Dec. 28, 2014
Inside The Game: #4 Notre Dame 82, UCLA 67
December 28, 2014 – Los Angeles, California (Pauley Pavilion)
It Was Over When: Sophomore guard Lindsay Allen came up with a steal and breakaway layup with 4:30 remaining, capping a 7-0 Notre Dame run in a 52-second span after UCLA had cut the Fighting Irish lead to single digits (66-57). The Bruins would get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
Game Ball Goes To: Allen, whose initials mirror the City of Angels where Sunday’s game was played, more than rose to the occasion with a career-high 22 points, matching her previous personal best of 17 points (set 15 days ago at home against Michigan) before Sunday’s game reached halftime. The Mitchellville, Maryland, native connected on a career-high eight of 10 shots, including four of five three-point attempts, to show why, with apologies to legendary songwriter Randy Newman, on Sunday, “We Love L.A.”.
Unsung Hero: Senior guard Madison Cable didn’t quite have the career-high scoring effort she did last year against UCLA (21 points), but the Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, product offered an equally valuable boost from the bench on Sunday, registering nine points, five rebounds and two assists in 28 minutes of action. Cable did the bulk of her damage in the first half, scoring all nine of her points on three of five shooting, making both of her three-point attempts as well.
Unofficial Play of the Game: UCLA was in the midst of one of several mini-second half runs that trimmed Notre Dame’s lead to 63-50 with 7:48 remaining. On the next Fighting Irish possession, junior guard Hannah Huffman drove the right baseline and drew two defenders before whipping a pass through traffic to a wide-open junior guard Michaela Mabrey on the left wing. Mabrey promptly canned the first of her three second-half three-pointers on as many attempts, helping Notre Dame keep UCLA at a comfortable arm’s length the remainder of the evening.
Stat Of The Game: Notre Dame’s .750 three-point percentage tied for the 10th-best single-game mark from distance in school history, and best since a similar nine of 12 (.750) performance at Pittsburgh on Jan. 16, 2014.
Additional Notes: Notre Dame extends its road winning streak to 29 games, tying Baylor (2010-11 through 2013-14) for the second-longest run in NCAA Division I history, one shy of Connecticut’s record 30-game road winning streak from 2007-08 through 2010-11 … Notre Dame tied its season high with nine three-pointers (also at DePaul on Dec. 10), one game after failing to make a trey for the first time in a span of 85 games dating back to the 2012 season opener against No. 19/21 Ohio State … in their last two games against UCLA, the Fighting Irish have made a combined 19 of 29 three-point attempts (.655) … Notre Dame is 9-1 in its last 10 true road games against California schools, dating back to the 1993-94 season … the Fighting Irish are 27-15 (.643) all-time against California teams, including an active six-game winning streak … Notre Dame improves to 28-20 (.583) all-time against current Pac-12 Conference members, having won seven in a row and 25 of its last 32 games against that league … the Fighting Irish earn their third consecutive win over UCLA and fifth in the last six meetings against the Bruins, trimming UCLA’s series lead over Notre Dame to 9-7 … the Fighting Irish also have won the past three times they have visited Pauley Pavilion after not winning on their first five trips to the legendary arena … Notre Dame has won its last 12 games coming back from the Christmas holiday break, improving to 27-11 (.711) all-time in post-Christmas games, including a 21-7 (.750) record in the Muffet McGraw era (1987-88 to present) … Allen is the fifth different Fighting Irish player to score 20 points in a game this season … freshman forward Brianna Turner posted her first career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 16 rebounds (previous high was nine vs. UMass Lowell in her college debut on Nov. 14); Turner also tied her career best with five blocks for the second consecutive game, securing her first career “5-5-5” game … junior guard Jewell Loyd posted her fourth “5-5-5” game of the season (eighth of her career) with 12 points, seven rebounds and a career-high seven assists (previous best was six assists on two occasions against Maryland – Jan. 27, 2014, and Dec. 3, 2014) … Loyd also scored in double figures for the 56th consecutive game, extending the second-longest streak in school history.
Up Next For The Fighting Irish: Notre Dame returns home to tip off its second season in the Atlantic Coast Conference at 7 p.m. (ET) Friday, playing host to Florida State at Purcell Pavilion. The game will be streamed live and free of charge worldwide online through the official Notre Dame athletics multimedia platform, WatchND (watchnd.tv), while radio coverage will be available in South Bend on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1).
— Chris Masters, Associate Athletic Media Relations Director