SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A balanced scoring effort led No. 19 Notre Dame (20-6, 10-5) to its 10th ACC victory of the season on Thursday with three more to go. The Irish defeated visiting Clemson (11-16, 4-11), 74-47, behind double-figure points from five people: Sonia Citron (16), Maddy Westbeld (13), Anna DeWolfe (12), KK Bransford (12) and Hannah Hidalgo (10).
“Absolutely,” Westbeld said after the game when asked if she considered it the balanced night Notre Dame was seeking. “We’ve really been working on our offense and moving the ball, and we had 19 assists tonight. We had five in double-figures, and that’s what we’re trying to do every game.”
It was senior night for Westbeld and Marshall, and they both showed up in big ways on the defensive end of the floor. Westbeld had 12 rebounds, notching her 10th double-double of the season. She entered this season with just nine over the first three years of her Irish career. Marshall had 4 blocks.
The final score suggests the game was a blow out. But it didn’t look that way from the tip.
It was a slow start for Notre Dame, as Clemson notched a 10-point lead out of the gate, 14-4. DeWolfe then hit a jumper that sparked a 12-2 Irish run over 5:29. Citron scored 5 of those points. It was 18-16 in favor of Clemson after Q1.
Notre Dame notched its first lead of the game at the start of Q2, 21-20. The Irish got hot from there, as Kylee Watson hit back-to-back buckets and Citron became unstoppable. She finished the first half 4-4 from the floor, 2-2 from 3-point range and 4-4 from the free throw line. She had 14 points, 3 assists and 3 steals at the conclusion of the half.
Defensively, Notre Dame settled in during the second quarter. Clemson went 4-11 from the floor and had 8 turnovers.
The Irish came out hot in the second half as they started off with a 10-2 run, shooting 62.5% from the floor in the third to extend the Notre Dame lead to 47-29. The Irish continued to play suffocating defense, allowing just 9 total points in Q3 as they did in Q2. Interestingly, Notre Dame never scored more than 8 points at a time. But the Irish also didn’t allow Clemson to get back into the game, always countering with an answer. The Tigers played 11 players but just three of them had more than 2 points.
“The front line of our zone was doing a really great job with ball pressure,” Westbeld said. “Our defense ignites us, and our guards ignite us. They did a great job.”
Notre Dame plays its final ACC away game on Sunday, as the Irish head to Boston College (11-17, 3-12) for a noon tipoff.