It was truly a team effort across the board. Hannah Hidalgo led the pack with 19 points, and Sonia Citron had 15 with 7 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals and a block. Maddy Westbeld also went 4-5 from the field and 2-3 from the floor. Liatu King added 11 rebounds, while Olivia Miles and Kate Koval had 7 boards each in addition to Citron.
Both teams were hot out of the gate, with Duke going 5-6 from the floor and Notre Dame 4-5. Westbeld hit a triple to start, and Miles followed it with her own trey from near the logo. The teams cooled off from there, finishing the quarter 3-9 and 2-7 from the field, respectively. Duke had a 19-16 lead after 10. Duke guard Taina Mair led all scorers with 9 points and a 4-4 showing. The Blue Devils also outscored Notre Dame 7-0 in points off turnovers.
The second quarter provided the defensive show everyone thought would happen. Notre Dame outscored Duke 13-8 and neither team shot over 30 percent. Of the 13 points, 5 came at the charity stripe and 5 total came from Citron. There were five lead changes and nine ties in Q2, but the Irish took a 29-27 lead into the locker room. Notre Dame still has not trailed at halftime this season.
Citron took over out of the locker room, too. She scored Notre Dame’s first 6 points of the half and had a nasty block on a 3-point attempt by Duke’s Ashlon Jackson. Notre Dame went on an 11-0 run powered by 3 Citron steals and a King defensive rebound that led to 8 fast break points over 2:18.
Notre Dame stretched the lead as high as 18 in the third quarter on a 17-1 run and 16 of the 21 points scored came in the paint. Citron, Hidalgo, Koval and Miles each hit a pair of buckets, and the freshman Koval had 3 boards and 4 points in the frame off the bench. Duke did not score from the floor until 6 minutes into the half.
The Irish had a 15-point lead with one quarter to go, 50-35. Notre Dame had 33 rebounds after three quarters, over Duke’s surrendered season average per game of 31.7.
The Irish held it down in a final quarter that ended 14-14 to give Notre Dame a 15-point win.
Notre Dame heads back on the road this week to face Miami (13-12, 3-11) and No. 13 NC State (20-5, 12-2) on Thursday and Sunday, respectively.