Irish Abroad: Women’s Basketball in Croatia

From July 30 to August 8, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team is on its foreign tour to Greece and Croatia. It will be 10 days filled with city tours, boat outings, dinners by the sea and a pair of scrimmages against local club teams. Read about the Greek leg of the trip here!

Day 4 —Athens, Greece –> Split, Croatia

12:00 P.M. – After a slow and relaxing morning, the team headed to Athens International Airport for a quick flight to Croatia; it was just under two hours.

6:00 P.M. — After some brief down time and a movement session with the strength and conditioning coach (overlooking the water, of course), everyone headed to Old Town Split for dinner.

Day 5 — Split, Croatia

9:30 A.M. — A decadent breakfast buffet greeted the team in the lobby for breakfast, and the group gathered for a brief film session in one of the conference rooms.

10:00 A.M. — Everyone hopped on the bus for the second boat excursion in three days. However, this one was a bit different than the day sail around the Athenian Riviera.

In groups of nine or 10, team, staff and visitors boarded motorboats that were around 20 feet and had two crew members. The boats on Thursday were used merely as transportation from island to island, zipping across the Adriatic Sea in 20 to 30 minute increments.

11:00 A.M. — The first stop of the day was the village of Maslinica on the island of Solta. It has just just around 200 inhabitants but has a relatively large marina for day-trippers. Everyone hung out on a rocky point at a beach bar, lounging on the couches, taking photos and swimming along the shore.

1:30 P.M. — Located on Krknjasi, Shkoy Beach Club was the next stop of the day. We ate lunch on the beach under the shade of the trees, able to see the famous Blue Lagoon from our tables. A small, black dog greeted us at the dock and continued to run around the beach for the rest of the afternoon.

4:30 P.M. — Our final stop of the day was much like the first, a beach restaurant and deck with an accompanying beach. There were naps. Many naps. Those that weren’t sleeping hung out in the clear blue water, skipping rocks across the surface and soaking up the late afternoon sun.

6:30 P.M. — The boats dropped everyone off in Trogir, a coastal town 15 miles west of Split. We split into groups (pun not intended), and headed to dinner on our own. Like Split, pasta and seafood are the local specialties. The village was bustling with tourists and locals, and a few of us witnessed a religious procession of some sort that wound through the narrow, ancient streets.

Day 6 — Split, Croatia

11:00 A.M. — Everyone was up and eating breakfast by the late morning. Those playing in Friday night’s scrimmage relaxed at the hotel for the day, while staff headed into Old Town Split for a tour of Diocletian’s Palace. The structure, which is around the size of two football fields, was completed in 311 A.D. In addition to Dieoleatian, around 1,000 to 2,000 staffers lived inside of the palace walls. The UNESCO World Heritage Site was used to film several scenes in Game of Thrones.

8:00 P.M. — Notre Dame played its first scrimmage of the trip on Friday night, beating a local club team, 119-65.

Hannah Hidalgo and Sonia Citron led the way scoring-wise, posting 28 and 26 points, respectively. They shined defensively as well. Hidalgo had 9 steals. Citron had 5. The rising junior and member of last year’s All-ACC First Team was the 2022-23 Most Valuable Defensive Player for the Irish, while Hidalgo is already nationally-known for her defensive prowess.

Both Maddy Westbeld and Kylee Watson posted double-doubles. Watson was 8-10 from the floor and finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Westbeld had 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Freshman Emma Risch showed she is the real deal from behind the arc, draining three treys and finishing with 13 points and 8 rebounds.

Day 7 — Split, Croatia –> Dubrovnik, Croatia (via Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina)

9:30 A.M. — Everyone boarded the bus to say goodbye to Split but hello to Dubrovnik. The towns are separated by around 125 miles, depending on the route. We, however, took a little longer…a detour to Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina was on the agenda.

12:00 P.M. — We got very unlucky crossing the border into Bosnia. It took around 90 minutes. All was eventually good and we trudged on through the countryside.

2:30 P.M. — The group arrived in Mostar, which serves as the historical capital of the region of Herzegovina. It’s most famous for the Stari Most (Old Bridge) that towers over the Neretva River. The famed landmark was commissioned in the 16th century, but the original was unfortunately destroyed during the Bosnian War in the mid-1990s. During the immediate years after the war, various nations came together to donate funds to restore the bridge and much of Mostar to its pre-war state.

After a short tour and walk to the Old Bridge, groups split off for lunch, shopping and ice cream.

6:30 P.M. — Quick detour to what has to be the world’s prettiest rest stop!

8:00 P.M. — The team arrived in Dubrovnik and had a movement session with the strength coach before heading to get ready for dinner. Everyone departed for Old Town Dubrovnik shortly after. The area, which is enclosed by nearly 2,000 meters of stone walls and includes six fortresses, was built between the 13th and 17th centuries. The old city joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979.

Day 8 — Dubrovnik, Croatia

10:00 A.M. — It was another “rest day” for the team, who stayed at the hotel to prepare for the game. The morning was sunny, but the rain rolled in during the early afternoon. It was perfect napping weather.

6:00 P.M. — The Irish played their final scrimmage of the trip on Sunday evening. A team from Montenegro traveled into the city, and Notre Dame won 137-46.

Two newcomers stole the show for Karen and Kevin Keyes Family Head Coach Niele Ivey. Pepperdine graduate transfer Becky Obinma had 22 points and 22 rebounds.

Freshman Emma Risch shot the lights out from behind the arc, going 4-5 in the first half. She finished with 20 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.

While Obinma and Risch lead the squad, it was a team effort. Seven players finished in double-figures, and all eight women who played had at least 8 points. The team shot 55.4 percent from the floor and amassed 92 points in the paint using a major size advantage. Defensively, Notre Dame totaled 18 steals, including 5 from Sonia Citron. She had 5 additional steals on Friday in the first game.