Jan. 19, 2017
By Leigh Torbin
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – No. 6/9 Notre Dame women’s basketball hasn’t lost consecutive games since 2010. Senior captain Lindsay Allen was determined not to let that streak reset on her watch. She scored 12 points in the first half alone and the Irish would ride a dominating third quarter to a 80-69 win on Thursday night at the Eagles’ Conte Forum home.
The Irish (17-3, 5-1 ACC) got 21 points from Marina Mabrey and 19 more from Brianna Turner in dropping the Eagles (8-11, 1-5). Arike Ogunbowale scored 10 while Allen complemented her dozen points with six assists, a trio of rebounds and two steals. Ogunbowale and Turner each recorded four steals, both tying their career high.
Irish Play Inspired Third Quarter
Notre Dame took some significant momentum, and an eight-point lead, into the locker room at halftime when Lindsay Allen connected on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. The Irish charged back onto the court and scored the second half’s first eight points, making it an 11-0 run combining Allen’s triple. Overall, Notre Dame would start the penultimate quarter on a 24-5 run over the first 6:12 to amass a 27-point lead at 67-40.
Marina Mabrey dominated the third quarter, scoring 15 points on a 5-for-5 mark from the field, including 3-for-3 from behind the arc, and sinking both of her free throws. Brianna Turner also scored nine points in the decisive quarter.
Notre Dame connected on 12-of-16 from the floor (75%) in that quarter with nine of the 12 buckets also carrying an assist.
Boley Makes First Start
Freshman Erin Boley made the first start of her young Irish career on Thursday night as she replaced Kathryn Westbeld. Westbeld suffered an ankle injury during practice on Wednesday. Boley wasted little time making an impact as she scored Notre Dame’s first three points of game game, sinking a long-range jumper from the top of the key just 31 seconds into the contest.
Boley played 21 solid minutes on the night, hitting a pair of 3-pointers for six points while chipping in four rebounds and three assists.
Milestone Watch
Lindsay Allen’s scoring tonight give her 1,156 career points, vaulting her over Becca Bruszewski (1,148) and Courtney LaVere (1,150) and into 28th-place in school history. Meanwhile, Brianna Turner’s efforts tonight give her 1,204 career points and move her into 25th place, surpassing Krissi Davis (1,194) and Heidi Bunek (1,202).
Allen picked up her 700th career assist on Marina Mabrey’s 3-pointer just 356 seconds into the third quarter. She is the fourth Notre Dane player and the fifth ACC player to record 700 career assists. Her six on the night give her 702 on her Irish career.
Allen played 29 minutes tonight to give her 3,928 in her career, moving her past Jacqueline Batteast (3,901) and into sixth place in school history. She extended her school record for most career games started to 132.
Up Next
Notre Dame finally closes its stretch of 10 road games out of 12 at noon on Sunday when the Irish face North Carolina at Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill, N.C. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU with Beth Mowins and LaChina Robinson handling the call.
–ND–
Leigh Torbin, athletics communications associate director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2013 and coordinates all media efforts for Notre Dame’s women’s basketball and men’s golf teams. A native of Framingham, Massachusetts, Torbin graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in sports management. He has previously worked full-time on the athletic communications staffs at Vanderbilt, Florida, Connecticut and UCF.