Notre Dame dropped to a No. 3 seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament after the Fighting Irish stumbled at the close of the regular season, losing three of their last five games after being ranked No. 1 in the country behind the dazzling play of Hannah Hidalgo
Coach Niele Ivey is eager to see the Fighting Irish get their fight back when Notre Dame (26-5) starts its March Madness run on Friday by hosting No. 14 seed Stephen F. Austin (29-5).
“I think those were setbacks for us, lessons for us,” said Ivey, whose team beat No. 1 seeds Texas and Southern California and No. 2 seeds UConn and Duke this season. “It was definitely hard the last couple weeks trying to get back to who we are, our identity.
“As long as you learn from those lessons, those failures, they can always provide growth. That’s what I’m looking for for our team.”
Notre Dame leads the nation in 3-point shooting at 39.5% but shot 14 of 55 (25.5%) beyond the arc in its three late losses.
Hidalgo averages 24.2 points per game, fourth best in the country, and Olivia Miles is the only player in the country with at least three triple-doubles this season. She averages 16.2 points, 5.8 assists and 5.9 rebounds.
Stephen F. Austin also loves to shoot the 3. The Ladyjacks attempted a program-record 320 shots beyond the arc.
Faith Blackstone averages 14.9 points and 6.2 rebounds a game to lead SFA, which is on a 15-game winning streak.
“I think we have to be dialed in on the defensive end and ultimately, you don’t win the game if you don’t score more points, so we’ve got to put the ball in the bucket,” Stephen F. Austin coach Leonard Bishop said. “I think no matter if it’s a 3, a layup, a free throw, we’ve got to be hitting (Friday). We’ve got to be dialed in and I think feeding off of our defense can allow us to create some offense as well.”
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