Marquette.