Notre Dame Grinds To A 78-53 Win Over Pittsburgh
Notre Dame, Ind. -- It took a little time for Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo-led offense to get rolling in Sunday’s 78-53 win over visiting Pittsburgh. Hidalgo shook off early frustration to finish with a game-high 22 points for the Fighting Irish (17-4, 7-3 ACC), who beat Pitt (7-16, 1-9) for the second time in exactly a month.
Hidalgo missed her three first-quarter shots, all 3-pointers, and had just one point at the end of the game’s first 10 minutes. Maddy Westbeld picked-up the offensive slack in the quarter, leading all scorers with nine points to help the Irish to an 18-14 advantage.
Pitt’s Liatu King, who is one of two ACC players who are averaging a double-double this season, sat for five-plus minutes after picking her second foul 26 seconds into the second quarter. Notre Dame couldn’t take advantage as Pitt stayed close with their leading scorer on the bench.
King came back in when Rapuluchi Ayodele, who had replaced King on the floor, picked up her third foul and Notre Dame proceeded to go up 36-22 and settled for a 36-27 halftime lead. King finished with her 13th double-double of the season with 18 points and 14 rebounds. It was still a far cry from the career-high 34 points she had a month ago in Notre Dame’s 71-66 win in Pittsburgh.
Hidalgo hit an early 3 to get the Irish offense going and then hit another with 5:41 to play in the third quarter to give Notre Dame its biggest lead to that point at 45-29. Westbeld pulled down seven of her 14 rebounds in the third quarter and finished with 15 points for her eighth double-double of the season and her first since a 15-point, 15-rebound performance against Boston College on Jan. 11. She had just nine double-doubles in the first three years of her career.
Notre Dame led 55-37 going into the fourth quarter after Pitt hit just 2 of 18 shots, including 0 for 9 from 3-point range, in the third quarter. The Irish hit 7 of 15 shots in the third and 16 of 34 (47%) of its second half shots.
Sonia Citron scored 12 of her 15 points in the first half to bounce back after an eight-point game Thursday at Georgia Tech. Citron hit three of the team’s 10 3-pointers, while Anna DeWolfe scored 10 thanks to a pair of treys.
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