CORAL GABLES, Fla. — It has been a good week for the Notre Dame women’s basketball team: Return to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 on Monday, then turn in perhaps its best defensive game of the season on Thursday.
Forget the 82 points that Notre Dame scored in its win over Miami on Thursday night. The big number for Fighting Irish coach Niele Ivey was 42 — the season-low in points allowed by her team this season, the reward for a night of airtight defense.
“We did everything we needed to do defensively,” Ivey said.
Sonia Citron scored 19 points, Hannah Hidalgo added 18, Olivia Miles had 14 and Liatu King finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (24-2, 15-0 Atlantic Coast).
The Irish extended the nation’s second-longest active winning streak to 19 games. Grand Canyon has won 22 straight.
The Irish set the defensive tone from the outset. Miami missed its first nine shots as Notre Dame built a 10-0 lead, the Hurricanes answered with a 6-0 run, then ND scored 13 straight as Miami missed 12 straight shots. The Hurricanes started 3-for-24 from the field and later had streaks of 0-for-7 and 0-for-6.
Cameron Williams had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Miami (13-13, 3-12), which was 0-for-16 from 3-point range, the second-worst showing from beyond the arc by an ACC team in conference play in the last 20 years. Clemson went 0-for-19 against Louisville in a game four years ago.
“It shows the progression of what we’ve talked about coming into the season,” Ivey said. “We wanted our identity to be our defense.”
The 42 points allowed by Notre Dame was four better than its previous low on the season (46 against James Madison), and the Hurricanes’ 27% shooting was the Irish’s second-best effort in that department this season.
“They’re undefeated in the league for a reason,” Miami coach Tricia Cullop said. “They’re a really good team.”
Notre Dame is 47-0 in the Ivey era when holding opponents to 56 points or fewer.
