SYRACUSE, N.Y. — It was a tale of two halves on Sunday for No. 10 Notre Dame (7-2, 1-0), as the Irish downed Syracuse (4-6, 0-1) on the road, 93-62. Notre Dame was up by just 7 points at the break but outscored the Orange 57-33 in the second half.
“This was a statement win in the ACC,” Karen and Kevin Keyes Family Head Coach Niele Ivey said after the game. “This is a tough place to play. I thought our second half response was a lot better after we started slow.
“I think we’ve learned a lot this season, and I’ve learned what this group needs, so I’ve tried to make sure practice and our preparation is preparing us for short turnarounds like today.”
It was an extremely balanced effort from the whole group with multiple milestones, including Hannah Hidalgo notching her 1,000th career point just 44 games into her career. That torched the previous record of 60 games held by Beth Morgan in the mid-1990s.
“It’s truly a blessing to be able to reach that goal considering all of the guards like Arike [Ogunbowale], Skylar [Diggins-Smith], Jewell [Loyd] that have come through this program,” Hidalgo said. “I’m honored to have this accolade.”
Additionally, for the first time since the 2022 NCAA Tournament, Notre Dame had three players with at least 20 points: Sonia Citron (25), Hidalgo (24) and Olivia Miles (20). For the first time since 2017, three players had double-digit rebounds: Liatu King (12), Citron (11), Miles (10) and Hidalgo, and it was the first time since the 2019 Final Four that three players had double-doubles: Citron, Miles and Hidalgo.
As far as game flows go, outside of Citron’s early defense — 3 boards and 2 blocks — Notre Dame had a sleepy start with 7 turnovers before the media break. The Irish struggled with turnovers for the remainder of the quarter, finishing with 9 in a back-and-forth first 10 minutes that had four ties and seven lead changes.
Notre Dame led 21-20 after a quarter after Hidalgo put up a diving layup off the glass at the buzzer, her second consecutive game with a made bucket at the final moment. Miles led Notre Dame at the quarter break with 8 points.
Syracuse went scoreless in Q2 from 9:01 to 3:53 while Notre Dame went on an 8-0 run before Syracuse’s Sophie Burrows drained a deep shot to make it 31-27 in favor of the visitors. Despite shooting just 30 percent in the second quarter, Notre Dame ended the half on a 13-5 run, taking a 36-29 lead into the locker room.
Miles led all scorers with 13 points, and Citron had 7 boards including a pair on the offensive end of the floor.
An early layup from Hidalgo and deep shot from Citron opened the second half, and Notre Dame put together a 20-4 run to take a 65-42 advantage into the final quarter after outscoring the Orange 29-13 in Q3.
Notre Dame added 28 additional points in the final frame going 10-20 from the floor and 6-6 from the free throw line. Citron finished as the leading scorer with a season-high 25 points, while King had a career-high 6 steals. Three different players — Citron, King and Kate Koval — had a pair of blocks.
Notre Dame takes the floor next on Thursday, as the Irish host No. 2 UConn for a marquee matchup on ESPN. The game begins at 7 p.m.