Notre Dame Women's Basketball Shakes Off Slow Start, Rolls Past Georgia Tech

Olivia Miles led five Fighting Irish players in double figures in fifth consecutive win

Senior nights always come with a tinge of danger. The extra emotion on the floor and in the building tends to add an intangible x-factor and that was the case in Thursday’s home finale for the Notre Dame women’s basketball team. The Fighting Irish (23-4, 14-3 ACC) started slowly, but eventually got things rolling in a 76-53 win over visiting Georgia Tech (13-15, 4-13).

After honoring grad students Lauren Ebo and Dara Mabrey before the home finals, the Irish sputtered out of the gate, missing their first five shots, while the Yellow Jackets connected on their first four field goals to jump out to an 8-0 lead.

The quick start by the Yellow Jackets prompted Niele Ivey to call a timeout at the 7:34 mark of the quarter. She swapped Ebo, who was making her second start of the season, for freshman Cassandre Prosper and it ignited Notre Dame on both ends of the floor.

The Fighting Irish hit their next three shots and ultimately tied the game at 8-8. It was tied two more times in the first quarter before the Irish outscored Georgia Tech 17-4 the rest of the period for a 17-12 lead at the end of the first period. The game would not be tied and the Irish never trailed the rest of the night.

Georgia Tech hit just 1 of 10 3-pointers and was 9 for 26 from the field the rest of the half. The Yellow Jackets finished 6 for 24 from 3-point range and 23 for 58 overall in the game.

Olivia Miles led five Irish players in double figures with a workmanlike 13 points, while Kylee Watson turned in her first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. It was her third time in double figures in the last four games after previously going 12 straight games without reaching double digits.

Fellow forward Ebo scored eight in her final regular season game at Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame owned a 44-18 scoring advantage in the paint, including 24-4 in the second half, thanks to the Watson/Ebo front court combo. Sonia Citron scored 12 points and hit two of the team’s four 3-pointers. Maddy Westbeld finished with 11 points and KK Bransford scored 10.

The Irish defense put the clamps down on Georgia Tech’s top scorer, Cameron Swartz. The grad transfer from Boston College had a 28 point game that included five 3-pointers in an upset of the Irish last season, but she missed her first seven treys and finished 1 for 10 from long range before scoring 10 points, the last six in the fourth quarter.

The win guarantees Notre Dame will have no worse than the No. 2 seed at next week’s ACC Tournament. They entered the night tied with Duke for first place in the ACC. Duke’s game against NC State started after Notre Dame’s win. If the Irish win at Louisville Sunday and Duke loses one of its final two games (including Thursday’s NC State game) Notre Dame would claim the No. 1 seed. 

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