Notre Dame Women's Basketball Notebook After A Win Over Florida State

The Fighting Irish overcame a rough start to finish strong in Thursday's 70-47 win

Middling through a sluggish first half Thursday night, Notre Dame women’s basketball found itself dealing with something head coach Niele Ivey had never encountered in her two-plus seasons as head coach.

Dara Mabrey had started all 68 games of her Irish career, which coincided with the start of Ivey’s career, but Mabrey was out Thursday night against Florida State due to the season-ending knee injury she suffered last Sunday against Virginia.

With no Mabrey, who started 64 more games in her first two seasons at Virginia Tech, Notre Dame looked lost at the offensive end of the floor for most of the game’s first 20 minutes.

The Irish hit just 2 of 13 shots in the first quarter and trailed Florida State 12-7 at the end of a first quarter that saw them go the final 7:13 of the frame without scoring.

“At the start of the game, it's a different lineup,” Fighting Irish assistant coach Charel Allen told the Notre Dame Radio Network after the game. “We're playing players in different spots now that Dara's out, we're asking Soni (Citron) to play the "one" a little bit, KK (Bransford) to play maybe the "four" if she needs to.

Point guard Olivia Miles had to sit for several minutes after picking up her second foul in the first half. Her loss meant more combinations of players who weren’t used to playing extended minutes together. It just wasn’t coming together and the Irish fell behind by 10 points early in the second quarter.

“Our defense is what kept us in the game in the first half,” Allen said. “(Olivia Miles) picked up two fouls and we said you know what, we’ve got to risk it and put it back out there (in the second half). And when she came back out, she changed the flow of the game offensively for us like she always does. But we've just got to be smarter with our fouls, because everybody's important now. You know, we're down Dara and then everyone has to step up and be ready.”

The Irish used a 10-0 run before halftime to get back into the game and found themselves down 23-22 at the intermission. They held the Seminoles to 8 for 32 shooting from the field in the half.

The Notre Dame offense finally woke up in the second half. The Irish were 16 for 35 overall, including 4 for 9 on 3-pointers in the second half to outscore the Seminoles 48-24 in the game's final 20 minutes to pull away for the 70-47 victory.

The Keys To The Game

As the Irish assistant in charge of the scouting report for the Florida State game, Allen’s top keys were: Hold Ta’Niya Latson under her scoring average, defend the 3-point line and keep FSU out of the paint.

Latson came into the game as the catalyst for the ACC’s top scoring offense, leading the conference at 23.6 points per game. She finished with a season-low nine points on just 3 for 11 shooting. Her low scoring contributed to Florida State scoring nearly half of its average at another season-low 47 points.

FSU was also 4 for 16 from 3-point range and Notre Dame dominated in the paint with a 55-37 rebound advantage and outscored FSU 18-4 in second chance points in the second half thanks in large part to 21 offensive rebounds.

“That's credit to the girls for buying into the (scouting report), honestly,” Allen commented. “We wanted to take away some of Latson's options because she's a great scorer. So just making it tough for her. We knew that they take a lot of shots, so it's a matter of getting the rebounds when they do miss. And I felt like we did that. And then on the other hand, offensive rebounds are second chance points. I mean, right now we're still trying to find our rhythm offensively. And then just for a missed shot, we had 21 (offensive rebounds). That's great. I mean, yes, it'd be nice to make the first shot but if we're not going to, go get a second opportunity.”

Prosper’s Progress

Midseason enrollee Cassandre Prosper entered the contest averaging about 10 minutes per game. She scored four points in a little more than 16.5 minutes against FSU and played more than 18 minutes last Sunday after Mabrey’s injury.

Prosper has now played in eight games and is averaging 3.5 points and 3.0 rebounds, but her role will now continue to grow in importance without Mabrey’s services the rest of the season.

“Not just her, we asked them all just to do a little bit more,” Allen remarked. “We're down one of our leaders, vocal leaders, and then just her presence on the court is going to be missed. But like I said, we asked them all to do a little bit more and with Cass just coming in mid-year, you know, she's still trying to find a way to land, and I think she's adjusting. Her shot will fall. I know she's frustrated with herself right now. But she'll be in the gym tomorrow morning. Watch, she will text me tonight and see if I'm available at 8am before class, trust me. I'll be here with her. It's just repetition. Jumping from level to level, it's about the speed and the physicality of the game. So, at the high school level, maybe she's used to just having more time to get her shot off. So, we'll just work on like just getting it off quicker with more poise.”

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