INDIANAPOLIS — That’s a third. This week.
On Tuesday, Notre Dame freshman Hannah Hidalgo earned her third individual award of the week: USBWA Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week. She has already notched her ninth ACC Rookie of the Week honor, and she was also named the Naismith Women’s College Player of the Week on Monday. This is Hidalgo’s third time earning the USBWA Freshman honor (Nov. 21 and Dec. 27).
This week’s flurry of awards comes after Hidalgo’s Saturday night 34-point performance in the 82-67 victory over No. 8 Connecticut in Storrs. She broke the single-game Irish freshman scoring record previously set in 1991 by Michelle Marciniak. It marked the second time this season Hidalgo has posted 30+ points against a top-10 team (South Carolina), and it was her third time in total putting up at least 30. That is also a program record.
In total on the week, Hidalgo averaged 28.5 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists against two ranked opponents.
The freshman leads the nation in steals (97) and steals per game (5.11) and leads the ACC in points per game (24.4) and total points (464), ranking fourth amongst all players nationally.
In addition to the aforementioned honors, Hidalgo has been named ACC Player of the Week twice, AP Basketball Player of the Week once, and she has spots on both the Nancy Lieberman Top 10 (nation’s best point guard) and Wooden Award Midseason Top 25.