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Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Strong second half leads Irish past Toledo

By Jordan Small

COLUMBUS, OH - MARCH 30: Arike Ogunbowale #24 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates against the Connecticut Huskies during the second half in the semifinals of the 2018 NCAA Women's Final Four at Nationwide Arena on March 30, 2018 in Columbus, Ohio. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the Connecticut Huskies 91-89. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH - MARCH 30: Arike Ogunbowale #24 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates against the Connecticut Huskies during the second half in the semifinals of the 2018 NCAA Women's Final Four at Nationwide Arena on March 30, 2018 in Columbus, Ohio. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the Connecticut Huskies 91-89. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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After losing to UConn the weekend before, the Notre Dame Women’s Basketball team went on the road to face Toledo and used a strong second half to walk away victorious.

It wasn’t pretty to start, but the Notre Dame women’s basketball team walked away with a 72-56 win over Toledo on Saturday afternoon. A strong second half propelled Notre Dame past Toledo to improve to 8-1 on the year. Arike Ogunbowale lead the team with 22 points and Jessica Shepard added 16 points with eight rebounds. Ogunbowale now sits just seven points away from 2,000 for her career.

Irish still need to figure it out defensively

One of the biggest takeaways from the UConn loss last weekend was how poorly the team played defensively. Early on, it was much of the same against Toledo. Especially against the three, the Irish struggled to slow down the home side. Once they were able to slow down the ball movement, they were able to slow Toledo down.

The second half was a lot better for the Irish as they held Toledo to just eight points in the third quarter. Notre Dame came out in an aggressive zone defense in the second half and it helped tremendously as they held Toledo to just 37.7 percent shooting from the floor.

Irish have much better shooting day

The Irish are a team of a lot of great shooters and it is hard to find a player who lacks confidence in their shot. However, last week the shots were not falling for the Irish and they failed to make the adjustments necessary to get the ball to fall. On Saturday afternoon, the Irish looked a lot better in their shot selection, and it showed. Four of the five starters were in double digits, with Arike Ogunbowale leading the way with 22. Overall, they shot 53.6 percent from the floor including 3 for 8 from three point land. If they can remain consistent, it will be difficult for teams to keep up.

Next. Notre Dame Football: Echoes Award Night Recap. dark

Next Up

The Irish will play Binghamton in South Bend on Sunday, Dec. 16 at 1 p.m. ET. The game can be found on the ACC Network Extra.