No. 5 Notre Dame Women's Basketball Finishes Home Stretch Saturday Against Merrimack

The Notre Dame women's basketball team had an extended gap between games after a Thursday road game was postponed. They play their first game since beating No. 3 UConn last Sunday when they host Merrimack

Less than a week after picking up the biggest win of the Niele Ivey era, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team is back home again to host Merrimack. The Fighting Irish were slated to play at Lafayette on Thursday, but the game was postponed due to health and safety protocols within the Lafayette program.

Where: Notre Dame, Ind. - Purcell Pavilion
When: Saturday, Dec. 10 – Noon EST
Network: ACC Network Extra – Patrick Hartnett (Play-by-Play); Karen Keyes (Analyst)
Radio: ND Radio Network, 99.9 FM WQLQ in South Bend – Sean Stires PBP

Let's take a look at today’s matchup:

NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (7-1, 0-0 ACC)

Head Coach: Niele Ivey (41-20 – 3rd season at Notre Dame)

The Fighting Irish beat then No. 3 UConn 74-60 last Sunday afternoon at Purcell Pavilion for their first home win over the Huskies in nearly a decade. Olivia Miles had 21 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block in her first career win over UConn. She earned ACC Player of the Week honors for the second time in her career for the effort. Miles is one of just two players in the nation averaging more than 15.0 points per game with 50 or more assists and rebounds this season.

Maddy Westbeld had her best game of the season against the Huskies as well. The junior forward scored a season-high 17 points with nine rebounds and three blocked shots. Lauren Ebo, Dara Mabrey and Sonia Citron each scored in double figures for the Irish in the win as well to help move Notre Dame to No. 5 in this week’s AP and Coach’s Polls for the highest ranking of third-year head coach Niele Ivey’s tenure.

Projected Irish Starting Lineup

G Olivia Miles- 5-10, Soph. - 16.4 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 6.3 APG
G Sonia Citron - 6-1, Soph – 15.8 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 2.2 APG
G Dara Mabrey - 5-7, 5th – 12.1 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.0 APG
F Maddy Westbeld - 6-3, Jr. – 8.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 14 Blk
F Kylee Watson - 6-4, Jr – 8.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 1.8 APG

Merrimack Warriors (1-7, 0-0 NEC)

Head Coach: Kelly Morrone (1-7 in 1st Season)

Kelly Morrone is in his first season as a Division One head coach after spending the last seven seasons as a successful head coach at Division III John Carroll University. She won 117 games and posted four 20-plus win seasons in that stretch, but has just one win (Colgate) through her first eight games with the Warriors. Merrimack lost its first four games before its first win and brings a three-game losing streak into Saturday’s game. Its only other game against a Power Five team resulted in an 88-40 loss to Southern Cal.

Projected Starting Lineup

F Marissa Hamilton - Stats – 18.0 PPG, 4.9 RPG
G Jayme DeCesare - Stats – 8.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 2.3 APG
F Amaya Staton- Stats – 4.4 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 10 BLK
G Mackenzie Bray – Stats – 4.0 PPG, 1.3 RPG
G Molly Manion - Stats – 1.5, 1.5 RPG

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

This is probably the biggest mismatch on paper that Notre Dame has seen this season. That’s saying something, considering the Irish scored at least 85 points in each of its first six games and won those games by an average of nearly 28 points per game.

6-1 forward Marissa Hamilton is Merrimack’s tallest player, while 6-1 Irish guard Sonia Citron has four other players in the Notre Dame front court who are taller than her.

“I really talked about focus and our standard of basketball,” Ivey said on Friday of the shift in the level of competition her team will see from game to game. “Make sure that no matter who we play, that we come out and play the Notre Dame way, playing the right way defensively, having effort and pushing pace. That’s what I talk about. Just making sure that no matter who we play we have to make sure that we come out the same way and come out with that defensive mindset and killer mentality.”

Thursday’s postponed game at Lafayette allowed Ivey to give her team a little more time for rest and recovery than usual after playing a conference-like Thursday-Sunday split against two ranked teams last week.

Saturday’s game will be the last of three consecutive home games for the Irish. They will be off for final next week and will not play again until they travel to Blacksburg, Va to play No. 7 Virginia Tech. Their next home game will be on Dec. 21 against Western Michigan.

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