DETROIT – The No. 18 Fighting Irish suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday afternoon, dropping a 93-54 decision against No. 14 Michigan inside Wayne State Fieldhouse.
Three Fighting Irish players finished in double figures on the day. Cassandre Prosper led the team with 17 points. KK Bransford added 15 and Hannah Hidalgo finished with 12.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Wolverines jumped out to an early seven-point advantage at 9-2 before the Irish clawed back to cut it to one at 11-10 with two minutes left in the quarter. Michigan answered back with the final six points of the period to take a 17-10 lead after the opening 10 minutes of play.
The Irish scored the first bucket of the second quarter to cut it to five but Michigan controlled play for the remainder of the stanza, building a 17-point lead at the break with the score 46-29.
Bransford carried the Irish on the offensive end, leading the way with 12 points off 5-of-7 shooting from the floor.
Michigan grew its lead to as many as 24 at 55-31 before Notre Dame responded with an 8-0 run to trim the lead to 16 at 55-39 with just under five minutes left in the quarter. Unfortunately for the Irish, the Wolverines scored 10 of the final 13 points of the frame to make the score 65-42 heading into the final stanza.
The Wolverines outscored the Irish 38-15 in the final 10 minutes of play to come away with a 93-54 victory.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Irish return home to Purcell Pavilion for another ranked rivalry matchup, taking on No. 8 Southern Cal at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 21. The game will air on ESPN.