Notre Dame Women’s Basketball Stomps Clemson

The Clemson Tigers (11-15, 4-10 ACC) took a trip up to Indiana to face the No. 19-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (19-6, 9-5 ACC). The Tigers were on a three-game losing streak heading into this game. Meanwhile, the Fighting Irish were coming off a win themselves.

https://twitter.com/ClemsonWBB/status/1760666003061551609

Slow Start for the Fighting Irish

Trailing as much as 14-4, the Fighting Irish found themselves on upset alert early in the first quarter. Clemson’s Amari Robinson nailed two 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the quarter. Robinson was a major reason the Tigers were leading the Fighting Irish 18-16 at the end of the first.

The Fighting Irish’s first lead of the game came when Anna DeWolfe buried a 3-point shot at the 8:26 mark of the second quarter. Notre Dame led 21-20; and after that made bucket by DeWolfe, the Fighting Irish went on a 16-7 run to lead 37-27 at the end of the half.

Notre Dame’s Sonia Citron led the first half comeback as she scored 14 points, two rebounds, three assists and had a perfect field goal percentage.

https://twitter.com/ndwbb/status/1760826062508843469

Flaming Hot 3rd Quarter

This was the quarter that really got the ball rolling for Notre Dame. Coming out of the half, the Fighting Irish did not skip a beat, and neither did Citron. However, Citron was not the only one to keep the momentum coming. Hannah Hidalgo and Maddy Westbeld reached double digit figures. Westbeld had recorded 11 points and 11 rebounds at the end of the third.

https://twitter.com/ndwbb/status/1760837166853202203

The Fighting Irish accumulated a 59-36 lead by the end of the third quarter, and they showed no signs of slowing down. For the second quarter in a row, The Notre Dame defense only gave up nine points, and they had only let four players from Clemson score. The Fighting Irish recorded a total of 10 baskets in the third quarter.

Notre Dame Defense

A big reason why Notre Dame blew the Tigers out was lockdown defense. The Fighting Irish forced a total of 20 turnovers, 10 blocks and held Clemson to 47 points. The Fighting Irish recorded a total of 25 points off of those Clemson turnovers.

Natalija Marshall was the dominant force on defense for Note Dame as she recorded four of those 1o blocks. Marshall did not do much in the scoring category, but she did not need to as five of the Fighting Irish players had double digits. It would have been six if Kylee Watson made one more points.

The Fighting Irish escape an early upset attempt by the Tigers, and beat Clemson, 74-47.

Irish Win!! #GoIrish☘️ // @Gatorade pic.twitter.com/L8zBCmrx18

— Notre Dame Women's Basketball (@ndwbb) February 23, 2024