SOUTH BEND, Ind. — No. 2 Notre Dame (27-6) is headed to the Round of 32 after the Irish downed No. 15 Kent State (21-11) on Saturday afternoon, 81-67. Sonia Citron led all players with 29 points, and Hannah Hidalgo posted her eighth double-double of the season with 14 points, 11 assists and 6 steals. She is just the fifth player in Notre Dame women’s basketball history to post 11+ assists in an NCAA Tournament game.
The Irish struggled to get going offensively, and Kent State was able to get out in front 5-4 to start. Back-to-back field goals from Anna DeWolfe brought some life to the offense, sparking a 20-1 run for the Irish.
Defensively, the Irish held the Flashes scoreless for 5:58 and 1-15 from the floor after starting the game 2-4. Notre Dame ended the first quarter up 22-10. Citron was 4-5 and led all players with 9 points.
Carrying momentum into the second, the Irish started the quarter with a 9-1 run to extend their lead to 31-11. Three straight buckets from Hidalgo, Citron and Becky Obinma gave the Irish the 40-23 advantage at the media timeout.
Citron continued her domination through Q2 and had 16 points at the half with a pair of treys. She was 78 percent from the floor. Anna DeWolfe had 10 points of her own.
Offense was hard to come by in the third quarter. The Flash opened the half shooting 3-5 from the floor, but three consecutive Irish baskets all coming off of Flash turnovers would force a Kent State timeout. Notre Dame scored just 10 points in the quarter.
Notre Dame got going offensively again in the fourth, and Citron added 9 more points. Hidalgo did an excellent job finding her in transition, leading to 22 fast break points by the Irish. Kent State had just 3.
The Irish ended with just 9 turnovers, the third consecutive game in which they had single-digit giveaways. Kent State had 17 turnovers leading to 23 Irish points.
Notre Dame will now play seventh-seeded Ole Miss (24-8) on Monday in the Round of 32. The game will air on ESPN and tip off at 2 p.m.