Feb. 22, 2016

Recap | Box Score | USATSI Gallery

By Chris Masters

Inside The Game: #2/3 Notre Dame 73, #12/9 Florida State 66
Feb. 22, 2016 – Tallahassee, Fla. (Tucker Center)

It Was Over When: Graduate student guard Madison Cable made two free throws with 4.8 seconds remaining to give Notre Dame the final margin in its 73-66 victory at Florida State.

Game Balls Go To: The freshman guard tandem of Marina Mabrey (13 points) and Arike Ogunbowale (11 points), who provided instant offense for the Fighting Irish off the bench during their second-quarter explosion. The rookie duo combined to make 6-of-8 three-point attempts (6-of-7 in the first half alone) with each grabbing three rebounds and Mabrey adding three assists for good measure.

Unsung Hero: Junior guard/captain Lindsay Allen, who skillfully led the Fighting Irish offense with a career-high 11 assists (and only two turnovers) while playing all 40 minutes. Allen also converted two important free throws with 2:28 remaining to help Notre Dame turn back Florida State’s final challenge in the closing minutes.

Unofficial Play of the Game: It was a sister act in every sense of the phrase. Inside two minutes left in the first half, Marina Mabrey had to chase a tipped pass into the Notre Dame backcourt with less than 10 seconds on the shot clock. She then turned, weaved her way through the FSU defense before firing a cross-court pass to her older sister, Michaela, on the left wing. Michaela alertly grabbed the low pass and fired up a long three-pointer that found nothing but net as the shot clock buzzer sounded, giving the Fighting Irish a 41-24 lead with 1:44 remaining in the first half.

Stat Of The Game: Notre Dame has won 27 consecutive games decided by single digits and/or in overtime, including eight such games this season.

Additional Notes: Notre Dame moves to 8-1 this season against ranked opponents, including a 3-1 record against teams appearing in the top 10 of one or both major polls at tipoff ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish are off to a 26-1 start for the third time in four years and fourth time in program history (also 2000-01, 2012-13 and 2013-14) ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame is 52-1 all-time against ACC opponents (45-1 regular season, 7-0 postseason) since joining the conference in 2013-14, including an active 30-game winning streak (27 in regular season, three in last year’s ACC Tournament) ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish also have won 92 of their last 96 games against conference opponents, dating back to their membership in the BIG EAST ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame made 10 three-pointers in a game for the fifth time this season (first since it had 11 treys against No. RV/24 Syracuse on Jan. 21 at Purcell Pavilion) ââ’¬¦ Allen’s 11 assists were not only a career high (previous was nine on four occasions), but also the most by a Fighting Irish player in a game since Dec. 31, 2012, when Skylar Diggins had 14 assists in a 128-55 win over Saint Francis (Pa.) at Purcell Pavilion – coincidentally, Diggins (’13) was in attendance for Thursday’s game at Florida State, along with fellow Notre Dame alum and two-time WNBA champion Devereaux Peters (’11) ââ’¬¦ Allen recorded her 500th career assist on Monday, becoming the eighth Notre Dame player to reach that milestone (she now has 507 assists, passing Megan Duffy for seventh on the Fighting Irish all-time list – Duffy had 500 assists from 2002-06) ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame is 14-0 all-time on ESPN2’s Big Monday package (7-0 at home, 7-0 on the road) ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish have won 32 consecutive games in the month of February and are 127-28 (.819) in February games since 1995-96, as well as 175-43 (.803) in February in the 29-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-88 to present) ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame improves to 5-0 all-time against Florida State, with the past two regular season matchups both decided by single digits (also 74-68 on Jan. 2, 2015, at Purcell Pavilion) ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish are 36-6 (.857) all-time against Florida schools (including a 22-3 mark in road/neutral site games) and have won 16 of their last 17 games against teams from the Sunshine State ââ’¬¦ Notre Dame is 17-1 this season when it has at least four players score in double figures, rising to 135-6 (.957) in such games since 2009-10 and wins in 105 of its last 107 outings with four double-digit scorers during that time ââ’¬¦ the Fighting Irish have won 57 of their last 59 regular season road games ââ’¬¦ sophomore forward Brianna Turner did not record a blocked shot in a game for the first time since March 6, 2015, against Miami in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals in Greensboro, North Carolina (a span of 30 games) ââ’¬¦ Turner also fouled out of a game for only the second time in her career, with both disqualifications coming in the state of Florida (also on April 5, 2015, in a 66-65 Fighting Irish win over No. 3/4 South Carolina in the NCAA Women’s Final Four national semifinals downstate in Tampa, Florida) ââ’¬¦ Turner is just the second Notre Dame player to foul out of a game this season – senior guard Hannah Huffman also used up her foul allotment on Feb. 7 in Notre Dame’s 66-61 win at No. 13 Louisville.

Up Next For The Fighting Irish: Notre Dame returns home for its final two games of the regular season, beginning at 7 p.m. (ET) Thursday when it welcomes ACC foe Clemson to Purcell Pavilion. The game will be televised live and free of charge around the world through the official Notre Dame athletics online multimedia platform, WatchND (watchnd.tv), while radio coverage will be available in South Bend on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1).

– ND –

Chris Masters, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2001 and coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame women’s basketball and women’s golf programs. A native of San Francisco, California, Masters is a 1996 graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, earned his master’s degree from Kansas State University in 1998, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).