South Bend, Ind. — Hannah Hidalgo scored 21 points, leading No. 3 seed Notre Dame to a dominant 76-55 victory over No. 6 seed Michigan in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Sunday. With the win, Notre Dame advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive year.
The Irish will face either TCU or Louisville in the next round. Notre Dame had previously lost to TCU in the Cayman Islands in November but swept Louisville during the ACC regular season.
Olivia Miles, who had been recovering from an ankle injury suffered during the first-round win over Stephen F. Austin, started for Notre Dame. Despite the pain, Miles scored eight points, dished out five assists, and grabbed four rebounds. She admitted that she only made the decision to play 15 minutes before the game started.
“I was leaning toward not playing, but I started to feel better as the game got closer,” Miles said. “It was tough playing through the pain, but I wanted to be out there for my last home game and share that moment with my teammates.”
Liatu King had an outstanding performance, finishing with a double-double of 18 points and 15 rebounds, while Sonia Citron added 16 points for the Irish.
Notre Dame (28-5) came out strong, opening the game with an 11-2 run and taking a commanding 32-12 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Irish displayed the form that had seen them defeat top teams like Texas, Southern California, UConn, and Duke in the regular season, hitting 12 of their first 16 shots. Michigan (23-11), on the other hand, struggled early, shooting just 1-of-7 from the field.
“I think we have the fight because we want to win,” Hidalgo said, explaining the team’s intense start. “We’re competitors, and we want to win. We want to get all the way to the National Championship, and that’s where our fight comes from.”
Notre Dame’s defense was relentless, holding Michigan to just 55 points—its lowest scoring output of the season. Michigan had averaged 78.2 points per game entering the contest.
“We’ve really focused on defense,” Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said. “They came out with the same mindset and energy that we’ve talked about—dominant. It’s a will to win, a will to get to the next round and make it to the Sweet 16.”
Freshmen Olivia Olson and Syla Swords led Michigan in the loss, scoring 20 and 17 points, respectively.
Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico credited Notre Dame’s intense start and their experience as major factors in the first-quarter struggles.
“You just hope that they don’t extend that lead as we get our feet wet,” Barnes Arico said. “But we weren’t able to stop it. We were a mess defensively. They have such versatile scorers at every position, and they really sped us up.”
ROYAL PERFORMANCE:
King’s performance was key to Notre Dame’s success. The senior forward finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds, making all seven of her field goals and hitting all four of her free throws.
“Credit to my teammates, first of all,” King said. “They were able to find me. We recognized mismatches and saw how they were defending the ball screens, and they were able to find me on the slips and rolls. I really give credit to the point guards and Sonia (Citron) for finding me in those open areas.”
RECOVERY EFFORT:
Coach Ivey praised the hard work of the Notre Dame training staff, particularly athletic trainer Anne Marquez, for helping Miles recover in time to play.
“I give all the credit to Anne,” Ivey said. “The training staff has been working tirelessly with Olivia over the past 48 hours, and Anne has truly been the MVP.”
LOOKING AHEAD:
Barnes Arico acknowledged that her freshmen—Olson, Swords, and Mila Holloway—had a valuable learning experience facing such a high-level opponent.
“They’ve had to learn from these experiences,” Barnes Arico said. “But they’re incredibly competitive, and you saw that tonight from all three of them. They’ve really embraced the challenges.”
As Notre Dame moves forward to the Sweet 16, they continue to build momentum, looking to make a deep run in the tournament.
