Dec. 9, 2015

Recap | Box Score | Quotes | USATSI Photo Gallery

By Chris Masters

Inside The Game: #3 Notre Dame 95, #18/17 DePaul 90
Dec. 9, 2015 – Notre Dame, Ind. (Purcell Pavilion)

It Was Over When: Graduate student guard Madison Cable grabbed her 10th rebound of the night off a missed layup by DePaul’s Chanise Jenkins with 19 seconds remaining and Notre Dame holding on to a 95-90 lead. Cable was fouled on the rebound, and although she missed both of her foul shots (a rarity for a player who was connecting at a .909 clip from the line entering the contest), the Fighting Irish forced an errant DePaul three-point try on the next possession and ran out the clock.

Game Ball Goes To: Sophomore guard Mychal Johnson, who came off the bench to score a season-high 12 points on near-perfect shooting (4-4 FG, 1-1 3FG, 3-4 FT) in a career-high 28 minutes.

Unsung Hero: Although her minutes were limited as she works her way back from an Achilles injury, junior forward/tri-captain Taya Reimer contributed four points and three rebounds (including the carom off the final DePaul miss in the closing seconds with Notre Dame leading by five) in her first game action since Nov. 28 against UCLA at the Junkanoo Jam in Freeport, Bahamas.

Unofficial Play of the Game: Freshman guard Arike Ogunbowale tied her career high with 16 points, but it was her first-quarter assist that had the Fighting Irish fans out of their seats. Coming up the floor on the fast break with 55 seconds left in the quarter, Ogunbowale crossed into the lane, then delivered a precision behind-the-back pass to junior guard/tri-captain Lindsay Allen on the right wing and Allen drove in for a layup to give Notre Dame a 32-25 lead.

Stat Of The Game: Notre Dame’s .765 field-goal percentage in the first half was the seventh-best mark for a single half (and third-best in the first half) of any game in Fighting Irish women’s basketball history. It was the best shooting half for Notre Dame since Dec. 30, 2011, when the Fighting Irish made 80 percent of their shots (24-of-30) in the first half of a 128-42 win at Mercer.

Additional Notes: Notre Dame has won 22 consecutive games decided by single digits and/or in overtime, including three of the past four games … the Fighting Irish are 41-6 (.872) against ranked opponents in the past four years … Notre Dame’s 95 points were the most it has scored against a Top 25 opponent since Feb. 27, 2014, when it defeated No. 14/11 North Carolina, 100-75 at Purcell Pavilion … the 185 combined points tied for the 10th-most in a Notre Dame game in program history and most since last year’s regular-season game at DePaul (which the Fighting Irish won 94-93 in overtime) … this was the highest scoring regulation game (in terms of combined points) for Notre Dame since Jan. 19, 2008, when it earned a 104-86 win at Georgetown, highest at Purcell Pavilion since Jan. 7, 1999 (a 111-90 win over West Virginia, the school record for combined points in a game), and the highest against a ranked opponent since Dec. 4, 1999 (a 99-86 win over No. 9/12 North Carolina at the Wachovia Women’s Basketball Invitational in Richmond, Virginia … Notre Dame’s 65 first-half points tied for the fourth-most by the Fighting Irish in any half in school history (third-most in the first half of any game) and most since they scored 66 points in the first half against Utah State on Dec. 8, 2012 … Notre Dame’s 34 first-quarter points were a season high for the Fighting Irish in any quarter (they had 32 in the first quarter at Valparaiso on Nov. 23) … DePaul’s 51 second-half points marked the first time a Notre Dame opponent scored more than 50 points in a single half since Nov. 26, 2009, when San Diego State had 50 points in an 84-79 Fighting Irish win at the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands … Notre Dame’s 11 three-point field-goals tied its Purcell Pavilion record set twice before (most recently on Jan. 23, 1999, against St. John’s) … DePaul’s 12 three-point field-goals made and 27 attempted both were one shy of the opponent arena records in those categories — 13 made on two occasions (the last by Boston College on Jan. 11, 2015) and 28 attempted by Army West Point on Nov. 26, 2001 … DePaul’s 16-of-16 free-throw performance was the best by a visiting team (and the first perfect shooting night from the line with a minimum of 10 attempts) in Purcell Pavilion history — the closest any opponent had previously come to perfection at the stripe on Notre Dame’s home floor was a .963 mark (26-of-27) by Connecticut on Jan. 8, 2011 (the overall Fighting Irish opponent record for free-throw percentage is 20-of-20 at Arizona on Nov. 24, 2001) … Notre Dame shot a season-best .621 from the field, edging out its .614 mark at Valparaiso on Nov. 23 … the Fighting Irish have won a series-long eight in a row against DePaul and are 23-19 all-time against their Midwest rivals (13-6 at Purcell Pavilion) … Notre Dame’s 95 points were its highest ever total in the DePaul series and one off the series high set by the Blue Demons in their 96-87 win over the Fighting Irish on Jan. 16, 1995, in Chicago … this marked the eighth time in the past 14 series meetings (and 10 of the past 18) between Notre Dame and DePaul that were decided by single digits … the Fighting Irish continue to show resilience in bouncing back from a double-digit loss, winning their 14th consecutive game in such a circumstance while improving to 67-14 (.827) since 1995-96 in their first game after a loss by 10 or more points … graduate student guard Madison Cable collected her third career double-double and second of the season, both against ranked opponents (she had a career-high 25 points and season-best 11 rebounds exactly one week ago in a 75-72 win over No. 10/12 Ohio State at Purcell Pavilion) … Cable also tied her career high with five three-pointers, having first done so last week against Ohio State (the arena record for triples in one game is six) … freshman guard Arike Ogunbowale tied her career high with 16 points, having first reached that total on Nov. 23 at Valparaiso … junior guard/tri-captain Lindsay Allen handed out eight assists (with just one turnover) for the third time this year and first since she had a season-high nine assists on Nov. 18 vs. Toledo — Allen also delivered her 400th career assist on Wednesday night vs. DePaul (she now has 407 assists, good for eighth on the Fighting Irish career chart) … freshman guard Marina Mabrey made her first college start and responded with 16 points and five assists, the latter being her second-highest total of the season (she had a personal-best 10 assists as part of her triple-double on Nov. 23 at Valparaiso) … sophomore guard Mychal Johnson played a career-high 28 minutes on Wednesday (previous was 24 against Boston College on Jan. 11, 2015, at Purcell Pavilion) and logged her first double-digit scoring game since she had 13 on that same January afternoon against BC.

Up Next For The Fighting Irish: Notre Dame makes its first visit to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex since 1984 when the Fighting Irish travel to TCU on Saturday for a noon ET (11 a.m. CT) tipoff at the University Recreation Center. The game will be televised live on Fox Sports Net (check local listings to see if the FSN affiliate in your area will carry the game), 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).