Dec. 11, 2014
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Inside The Game: #5/4 Notre Dame 94, #25 DePaul 93 (OT)
December 10, 2014 – Chicago, Illinois (McGrath-Phillips Arena)
It Was Over When: The final horn sounded in overtime. In a thriller that featured six ties, 17 lead changes and neither team leading by more than eight points at any stage, it took two free throws from junior All-American guard Jewell Loyd with 5.3 seconds left in overtime, and a missed runner in the lane by DePaul’s Brittany Hrynko with less than one second left for Notre Dame to pull out the victory.
Game Ball Goes To: Who else? Junior All-America guard Jewell Loyd tied Ruth Riley’s school record with 41 points, including seven in overtime and the game-winning foul shots with 5.3 seconds remaining in overtime. For good measure, Loyd grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds (one off her career best) to collect her second double-double of the season and eighth of her career.
Unsung Hero: Senior guard Madison Cable made her fourth career start (and first since Feb. 17, 2013, at Marquette) and responded brilliantly with her first career double-double, logging 20 points and 11 rebounds–just off her career highs in both categories (21 points vs. UCLA on Dec. 7, 2013; 13 rebounds vs. Virginia Tech on Jan. 30, 2014). Not bad for someone who played a good part of the second half and overtime with severe cramping in her calves.
Unofficial Play of the Game: Sophomore forward Taya Reimer snared the last of her season-high 11 rebounds on Hrynko’s missed free throw with 11.8 seconds left in overtime. Reimer then passed ahead to Loyd, who attacked the rim and drew a foul on DePaul’s Chanise Jenkins with 5.3 seconds to play, resulting in two free throw attempts that Loyd calmly sank to give Notre Dame the victory.
Stat Of The Game: Notre Dame had three players grab double-figure rebounds in the same game for the first time since Dec. 21, 1995, at Michigan State, when Katryna Gaither (14), current Fighting Irish associate coach Beth Cunningham (11) and Carey Poor (10) pulled off that feat in an 87-83 overtime loss.
Additional Notes: Notre Dame extends its school-record road winning streak to 28 games, the longest active run in the country and third-longest in NCAA Division I history, surpassing Stanford’s 27-game streak from 2011-12 through 2013-14 … the Fighting Irish are 3-1 against ranked opponents this season, with all three wins coming away from Purcell Pavilion (at #15/17 Michigan State and #25 DePaul; home but off-site in Fort Wayne, Indiana, vs. #15/10 Maryland) … Notre Dame is 44-7 against ranked opponents in the past four seasons … Notre Dame was playing its first overtime game since March 4, 2013, when the Fighting Irish defeated third-ranked Connecticut, 96-87 in triple overtime at Purcell Pavilion … Notre Dame has won its last five overtime games since an 86-83 double-overtime loss to 15th-ranked UCLA on Nov. 18, 2010 (three of the four previous OT wins in this current streak came against UConn, the other being a 75-71 victory at South Florida on Jan. 8, 2013 — the program’s most recent overtime road win) … Wednesday’s 187 combined points tied for the seventh-most total points in a Notre Dame game, and most since Jan. 19, 2008, when the Fighting Irish posted a 104-86 win at Georgetown … Notre Dame’s 94 points tied for the ninth-most in a road game in program history and most since Jan. 16, 2014, when the Fighting Irish earned a 109-66 win at Pittsburgh … Notre Dame had three players record double-doubles in the same game for the first time since Dec. 8, 2012, against Utah State at Purcell Pavilion, when current Fighting Irish operations specialist Natalie Achonwa (23 points/12 rebounds), current senior forward/tri-captain Markisha Wright (14 points/11 rebounds) and former four-time All-America guard Skylar Diggins (12 points/10 assists) hit the mark … junior All-America guard Jewell Loyd tied the school record for points in a game (Ruth Riley – 41 at Providence on Jan. 30, 1999) and became the first player in school history with back-to-back 30-point games (Loyd tied her then-career high with 31 points on Dec. 6 against third-ranked UConn) … in her last three games, all against Top 25 opponents, Loyd is averaging 33.0 points per game … Loyd’s 41 points also tied for 15th on the Atlantic Coast Conference single-game scoring list, and most by an ACC player in one game since Dec. 29, 2013, when Wake Forest’s Chelsea Douglas scored 48 points against Florida International … Loyd is the first Fighting Irish player with three consecutive 25-point games since Charel Allen did so from Feb. 11-17, 2007, against DePaul (25), at Villanova (25) and at Providence (26) … Loyd posted her fifth career 30-point game, tying Riley and current associate coach Beth Cunningham for second in program history, one behind Katryna Gaither’s six career 30-point games from 1993-97 … Loyd’s 15 free-throws and 20 free-throw attempts both tied for third-most foul shots made and attempted in one game in program history, and most since Natalie Novosel tied the school record with 18 made free-throws (on 20 attempts) on March 20, 2012, against California in the second round of the NCAA Championship at Purcell Pavilion … Loyd is the first Notre Dame player to record eight 20-point games in her first 10 outings of a season (Gaither had seven in 10 games in 1996-97) … senior guard Madison Cable recorded her first career double-double and second career 20-point game … sophomore forward Taya Reimer logged her first double-double of the season and fourth of her career … Notre Dame has won six consecutive games against DePaul, the longest winning streak by either team in the 40-game series (DePaul won five in a row from 1988-90) … Wednesday marked the first time Notre Dame and DePaul played an overtime game in their 40-game series that dates back to 1979 … the Fighting Irish now lead the all-time series with the Blue Demons, 21-19, with this marking the fourth game between the schools decided by one point and the 10th series game decided by one possession (three points or fewer) … only once in the series has either team scored more points than both teams tallied Wednesday — DePaul registered a 96-87 win over Notre Dame on Jan. 16, 1995, in Chicago … Notre Dame has won 19 consecutive games against the current (revamped) BIG EAST Conference membership and 10 in a row on the road.
Up Next For The Fighting Irish: Notre Dame comes home to Purcell Pavilion at 1 p.m. (ET) Saturday as it plays host to Michigan. Fans are invited to bring a canned good or other non-perishable food item to the game to donate to the local chapter of St. Vincent DePaul. Saturday’s game will be streamed live on the official Fighting Irish athletics multimedia platform, WatchND, while fans also can follow the matchup on the radio through South Bend’s Pulse FM (96.9/92.1).
— Chris Masters, Associate Athletic Media Relations Director