WBB | ND Passes First ACC Road Test
An experienced Notre Dame team used a dominant second quarter performance to pull away from a young Georgia Tech squad in Atlanta on Sunday winning by a final score of 74-55. The win moves the Irish to 14-1 on the season and 2-0 in the ACC.
The Yellow Jackets started strong jumping out to an 8 to 2 lead in the game’s opening minutes before the Irish went on a 7-0 run. The Irish pulled out to an 18 to 12 lead before Georgia Tech scored on a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the first quarter and trail the Irish 18 to 15.
Notre Dame outscored Tech 21 to 7 in the second quarter to stretch the lead to 39 to 22 at the half. ND had 17 assists on 17 made baskets in the first half. Arike Ogunbowale had 7 assists by halftime, although struggled shooting the ball — just 2 for 11 in the first half and 5 for 17 for the game. She finished with career-high12 assists, two steals, two turnovers and 13 points.
Georgia Tech made just 3 of 14 field goal attempts in the second quarter (21.4%). The Yellow Jackets shot 36.1% for the game.
Notre Dame started the game shooting poorly, but they as the game went on, the Irish passing magic led to easy baskets. The Irish ended with a season-high 30 assists on 34 made baskets. They dominated points-in-the-paint 60 to 20 and fast break points 24 to 9. The Irish made 27 of 47 field goal attempts from the second quarter on.
For the full game, ND shot 54.8% from the field, but only 10% from three (1 for 10). The Irish hit 33 of 52 shots inside the arc (63.5%). Jess Shepard led all scorers in the game — she went 8 for 10 from the field for 19 total points. She also passed out 6 assists blocked 2 shots and grabbed 7 rebounds. Marina Mabrey and Brianna Turner scored 11 each. Mabrey had four assists and one steal — and she made ND’s only three-point basket. Turner was 5 for 7 from the field. She had 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Jackie Young, who sat out the second quarter with two fouls, ended up with 10 points on 5 for 8 shooting.
The Irish only made 7 of 15 free throw attempts (46.7%). They did score 33 points off 20 Georgia Tech turnovers, while yielding only 13 to Tech on 14 ND turnovers. The Yellow Jackets had forced over 20 turnovers a game coming into this game.
Georgia Tech scoring was led by star freshman, Elizabeth Balogun, who scored 14. Elizabeth Dixon added 12 and Francesca Pan 10.
ND stretched the lead to 30 — 74 to 44 by the fourth quarter media timeout. Then ND’s starters went out, and Georgia Tech outscored ND’s reserves 11 to 2 to finish the game.
Notre Dame returns home this Thursday for a long-awaited game with undefeated and third-ranked Louisville. Last season, the Cardinals blitzed the Irish in Louisville 100 - 67 during the regular season and won by two points in the ACC Championship game. Thursday’s game will be nationally televised on ESPN at 7:00 pm Eastern.
ND is currently #1 in the RPI ranking with the #1 strength of schedule. Louisville is # 7 in the current RPI ranking with a schedule strength in the mid-twenties.
