Notre Dame Women's Basketball Notebook After A Dominating Win Over Boston College

The Fighting Irish were firing on all cylinders in Sunday's 85-48 win over Boston College. It was the eighth time Notre Dame has won by at least 20 points this season.

Notre Dame women’s basketball rolled to an 85-48 win over Boston College Sunday afternoon. The game was never in doubt once the two teams took the floor at Purcell Pavilion, but the Fighting Irish (12-1, 3-0 ACC) had plenty to prove in their third ACC game of the season.

Miami’s defense came up with 15 steals against the Irish in last Thursday’s narrow 66-63 road win for the Irish. The Hurricanes’ performance pushed them to the top of the conference at 11.0 steals per game and Boston College (11-5, 1-2) entered Sunday’s game at Notre Dame averaging 10.4 steals.

Notre Dame associate head coach Carol Owens was in charge of the scouting report for Sunday’s game against the Eagles. She and Irish head coach Niele Ivey knew something would have to change to have success against a good BC defense.

"After the pressure that Miami gave us at their place, it helped us,” Owens told the Notre Dame Radio Network after the win. "It made us more aware of what's to come. In the past, Boston College was leading the league in steals, and one in particular, (Dontavia) Waggoner, is leading the country in steals, so we knew that they were going to apply pressure. We thought it would be a little bit more. We thought they would play us a little bit more full court pressure. But I thought for the most part, we handled it. We expected it and I think we were poised offensively.”

The Eagles had just eight steals against the Irish, while Notre Dame had 15 of their own. Notre Dame’s 19 turnovers were still high, but the Irish still outscored the Eagles 19-14 in points off turnovers – a big swing from the 19-10 advantage Miami held in that department just three days earlier.

Rebounding Big

Boston College entered the game ranked No. 6 in the nation in offensive rebounding rate at a clip of 43.3 and 18th in offensive rebounds per game. Notre Dame has been a good rebounding team themselves, ranked No. 1 in the ACC in defensive boards and No. 3 in the conference in overall rebounding.

Keeping BC off the offensive glass was still an emphasis. The Eagles had just 12 offensive rebounds and the Irish won the overall battle on the boards 46-28, while giving up just 10 second chance points to Boston College.

“That was another statistic that they were leading in was offensive rebounds,” Owens remarked. “That was probably my (biggest) concern going into this game is how they rebound the ball. So we talked about that. They have good rebounding guards and I just challenged our guards, in particular Sonia (Citron), to be that person that's going to get some of the boards for us and she did. She ended up with six rebounds. I think it was really even and then Cass (Prosper) came in and gave us that defensive presence that we knew she could do and she of course she can rebound.”

Prosper's nine rebounds led the Irish. Three other players had six boards in the win. 

Speaking Of Cassandre Prosper

Midseason enrollee Cassandre Prosper has only been with the team for a week, but she is already beginning to show why her addition could make a large impact for the Irish this season. Prosper played just three scoreless minutes in her Irish debut against Miami, but she came off the bench against Boston College to score seven points with nine rebounds in 16.5 minutes.

"The team loves her,” Owens exclaimed. "Every day she comes in with a smile and she's still trying to figure out what is going on and where she needs to be. But she's a talented young kid. Obviously, she has a lot to learn. When she was in the game, we would make sure we kept the play sheets simple for her. But she's a natural in a lot of areas. It's so good to see her in front of her parents. Her parents are here today to (see her) score her first basket here at home.”

The Montreal, Canada native has only been practicing with the team for a week. She had three practices and a pregame walkthrough before her Miami debut last week and two more practices before Sunday’s home game against BC, so the playbook is still fairly simple when she is on the floor.

"Coach Ivey does a really good job of having a play sheet that is conducive with the lineups,” Owens explained. "So there's various lineups. We have four guard lineups and Cass falls in that four-guard lineup. She's naturally a guard, so it was really good that we have the luxury of mixing up our defenses and bringing in people that can do different things. I was pleased with what we can do. Then it helps us going forward on teams that have a smaller rotation where we can adapt to that or they have two bigs and we can play with that of course. So I think really, really pleased with just the ability to be able to do that and still stay fluid and what we want to do as well.”

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