Hannah Hidalgo responded in a big way to Niele Ivey’s message before Notre Dame’s matchup against Cal in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.
Although the Fighting Irish beat the Bears handily by 39, 91-52, the last time the two teams faced off in early February, Friday’s contest was anything but comfortable. Midway through the third quarter, Notre Dame was down, 45-39, which prompted Ivey to call a time out to rally her troops.
From then, Hidalgo and Olivia Miles both scored five points apiece in a 10-0 run the helped Notre Dame close the door on a potential Cal upset. Hidalgo finished with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, four rebounds, two steals and one assist while Miles chipped in 14 points, six assists, four rebounds, and three steals.
After the game, Ivey told reporters just how important Miles and Hidalgo’s outburst was in the second half in helping put away a surging Cal squad. “These two did a great job of leading us – Hannah with 25 points. Super solid. Helped us on that run when we were down six,” Notre Dame’s head coach said.
“Came up big with a couple baskets in the three in transition and I thought ‘Liv did an excellent job of running the team. Thought she had a fantastic second half. Really got her shot going. Getting downhill. Executing really in the timely plays which was amazing.”
Miles and Hidalgo’s performances against Cal was in response to Ivey’s message heading into the contest. Before taking on the Bears, the head coach challenged her stars to step up if the Fighting Irish were to have a chance to get to where they want to be, which is winning a national championship.
“We have our goal, and our goal is to get to go one step further after our game Friday depending on the matchup, so I don’t talk about the seeding,” Ivey said. “Obviously, the further you go in the conference tournament dictates a lot that can happen the next week and a half, so my focus and goal and messaging for the team is to take care of business on Friday.”
And taking care of business was just what the two did, specifically in that second half. When asked about what change during that pivotal timeout, the two stars explained how their fortunes changed thanks to how they played.
“Yeah, I think just having that mindset that it’s win or go home and you know we don’t we don’t want to lose and I think just coming together trusting in each other we were able to get stops,” Hidalgo said. “We were able to run in transition.”
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