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No. 3 Notre Dame, Brianna Turner Destroy Outmatched Holy Cross, 104-29

By Nicholas D. Blazek

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There’s less parody in the NCAA on the women’s side, although it has improved in recent years. Unfortunately for Holy Cross, it hasn’t tightened up quite that much. The No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish came out of the gate fast –four seconds from opening tip to first basket– and never looked back, routing the Crusaders 104-29 at Purcell Pavillion.

In a short night for the starters, Brianna Turner was the brightest of the stars for the Irish (4-0), with 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals in only 17 minutes of action. Turner and frontcourt partner Taya Reimer went to work inside, until Crusader coach Bill Gibbons went to a zone defense to slow the two down. The Irish outscored the Crusaders (0-4) 64-4 in the paint.

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Enter the Irish guards, including Michaela Mabrey who hit three from deep while scoring 11 points. Jewell Loyd added 17 as the only other starter in double-figures. As a team the Irish shot 51 percent from the field, and 50 percent from three-point range. Kathryn Westbeld had a sensational game off the bench, scoring 15 points, while shooting 6-of-10 from the field (2-of-2 3-Pt).

Notre Dame scored 21 straight to start the second half, and a 39-2 run overall to officially blow out Holy Cross. The 75-point win was the fifth-highest margin of victory, while the 64 rebounds were the seventh most in program history.

Over the next two days, the Irish will host rounds two and three of the Hall of Fame Challenge, with the final round at the Mohegan Sun Arena next Sunday, the same location the Irish men lost to Providence on Sunday.

The Irish will play Harvard tomorrow at 6 pm, followed by Quinnipac on Tuesday at the same time.

Here are some highlights from today’s game, courtesy of UND.com