HARRISONBURG, Va. – The No. 19 Fighting Irish never trailed in a road victory over James Madison, winning by a final score of 78-65 on Sunday afternoon. The win improves Notre Dame’s record to 8-2 on the season.
Cassandre Prosper continued her impressive run of play, scoring a game-high 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting. Malaya Cowles had her best offensive performance in a Notre Dame uniform, finishing with a season-high 17 points to go along with a team-high five steals. Hannah Hidalgo also finished in double figures, scoring 13 points.
The Fighting Irish won the turnover battle, as the Dukes had 19 to Notre Dame’s 9. The Irish outscored the hosts 21-4 in points off turnovers.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Notre Dame built a 13-point lead over the opening 10 minutes of play, holding a 25-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Irish trio of Prosper, Iyana Moore and Hidalgo combined for 23 of the 25 points. Notre Dame held the hosts to just 25 percent shooting (4-16) in the first frame.
The two sides played a fairly even second quarter, as the Irish managed to outscore the hosts by a slim margin of 15-14 to take a 40-26 lead into the halftime intermission. The Irish turned JMU over six times in the stanza, leading to seven points on the offensive end.
The Irish came out of the break and pushed the lead to as many as 20 with 3:31 left in the third quarter. The hosts responded with a 7-0 run to trim the lead to 56-43 with less than 2 minutes remaining in the frame.
Notre Dame closed the quarter by scoring four of the final six points to take a 60-45 lead into the final 10 minutes of regulation.
JMU opened the fourth quarter by scoring six of the first seven points to cut the Irish lead to single digits at 61-52 to force a Notre Dame timeout. The team responded by scoring the next five points to push the lead back up to 66-52 with 6 minutes remaining in the game.
The Irish never let the Dukes get closer than 12 points for the rest of the game, going on to win by a score of 78-65.
NOTRE DAME STAT OF THE GAME
Prosper’s 24-point performance gives the senior three straight games of 20 or more points. Previously, Prosper had just two 20+ point games in her career. Prosper finished 11-of-16 from the field, setting a career high for most field goals made in a game.
NOTRE DAME NOTES
- The Irish have won at least 8 of their first 10 games to start the year for the fifth straight season.
- Notre Dame has recorded double-digit steals in 9-of-10 games this season.
- The Irish have now won 23 straight games against unranked opposition.
- Seven of Notre Dame’s eight wins have come by at least 10 points.
- The Fighting Irish have recorded 10 or more steals in 53-of-79 games since the start of the 2023-24 season.
- Cowles finished with a season-high 17 points and tied her career high in steals with five.
- Hidalgo has now finished in double figures for scoring in 77 consecutive games (every game of her career), passing Katryna Gaither (76) for the program record.
- Vanessa de Jesus tied her season high for assists in a game with six.
- Cowles made the first start of her Notre Dame career in Sunday’s win.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Irish return to Purcell Pavilion for one more game before Christmas, welcoming Bellarmine to South Bend at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 21. The game will be broadcast on ACCNX.