Notre Dame's Basketball Season Ends With Sweet 16 Loss To Maryland
A stellar season came to a screeching halt for the Notre Dame women’s basketball team in Saturday’s 76-59 loss to Maryland in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. Just like they did to get to this point, the Irish (27-6) battled through adversity after a rough first quarter against the Terrapins (28-6).
Maryland pressed the Fighting Irish from the start, causing five early turnovers that led to five points off turnovers. Notre Dame shook off the early onslaught of defensive pressure though and trailed just 16-14 in spite of eight turnovers at the end of the game’s first 10 minutes.
Lavender Briggs hit a 3-pointer to start the second quarter to put the Terps up by five, but Notre Dame responded with 13-0. The Irish hit all five shots, including a 3-pointer from Maddy Westbeld. To go up 27-10. Westbeld’s trey was the only make from behind the arc in the first half and was just one of just to in 10 attempts in the game for Notre Dame.
The Irish pushed their lead to 13 with 4:13 to play in the half and then settled for a 31-31 advantage at the intermission.
Fouls began to mount for Notre Dame in the third quarter. Westbeld picked up her third and fourth fouls within a little over a minute of each other. With her on the bench, Maryland closed the quarter on a 13-1 run over the last 4:15 of the quarter to take a 57-45 lead.
Fellow forwards Lauren Ebo and Kylee Watson found their way to foul trouble as well, each picking up a fourth personal. Ebo fouled out with seven points with 4:44 remaining and Westbeld followed 40 seconds later to end her day with nine points.
The Fighting Irish committed nine turnovers and hit just five of 16 shots in the third quarter to see the Terps and their pressure effectively put the game away with a 26-13 scoring advantage in the third. They had 15 steals and forced 25 total turnovers while scoring 22 points off turnovers in the game.
Sonia Citron was the only Irish player in double figures with 14 points. She scored exactly that number in all three Irish NCAA Tournament games. KK Bransford finished eight points while dishing out a career-high seven assists.
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