No. 5 Notre Dame Tops Michigan 70-50; Wears ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Shirts

By Nicholas D. Blazek | Dec 13, 2014

The No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish came out against the Michigan Wolverines wearing ‘I Can’t Breathe’ shirts in support of the family of Eric Garner, who died in July after being put in an illegal chokehold in New York. The players had received the go-ahead from coach Muffet McGraw and the University.

Then they hoped to make a statement against the Wolverines after two tough contests, a loss to No. 2 Connecticut and an OT win at No. 25 DePaul.

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But Michigan (6-3) hung around into the second half, who were led by Cyesha Goree who scored 17 points and had 11 rebounds, the only Wolverine in double figures.

It took a 13-4 run by the Irish (10-1) to start the half before they were able to put things on cruise control en route to the 70-50 victory. The Irish were once again without Brianna Turner, recovering from her shoulder injury suffered against Maryland.

Lindsay Allen had a career day, scoring 17 on 7-of-8 shooting from the field. Jewell Loyd added 14 for the Irish as Kathryn Westbeld was the only other player to score in double figures with 13 points, going along with her team-high eight rebounds.

Michigan fell behind early, missing 11 of their first 13 shots as Notre Dame jumped out to a 22-9 lead. But the Wolverines battled back, cutting the lead to 24-19 on a layup by Goree before a 9-2 Irish run capped by a Madison Cable three helped create some space.

Loyd started the second-half run with a layup, followed by two buckets from Allen including a three-pointer. Loyd hit another jumper and Westbeld added a layup as they began to pull away.

It was the fifth win is six tries against the Wolverines, as the Irish move to 11-7 all-time against Michigan. Michigan is now 0-28 against teams ranked in the top five.

The Irish will host St. Joseph’s of Philadelphia, coach McGraw’s alma mater, on December 21.

Highlights courtesy of UND.com