CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The No. 19/17 Notre Dame women’s basketball team (13-4, 4-2) continues to be haunted by bad juju inside Conte Forum, dropping its third straight in Chestnut Hill by one possession, after Boston College (13-5, 4-3) rallied to win 73-71. In those three losses inside Conte, the combined margin of defeat was just six points.
The Fighting Irish led by as much as 14 points with 2:53 remaining in the third period. The Irish also had two good looks near the basket with just under 10 seconds remaining to either tie or go-ahead.
Five Irish players scored in double figures, led by a 15-point effort from Sam Brunelle. Both Maya Dodson and Sonia Citron supplied 13 points, as the latter led the team with eight rebounds. Olivia Miles notched 12 points and seven assists. Dara Mabrey rounded out the group with 10 points.
Boston College was powered by a three-headed monster tonight: Swartz (28 points), Dickens (20 points) and Soule (15 points). Swartz and Dickens went a combined 11-for-18 from three-point range.
How It Happened
Boston College came out swinging at the opening tip, running off to an 8-0 run to prompt a Coach Ivey timeout at 8:32. Notre Dame then settled in and responded out of the break with an 11-0 run over the next 2:18. In fact, the Irish finished the quarter making nine of their next 12 shots to go up 22-17.
Brunelle led with seven points in the first, knocking down all three of her shots. Defensively, the Irish caused seven turnovers in which they converted into nine points.
Next, it was a low-scoring quarter in the second, with the Irish edging the Eagles 13-10 to go up 35-27 at the half. Westbeld led this time with six points, while Citron was active on the glass with four boards. By half, 22 of the team’s 35 points were scored in the paint. Furthermore, Notre Dame was shooting 56 percent compared to BC’s 31 percent.
Notre Dame recorded an 8-2 scoring spree early in the third to build a 43-32 lead. Later on, Dodson scored six of the team’s eight points during an 8-0 run, extending the lead to 55-41, Notre Dame’s largest lead of the game at 2:53.
However, over the final 2:35 of the quarter, Boston College netted a 13-0 run to pull within one at 55-54. The Eagles outscored the Irish 27-20 in the third after scoring just 27 total in the first half.
BC then scored the first bucket of the fourth, garnering its first lead of the entire game. Brunelle finally ended the drought with a big three at 8:19 that kicked off a 7-0 run.
The Eagles punched back again with a 5-0 run to pull within one, but this time it was Citron with a big three-pointer at 5:36. Later tied at 67-all, it was Mabrey’s turn to hit a pivotal three.
Yet, the story of the night was Boston College’s relentlessness from three, hitting their 11th of the game and fourth of the quarter to tie it at 70-all with 2:36 remaining.
Down 72-71 with 20 seconds left, the Irish would ultimately have three chances to take the lead. On the first possession, the refs called an offensive foul on Miles, her fifth of the game. On the second, Dodson had a chance in the paint but her layup was too strong. Then with four seconds left, down two, Westbeld’s fadeaway jumper in the paint couldn’t fall, as Boston College rallied for the win.
Up Next
The Fighting Irish will repack their bags for an extended road trip in which they’ll play at Pitt on Sunday, Jan. 23, followed by a makeup game at Virginia on Tuesday, Jan. 25.
— ND —