Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Strong First Half Powers Irish past Binghamton

After a week off, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team was back in action on Sunday afternoon to take on Binghamton University.

Finals week has come and gone for the Irish and it was back to business on the court Sunday afternoon. Binghamton was in town to take on the second ranked Irish, and it was all Notre Dame from the start. All five starters scored in double digits, with Jackie Young and Marina Mabrey both putting up 21. Mabrey also finished with 10 assists for a double-double

Arike Ogunbowale hits 2,000-point mark

On Sunday afternoon, senior guard Arike Ogunbowale hit the 2,000-point mark for her career. She became just the fifth player in Notre Dame history to the milestone. Along with Ogunbowale, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Beth (Morgan) Cunningham, Katryna Gaither, and Ruth Riley all scored over 2,000 points in their careers.

Ogunbowale now sits just 351 points off of Diggins-Smith’s program record of 2,357 points in her career. She is averaging roughly 24 points a game, and with 20 regular season games remaining, Ogunbowale should be able to break the record. Her 13 points today definitely helped with putting her on the path to do that.

The Irish used a strong first half to cruise to victory

The Irish started the game making their first ten baskets of the game. They would finish the half shooting 20-30, good for 66.7 percent. What helped the Irish out the most was the assist to turnover ratio. The Irish were able to provide assists on 12 baskets, while only turning it over five times.

The defense came up big for Notre Dame, as well. They forced eleven turnovers on seven steals in the first half. They also picked up 16 defensive rebounds, which really frustrated the Binghamton offense. All of this allowed the Irish to go into the break up by 27 points.

Next Up

It’ll be a quick turnaround for the Irish as they welcome Western Kentucky to town this week. The game will be played at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Dec. 19. The Lady Toppers will be forced to face off against an Irish team that is rolling offensively. This is one of two final games before Christmas for the Irish.