Feb. 4, 2016

Recap | Box Score | Quotes | USATSI Gallery

By Chris Masters

Inside The Game: #3 Notre Dame 82, North Carolina State 46
Feb. 4, 2016 – Notre Dame, Ind. (Purcell Pavilion)

It Was Over When: Sophomore forward Kathryn Westbeld converted two free throws with 8:06 left in the third quarter, capping an 8-0 run in a span of 1:44 early in the second half to give Notre Dame a 46-27 lead. North Carolina State would not get any closer than 16 points the rest of the night (and that was only on three occasions, all in the ensuing four minutes) while the Fighting Irish led by more than 30 points for the entire fourth quarter.

Game Ball Goes To: Graduate student guard Madison Cable, who scored 13 of Notre Dame’s first 19 points and finished with a career high-tying 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting, along with a 7-of-7 night at the free-throw line. Cable, who had a game-high 18 points on Monday at Duke, matched that total by halftime and nearly went a point-a-minute on Thursday against N.C. State, tallying her 25 points in 27 minutes (only eight in the second half).

Unsung Hero: Starting her school-record 100th consecutive game, junior guard/captain Lindsay Allen continued to run the Fighting Irish offense with a steady hand, delivering 10 points, a game-high eight assists and three steals with only two turnovers. It was the 15th time this season and 61st time in her career that Allen has finished with 0-2 turnovers in a game.

Unofficial Play of the Game: With two minutes to go in the third quarter, Notre Dame got out on the break, led by senior guard/captain Michaela Mabrey, who threw a lob pass for sophomore forward Brianna Turner. However, the pass was a bit high and while Turner was able to grab it, her momentum was carrying her over the baseline. So she turned and deftly found a cutting Cable with a drop pass and Cable converted a double-clutch basket while drawing a foul on N.C. State’s Chelsea Nelson. Following a Wolfpack timeout, Cable completed the old-fashioned three-point play to tie her career scoring high with 25 points.

Stat Of The Game: Prior to this season, Cable had scored in double figures 18 times combined in her three-year career, including two 20-point outings. This season alone, she has 19 double-digit scoring games, including five 20-point contests.

Additional Notes: Notre Dame is off to a 22-1 start for the fourth time in five seasons and the sixth time in school history (also 2000-01, 2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14) ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish tied a school record with their 31st consecutive home conference win, a streak that began on Feb. 14, 2012, with a 66-47 win over then-BIG EAST foe Providence at Purcell Pavilion (Notre Dame also had a 31-game home winning streak in BIG EAST play from Dec. 12, 1998-Feb. 19, 2002) ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish posted their 25th consecutive home win overall, tying the third-longest home winning streak in program history (set from Feb. 1, 2003-Nov. 22, 2004) ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame has held three of its last four opponents to fewer than 50 points, and in 17 games with Turner in the lineup, the Fighting Irish have limited 11 opponents to fewer than 60 points (with three others scoring 61-62 points) ââ’¬¦ the Notre Dame senior class of Cable, Mabrey and guard Hannah Huffman posted its 130th win in the Fighting Irish uniform, tying the Class of 2013 (Skylar Diggins and Kaila Turner) for the third-most victories by a senior class in program history ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame is 48-1 all-time against ACC opponents since joining the conference in 2013-14 (41-1 regular season, 7-0 postseason) ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish held North Carolina State to an opponent season-low .111 three-point percentage ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame is 13-1 this season when it has four or more players score in double figures, including wins in 101 of its last 103 such outings and a 131-6 (.956) record since the start of the 2009-10 season ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish are 5-0 all-time against N.C. State, which was making its first-ever appearance at Purcell Pavilion ââ’¬¦ the 36-point margin of victory was the largest in the abbreviated series, one point more than Notre Dame’s 83-48 win over the Wolfpack in the 2014 ACC Tournament semifinals at Greensboro, North Carolina ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame is 31-2 (.939) all-time against schools from the state of North Carolina, including an active 20-game winning streak and an 11-0 all-time record at Purcell Pavilion ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish have won 28 consecutive games in the month of February and are 123-28 (.815) in February games since 1995-96, including a 69-6 (.920) record at home ââ’¬¦ Westbeld tied her career high with four steals, having first set the mark on March 20, 2015, against Montana in the first round of the NCAA Championship at Purcell Pavilion ââ’¬¦ for the fourth time this season, junior forward Kristina Nelson tied her career high with five rebounds.

Up Next For The Fighting Irish: Notre Dame heads back out on the road Sunday when it travels to Louisville for a 2 p.m. (ET) ACC matinee with the 13th-ranked Cardinals at the KFC Yum! Center. The game will be televised live on ESPN2, ESPN3 and WatchESPN, while 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).

– ND –

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).