SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Hannah Hidalgo scored 21 points and No. 3 seed Notre Dame routed No. 6 seed Michigan 76-55 in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
Notre Dame advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive season. The Fighting Irish will have a rematch in Birmingham against either TCU or Louisville. The Horned Frogs defeated Notre Dame in the Cayman Islands in November. The Irish swept Louisville in two ACC regular-season games.
Olivia Miles, who suffered an ankle injury in Notre Dame’s 106-54 victory against Stephen F. Austin in the first round, started for the Irish. She had eight points, five assists and four rebounds.
Liatu King turned in a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Sonia Citron scored 16 points for the Irish.
Notre Dame (28-5) opened up with an 11-2 run and stormed to a 32-12 lead after the first quarter. They looked like the team that dispatched Texas, USC, UConn and Duke in the regular season rather than the team that dropped three of its last five regular-season games, hitting 12 of their first 16 shots. Michigan (23-11) started out 1-of-7 from the field.
Notre Dame held Michigan to a season-low 55 points. The Wolverines’ previous low was 58 points in losses to USC and Michigan State. Michigan entered the game averaging 78.2 points a game.
A pair of freshmen led Michigan. Olivia Olson scored 20 points and Syla Swords scored 17 points.
