Notre Dame women’s basketball: Irish survive and advance

While it wasn’t always pretty, the Notre Dame women’s basketball squad won this afternoon against the NC State Wolfpack 66-60. ACC coach of the year Niele Ivey continued to show why she deserved the award by making all the right moves without Olivia Miles and Dara Mabrey.

Speaking of Miles, she is day-to-day, and the team will hopefully learn more in the coming days about her injury. Considering the Irish are down two of their top players on the season, they’ll need some players to step up. The usual suspects, including sophomore guard Sonia Citron, did just that in today’s contest.

Citron led the way for the Irish with 28 points as she went 8-18 from the field but 11 of 15 from the charity stripe. She was a rebound shy of a double double. Junior Maddy Westbeld also played an essential role in the contest as she was the second leading scorer on the afternoon with 15. Westbeld also added a whopping ten rebounds to secure her double double.

The Irish will now face Louisville, who dominated Wake Forest 74-48. Ivey and her squad have beaten Louisville twice this year but only by a combined margin of victory of 5 points. They’ll need to be firing on all cylinders without Miles if they want to beat them a 3rd time and advance to the ACC championship game.

The tournament schedule doesn’t get any easier if they get past the Cardinals, as Duke, Virginia Tech, UNC, and Miami are lurking on the other side of the bracket. Those games will be determined later this evening.

Still, even with the injuries this Notre Dame women’s basketball squad has suffered, I love how this team plays. Ivey has them firing on all cylinders most nights, and they come out with a passion for proving they’re the best in the nation. Today wasn’t the easiest, and neither will their next matchup, but they can make a run at the title.