Notre Dame Offense Sputters In Loss To Duke

The Fighting Irish scored their second fewest points of the season in a matchup of the top two teams in the ACC

With first place in the ACC standings on the line, Notre Dame women’s basketball’s offense grinded to a halt in Sunday’s 57-52 loss to Duke. The Fighting Irish (18-4, 9-3 ACC) hit just 2 of 12 shots and scored just six fourth quarter points, a season-low for a quarter, as the Blue Devils (20-3, 10-2) walked out of Purcell Pavilion with sole possession of first place in the ACC.

Notre Dame started slowly, with turnovers on its first three possessions of the game, before a Sonia Citron layup followed by a Maddy Westbeld 3-pointer sparked the Irish to a 7 of 14 first quarter and 12 for 24 first half.

Olivia Miles sat after picking up her second foul of the first half with the Irish trailing 19-18 with 6:52 to go. She didn’t come back in the first half, but the Irish outscored the Blue Devils 13-6 the rest of the way and led 31-25 at the half, with Citron leading all scorers with 10 points.

Westbeld led the Irish with 15 points on 7 of 14 shooting, including one of Notre Dame’s three 3-pointers in the game. Westbeld was held scoreless in the fourth quarter, though. In fact, every Irish player except Miles, who finished with 11 points, was held scoreless in the fourth quarter.

Duke outscored the Irish 23-15 in the third quarter to take a 48-46 lead into the game’s final 10 minutes. Citron, who scored 10 of her 14 points in the first half, combined with Westbeld to score 12 of Notre Dame’s 15 third quarter points.

Miles hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:16 to play to make it 53-52 Duke. The trey ended a drought of five minutes and 20 seconds. It would also be the only points the Irish scored in the final 8:36 of the five-point loss. The Irish hit just one of their last 10 shots against the No. 1 scoring defense in the ACC.

The 52 points is the second fewest scored by the Fighting Irish this season. Their lowest scoring total came in a 60-50 loss at North Carolina on Jan. 8.

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