NOTRE DAME, Ind. – It was a difference of one quarter for the Notre Dame women’s basketball team against Boston College Thursday night inside Purcell Pavilion. A one-possession game at the half, the Eagles (9-6, 2-2) outscored the Irish (6-10, 1-3) 26-14 in the third and the home team just couldn’t dig itself out of the hole, falling 75-65.
Destinee Walker led all players with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting, marking her second straight game with 20+ and fourth overall on the year. Sam Brunelle nearly tallied a double-double with 15 points and eight boards. Next, Katlyn Gilbert logged 11 points, while Anaya Peoples added 10 points, rounding out the Irish in double figures.
“The third quarter just killed us. We had trouble scoring, and the rebounding was a problem,” Karen & Kevin Keyes Family Head Coach Muffet McGraw said. “We’ve lost our confidence and we need to figure out where to go from here. We have enough. We can’t get discouraged when we can’t score.”
How It Happened
Notre Dame started 7-of-10 from the field, which featured back-to-back three-point plays by Walker, as the Irish captured a 16-11 lead at the 4:36 mark. The Irish finished the quarter 9-of-18 from the floor, but tied with the Eagles at 22-all. Walker led all players in the period with eight points.
The back-and-forth trend continued in the second, as the game featured eight ties and four lead changes by halftime. In fact, neither side had recorded a run greater than five until Boston College tallied seven straight from 2:07-0:48 in the second.
Brunelle secured a layup with 27 seconds left to bring the score to 37-34 Eagles at the half. The Irish scored 24 of its 34 points in the paint in the first half.
Boston College got hot offensively in the third, outscoring Notre Dame 26-14 on 8-of-15 shooting, compared to the Irish’s 5-of-14.
Trailing by as much as 17 with 1:08 left in the third, the Irish battled back in the fourth, as a Brunelle three-pointer capped a 7-0 run and cut the deficit to single digits at 69-60 with 5:53 remaining. Yet, Boston College stymied the flurry to hold on to the 75-65 win.
A big difference maker came on the boards, where Boston College out-rebounded Notre Dame, 45-34, which included 20 offensive rebounds that were turned into 24 second chance points.
Notes
- Tonight marked the 30th all-time meeting between Notre Dame and Boston College. The Eagles broke Notre Dame’s 15-game win streak against them. Notre Dame still leads 24-6.
- Sniezek took a charge tonight marking her 19th on the season and ninth straight game.
- Walker logged her fifth consecutive double-digit scoring performance and second straight 20+ point effort. Walker scored 21 points marking her team leading fourth 20+ scoring performance on the year.
- Gilbert tallied her 14th double-digit scoring effort on the year with 11 points.
- Sniezek dished out eight assists tonight and has now recorded 34 assists over the last four games.
- Brunelle recorded her 12th game in double figures with 15 points.
Up Next
The Irish remain at home to host No. 9 N.C. State on Sunday, Jan. 12. Tip is slated for 4 p.m. ET, airing live on the ACC Network.
–ND–