Notre Dame Women's Basketball Beats Illinois In Shamrock Classic

Hannah Hidalgo and Maddy Westbeld paced the Fighting Irish to victory with 24 points each

Washington, DC - Things went Notre Dame’s way for most of the day in Saturday’s 79-68 win over Illinois in the second annual Citi Shamrock Classic. The game’s final score is much closer than the game that was played in the nation’s capital. The Irish (3-1) led by 20 points twice and fought through foul trouble late in the game to hold on for the win.

Maddy Westbeld and Hannah Hidaldo shared the team lead with 24 points apiece in the first Irish meeting with Illinois (2-2) since Irish head coach Niele Ivey was still a player on Nov. 27, 1999.

Westbeld scored 12 of Notre Dame’s first 14 points, hitting 5 of 7 shots overall including both of her 3-point attempts in the first quarter. Westbeld and Kylee Watson and each picked up their fourth fouls with under a minute to play in the third quarter and had to sit for an extended time.

Westbeld hit her third 3 in as many attempts in the fourth. Watson fouled out with six points on 3 for 3 shooting in the third quarter before playing just one minute in the fourth.

Hidalgo’s 24 points give her four consecutive games scoring at least 21 points to open her college career. The freshman point guard had four steals and four points in a first quarter. That saw the Irish lead by 10 two different times. Hidalgo added six steals, eight assists and five rebounds. She has 27 steals through four games.

The Irish led 37-27 at halftime. They went more than two minutes without a basket to see their lead shrink to two points but closed the half with a 9-0 run over the final 2:59.

KK Bransford, who was playing in her second game after a lower leg injury forced her to miss Notre Dame’s first two games, was the third Irish player to hit double digits with 11 points. The sophomore added seven rebounds and four assists as well.

Grad transfer Anna DeWolfe, who hit 79 3-pointers last year at Fordham, hit the first two treys of her Notre Dame career with one in each half to finish with eight points.

Illinois shot 8 for 15 to outscore the Irish 23-18 in the fourth quarter. A trio of Illini players combined to score 62 of their 68 points. NC State transfer Genesis Bryant led the way with 31, Adalia McKenzie had 17 and Makir Cook finished with 14. The combined to hit 22 of 44 shots The rest of the team hit 2 of 6 shots.

The Irish played without All-American candidate Sonia Citron, who injured her knee in the second half of last Wednesday’s win over Northwestern. Citron is averaging 20.3 points per game. Ivey said before the game that she expects Citron to miss a few weeks, but does expect that she will return to play this season.

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