PITTSBURGH — Battling through foul trouble in their second ACC game of the season, No. 16 Notre Dame (10-2, 1-1) was able to pull out a 71-66 win over Pittsburgh (6-9, 0-2) on Thursday night. In usual Hannah Hidalgo fashion, the freshman posted an impressive 24 points, while dishing out 5 assists and grabbing 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
“We found a way to win,” Karen and Kevin Keyes Family Head Coach Niele Ivey said. “It’s super tough to play in this league. There are a lot of things that we can learn from, but down the stretch, when we needed to get defensive stops, we got them.”
Ivey’s message to her team this week involved a fast start, and the group answered that call. Westbeld eurostepped her way into a basket just 6 seconds into the game. The Irish scored 12 before Pitt hit a shot, including a 2-2 showing from deep from Hidalgo. The 3s continued to fly; Notre Dame took nine of them in Q1. The Irish entered the game averaging 15.2 a game, which is tied for 304th nationally. Of note, Anna DeWolfe’s first trey of the game took her from 1,997 to 2,000 career points. Just 14 active D1 players entered Thursday with 2,000+ points.
Notre Dame led by as much as 20 in the first frame, but foul trouble continues to be an issue. Five players picked up a foul in the first quarter. The Irish were up 28-12 after 10 minutes.
The second quarter was a different story. Pitt started the quarter on a 15-0 run (2 points carried over from Q1), during which Notre Dame was called for 4 fouls. It was the first time Notre Dame has allowed a run of 10 or more since the opener against South Carolina.
While the Irish were fouling, the Panthers were not. Pittsburgh had just five personals through the first half, and Notre Dame attempted just a pair of free throws. Becky Obinma went to the line with 5:36 left in the second for her first charity stripe shots of the year. More than a minute later (4:07), Westbeld hit Notre Dame’s first field goal of the second quarter.
Pitt won that frame 18-11, but Notre Dame took a 39-30 lead into the locker room. Westbeld led the group with 15 points and 4 boards. Pitt’s leading scorer Liatu King had 15 and 4 of her own.
The Irish entered the game outscoring opponents by 107 points out of the break, the highest point differential of any quarter. That was not the case on Thursday. The Irish shot just 4-16 from the floor in the quarter. No one had more than 2 points, and Hidalgo scored her first points since the first quarter. It was 48-47, advantage home team, heading into the final quarter.
Enter Kylee Watson and KK Bransford, who had been extremely quiet to that point. Between them and Hidalgo, the Irish went 10-11 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Hidalgo had 11 points in the frame, while Watson and Bransford had 5 each. Notre Dame took the lead at 7:46. The Irish kept it.
Five players finished with at least 4 fouls. Injuries already have Notre Dame with limited players, but the fouls nearly created a dire situation.
“It was a focus of ours — they had to defend without fouling,” Ivey said. “I’ve never been in that situation, but I’m just happy we only had one [player] foul out.”
Nat Marshall fouled out in the third quarter.
Up next, Notre Dame has a three-game homestand beginning with North Carolina. The Tar Heels will visit on Sunday after putting up a 24-point win over No. 25 Syracuse on Thursday night. Sunday’s game tips off on ESPN2 at 5 p.m.