March Madness: Hannah Hidalgo scores 21 as No. 3 seed Notre Dame routs Michigan 76-55 in 2nd round
March Madness: Hannah Hidalgo scores 21 as No. 3 seed Notre Dame routs Michigan 76-55 in 2nd round
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Hannah Hidalgo scored 21 points and No. 3 seed Notre Dame routed No. 6 seed Michigan 76-55 in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
Notre Dame advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive season. The Irish will have a rematch in Birmingham against either TCU or Louisville. The Horned Frogs defeated Notre Dame in the Cayman Islands in November. The Fighting Irish swept Louisville in two ACC regular-season games.
Olivia Miles, who suffered an ankle injury in Notre Dame’s 106-54 victory against Stephen F. Austin in the first round, started for the Fighting Irish. She had eight points, five assists and four rebounds.
Miles said that she didn’t decide to play until 15 minutes before tip-off.
“I was leaning towards no, and then I started to feel pretty good leading up to the game,” said Miles, who admitted that it was tough playing through the pain. “I was just like, ‘You know what? Let me play, because it’s my last home game, and I wanted to share it with these girls.”
Liatu King turned in a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Sonia Citron scored 16 points for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame (28-5) opened up with an 11-2 run and stormed to a 32-12 lead after the first quarter. The Fighting Irish looked like the team that dispatched Texas, Southern California, UConn and Duke in the regular-season rather than the team that dropped three of its last five regular-season games, hitting 12 of their first 16 shots. Michigan (23-11) started out 1-of-7 from the field.
“I think we have the fight because we want to win,” Hidalgo said of the relentless start that rocked Michigan. “We are competitors and we want to win and we want to get all the way to the National Championship, and that’s really where our fight comes from.”
Notre Dame held Michigan to a season-low 55 points. The Wolverines’ previous low was 58 points in losses to USC and Michigan State. Michigan entered the game averaging 78.2 points a game.
“Something we’ve stressed and emphasized is our defense,” Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said. “They came out with the same mindset, same energy as kind of what I talked about, dominant. And again, it’s a will; a will to win, understanding what it means to get to the next round and get to the Sweet Sixteen.”
A pair of freshmen led Michigan. Olivia Olson scored 20 points and Syla Swords scored 17 points.
Michigan Coach Kim Barnes Arico said that Notre Dame’s intensity at the start and the experience factor played key roles in the rough first quarter.
“You just hope, as we’re getting our feet wet, that they don’t extend that lead,” Barnes Arico said. “We weren’t able to stop it. We were a mess defensively. I’m not sure why. I think because they could, they could score like guards in every position, and then they sped us up.”
ROYAL PERFORMANCE
King turned in an exceptional showing in helping the Fighting Irish advance to the Sweet 16, scoring 18 points and pulling down 15 rebounds. She was 7-of-7 shooting and hit 4-of-4 free throws.
“Credit to my teammates, first of all, they were able to find me,” King said. “We saw mismatches. We saw how they were defending ball screens, and they were just able to find me on the slips on the rolls and things like that. I really give credit to the point guards, and Sonia (Citron), as well, for just finding me in open areas.”
RECOVERY EFFORT
Ivey said that Notre Dame trainer Anne Marquez was the MVP for the Fighting Irish.
“I give her the credit,” Ivey said of Marquez working long hours to help Miles get ready to play. “They (the athletic training staff) have been working on Liv for the last 48 hours, 36 hours, however long it’s been. But (Anne) is my MVP.”
PLANNING AHEAD
Barnes Arico said that her three freshmen starting guards – Olson, Swords and Mila Holloway grew up during their 23-win season, although they learned a tough lesson at Notre Dame against an All-American backcourt.
“I think, you know, they’ve embraced it,” Barnes Arico said of the challenges her freshmen stars faced. “They’ve done extremely well with it. They have had have to have these experiences to learn from them, but they’re so competitive, and you saw that tonight from all three of them.”
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By CURT RALLO
Associated Press
