ROME — The No. 13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-0) opened their season with a 99-75 victory against the Villanova Wildcats (0-1) in a historic one-of-a-kind game in Italy on Sunday.
Three-time All-American Hannah Hidalgo led all players with 32 points on 11-19 shooting from the floor, along with seven rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
Sophomore Leah Macy also had herself a day in her first official game for the Irish. The forward poured in 27 points on an impressive 11-14 shooting performance and grabbed 14 rebounds, including 15 points in the fourth quarter. Macy joins Brianna Turner as the only Irish players to post a 27-point, 14-rebound game since 1999.
Fifth-year and Princeton transfer Madison St. Rose recorded 17 points in her debut with Notre Dame, followed by freshman Jenica Lewis with 11 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
As for game flow, Hidalgo had the first two buckets of the game for the Irish before a balanced scoring attack emerged. Macy followed with a layup, St. Rose with a free throw and Lewis with a triple. All six players who played during the first quarter recorded a rebound, and Hidalgo, Macy and St. Rose each nabbed a steal.
Hidalgo's unrelenting ball pressure was disrupting Villanova from the start and allowed the Irish to post an 8-0 run toward the end of the first frame. The Wildcats countered with a layup at the buzzer, and the game was 20-13 in favor of the Irish after one quarter.
The hot hand for Hidalgo continued, opening the quarter with back-to-back treys to extend the Irish lead to 26-13 and force the Wildcats' timeout.
The two squads would trade buckets until a St. Rose triple sparked a 5-0 run to make it a 16-point Irish lead. While the two teams exchanged buckets to keep it within 16, the Irish started to pull away in the closing minutes of the half.
The trio of St. Rose, Macy, and Hidalgo would score seven straight points for the Irish over the course of 1:17 to make it a 45-24 ballgame, but Villanova would score one last basket to close out the half.
Leading 45-26 at halftime, Hidalgo led all players with 18 points on 6-10 shooting in the first 20 minutes of play. St. Rose followed with 11 points on 4-6 for the Irish.
While Villanova opened the second half with a 6-2 run in the first minute, Notre Dame countered with four straight points from Macy. This would lead to an 8-3 run in response as Jacy Abii and St. Rose chipped in a pair of finishes at the rim to give the Irish largest lead of the night thus far as they led by 20 at 55-35.
The Irish and Wildcats were going basket-for-basket for the next five minutes as Notre Dame never led by more than 20 and never fewer than 17 points. That was the case until Lewis knocked down her third triple of the night for a 21-point lead to make it 70-49.
With a 70-53 lead to start the fourth quarter, it was a scoring frenzy from Macy and Hidalgo in the final 10 minutes of action. The duo combined for 25 of Notre Dame’s 29 points as the Irish outscored Villanova 29-22 in the final period.
Macy poured in 15, Hidalgo followed with 10, and Abii chipped in the additional four points in the fourth quarter.
In total, five Irish players finished with at least 11 points, including rookies Lewis (11) and Abii (10). Abii also used her size, notching eight boards and three blocks.
Up next, Notre Dame hosts Stonehill for its home opener on Nov. 6. The game tips off at 7 p.m. ET.