Jan. 14, 2016
Recap | Box Score | USATSI Gallery 
By Chris Masters
Inside The Game: #3 Notre Dame 63, Boston College 50
Jan. 14, 2016 – Chestnut Hill, Mass. (Conte Forum)
It Was Over When: Graduate student guard Madison Cable drilled a three-pointer from the right wing in transition with 4:12 remaining to give Notre Dame a 61-45 lead. The triple capped a 7-0 Fighting Irish run after Boston College had briefly pulled within single digits and Notre Dame kept the Eagles at arm’s length the rest of the evening.
Game Ball Goes To: Freshman guard Marina Mabrey, who once again provided a spark off the bench with a team-high 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting (including 2-of-2 three-pointers) in 18 minutes. Mabrey also came up with a game-high three steals, the seventh time this season she has recorded at least three steals in a game.
Unsung Hero: Sophomore forward Kathryn Westbeld had eight points, four rebounds and three assists on Thursday, and made all four of her shots, with all four coming at key times during the game. Westbeld delivered her most important biggest basket with 7:12 remaining in the fourth quarter, a left-elbow jumper 14 seconds after BC had closed within 54-45 and helped ignite Notre Dame’s game-clinching 7-0 run during the next three minutes.
Unofficial Play of the Game: In the closing seconds of the first half, Mabrey had a hand in the key play at both ends, first coming up with a rebound of Martina Mosetti’s missed jumper. Mabrey then milked the clock down to 11 seconds before taking a kick-out pass from sophomore forward Brianna Turner on the left wing and burying a three-pointer to punctuate a 10-0 run Notre Dame to end the half (extended to 18-2 early in the third quarter) and send the Fighting Irish to the locker room with a 32-20 lead.
Stat Of The Game: In 11 games with Turner in the lineup this season, Notre Dame is holding opponents to 55.3 points per game and eight of those 11 opponents have failed to score 60 points against the Fighting Irish, including the last four.
Additional Notes: Notre Dame is off to a 16-1 start for the fourth time in five seasons and sixth time in program history (also 2000-01, 2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14) ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame played the 1,200th game in the program’s 39-year history on Thursday, becoming the 109th school in NCAA history across all classifications (91st among current Division I schools) to reach that milestone ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish move to 43-1 all-time against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents (36-1 regular season, 7-0 postseason), and have won 80 of their last 84 games against league foes, dating back to the 2010-11 season and their membership in the BIG EAST Conference ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame has won seven in a row against Boston College and improves to 17-5 all-time against the Eagles (7-4 in Chestnut Hill) ââ’¬¦ this was the closest margin of victory for Notre Dame over BC during its current seven-game series winning streak and the lowest scoring game in the series since Feb. 15, 2005, when the Fighting Irish posted a 54-47 victory at Conte Forum ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame has won 52 of its last 54 regular season road games ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish bench outscored its opposite number for the 16th time in 17 contests this season ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame shot better than 50 percent from the three-point line for the sixth time this year and topped 40 percent from beyond the arc for the 13th time ââ’¬¦ this marked the third time this year the Fighting Irish held their opponent to one double-digit scorer or less (none by Toledo on Nov. 18 and one by Valparaiso on Nov. 23) ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame is 361-19 (.950) since the start of the 2000-01 season when it leads at halftime, including an active 123-game winning streak in such games ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish are 320-15 (.955) since 1995-96 when they hold their opponent to fewer than 60 points, including an active 114-game winning streak in such games ââ’¬¦ junior guard/captain Lindsay Allen started her 94th consecutive game, one behind Katryna Gaither (1994-97) for the second-longest streak of consecutive starts in program history (and three behind record holder Jacqueline Batteast’s mark of 97 from 2002-05) ââ’¬¦ Turner grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds and recorded at least two blocks for the sixth consecutive game.
Up Next For The Fighting Irish: Notre Dame returns to Purcell Pavilion to begin a three-game homestand at 7 p.m. (ET) Monday when it steps out of Atlantic Coast Conference play to take on No. 13/15 Tennessee. The game will be televised live on ESPN2 as part of its Big Monday package, in addition to airing on ESPN3 and WatchESPN. Radio coverage will be available in South Bend on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) and free of charge around the world through the official Notre Dame athletics online multimedia platform, WatchND (watchnd.tv).
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Chris Masters, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2001 and coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame women’s basketball and women’s golf programs. A native of San Francisco, California, Masters is a 1996 graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, earned his master’s degree from Kansas State University in 1998, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).