No. 2 Notre Dame beats Quinnipiac for third win in as many nights

By Nicholas D. Blazek | Nov 26, 2014

The No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Women’s basketball team has had a full schedule over the last three days. With the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge in town, the Irish have won three games in as many days, capped by their 112-52 win over Quinnipiac Tuesday night.

After struggling in their last game against Harvard, Brianna Turner and Jewell Loyd both had bounce back games for the Irish (6-0), combining for 43 points against the Bobcats (3-2). Against Harvard, the duo combined for only 14 points on 2-for-16 shooting. Both knew last game was not the norm for either of them.

"“I just stopped thinking,” Loyd said. “I think I was over-thinking yesterday. I relied on my teammates. I knew that they believed in me and they kept telling me to shoot the ball today.”"

The talented freshman Turner was well aware of what she needed to do as well.

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"“I thought I could have run the floor a lot more last night, so that was one of my focuses, and I knew Jewell and Lindsay (Allen) were going to be looking up,” she said."

As has been the typical start for the Irish, it was 15-0 before the Bobcats Maria Napolitano hit a three to put them on the board.

The duo of Turner and Taya Reimer continued to be a mismatch for their opponents, as Reimer added 12 to go along with Turner’s 20. Both turned lob passes into the post into easy baskets. The were 12-of-13 in FG’s, and 8-of-1o from the free throw line.

If Coach Muffet McGraw would have any concern entering this game, it would be with her team’s stamina. It was their third game in a row, and fifth in seven days. Overall she was happy with her squads performance.

"“It’s been really difficult because we’ve been in class, we’ve been finishing papers, we’ve been taking tests,” McGraw said. “You have to have a little more focus when you’re tired and we got careless. I think we can fix that pretty quickly.”"

The Irish moved to No. 2 in the Associated Press poll following Connecticut’s loss to Stanford. All 12 players on the Notre Dame roster scored against the Bobcats, the third straight game they have done so. It was also the third straight game the Irish had five players in double figures.

The Irish will head to Uncasville, Connecticut to face the Kansas Jayhawks at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday, November 30 at 1 pm ET.

Highlights courtesy of UND.com