CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — It was a tale of two halves for No. 19 Notre Dame (21-6, 11-5) on Sunday, as the Irish downed Boston College (11-18, 3-13), 79-55. The Irish outscored the Eagles 50-30 in the second half and finished with four players in double-figures: Hannah Hidalgo (19), Maddy Westbeld (18), Sonia Citron (16) and Anna DeWolfe (11).
But it didn’t always look like that could be the case.
Slow starts continue to be an issue for the Irish. Notre Dame missed its first four shots and fell into a 14-3 hole, a position in which they’ve frequently found themselves over the last month. The sole basket from the floor was a Watson layup, and it didn’t come easy. Notre Dame hit a few shots out of the mid-quarter timeout but Boston College seemed to get every roll and bounce. Q1 ended 21-11 in favor of the Eagles.
Notre Dame played its best defensive quarter — at least points-wise — in Q2. Boston College made a single field goal, and it came as the clock expired heading into the half. The Irish outscored Boston College 18-4, and 12 of those points came off of 9 Eagles turnovers. It was the first time this year Notre Dame has held any opponent under 5 points in a quarter.
Notre Dame took a 29-25 lead into the locker room. Hidalgo played all 20 minutes and had 12 points after scoring just 10 in the game on Thursday against Clemson.
In the third, the roles were reversed from the first quarter, as the Irish hit 10 of 18 shots while BC went 6-17. Westbeld hit back-to-back 3-pointers at the start of the quarter, and a turnaround jumper gave her 8 in that frame. Citron had 7.
Notre Dame didn’t take its foot off the gas in the final frame, shooting 10-13 from the floor and 5-5 from the free throw line to leave no doubt. Westbeld added 8 more points.
In total, Notre Dame forced 22 turnovers. Teams have turned the ball over at least 20 times in 15 of 27 games against an aggressive Irish defense this year. On Sunday, Notre Dame scored 26 points off those mishaps. They outscored BC 18-0 in fast break points.
Of note, Nat Marshall missed Sunday’s game with an illness.
Notre Dame has two remaining regular season games, both against ranked teams. No. 8 Virginia Tech is up first. That game will be televised Thursday on ESPN at 7 p.m.