DULUTH, Ga – The Fighting Irish fell in heartbreaking fashion to top-seeded Duke in the semifinals of the ACC Championship by a score of 65-63 on Saturday afternoon inside Gas South Arena.
The loss ends Notre Dame’s seven-game winning streak and moves its record to 22-10 on the season.
Hidalgo turned in another incredible performance, scoring a game-high 24 points while adding eight rebounds, four steals and two assists.
Iyana Moore finished with 14 points and Vanessa de Jesus recorded 10 to help lead the Irish offense.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Blue Devils built an early double-digit lead, scoring the first 10 points of the contest over the first four minutes of play.
Trailing 15-2 with 3:58 remaining in the first quarter, the Irish offense came to life, scoring the next nine points to cut the deficit to four at 15-11. Duke scored the final bucket just before the buzzer to take a 17-11 after the opening 10 minutes of action.
Moore kept Notre Dame within striking distance in the first quarter, scoring nine of the team’s 11 points on 2-of-4 shooting from the floor and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
The Irish scored the first four points of the second quarter off a layup from Cassandre Prosper and a jumper from Hidalgo to claw back within two at 17-15.
The score moved to 27-23 in favor of Duke with 3:12 left in the half before the Blue Devils scored six straight to push its lead back up to 10. Hidalgo answered with five straight points of her own to cut the lead in half at 36-31. Duke then scored the final basket of the half to give it a 38-31 advantage heading into the halftime break.
Hidalgo was exceptional in the second quarter, scoring 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting to keep Notre Dame within reach.
The two teams exchanged jumpers to open the third quarter and then Notre Dame reeled off eight points to take its first lead of the game at 41-40. The run featured back-to-back threes from Vanessa de Jesus and KK Bransford.
Duke answered with the next five points before the Irish scored five of their own to make the score 46-45 in favor of Notre Dame with 1:33 left in the third quarter. Hidalgo found Gisela Sanchez open under the basket in the final 30 seconds for a layup to take a 49-46 lead into the final 10 minutes of regulation.
The Blue Devils scored 11 of the first 15 points of the fourth frame to take a four-point lead at 57-53 with 6 minutes to play. Moore answered with her second triple of the afternoon to trim the lead to one on the ensuing possession.
The two sides went shot for shot over the next three minutes of play, with each team scoring seven points to move the score to 64-63 in Duke’s favor with 1:10 remaining. Hidalgo scored all seven of Notre Dame’s points in the stretch.
A free throw pushed Duke’s lead back up to two with less than a minute to play. The Irish had three looks to tie or take the lead in the final seconds but were unable to convert as the Blue Devils escaped with the 65-63 win.
UP NEXT
The Irish now wait to find out their path in the NCAA Tournament when the selection committee reveals the bracket during the Selection Show on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 15.