Nov. 18, 2015

Recap | Box Score | Quotes | USATSI Photo Gallery

By Chris Masters

Inside The Game: #3 Notre Dame 74, Toledo 39
November 18, 2015 – Notre Dame, Indiana (Purcell Pavilion)

It Was Over When: Sophomore forward Brianna Turner converted a layup with 2:46 remaining in the third period, capping a 17-0 Notre Dame run during a span of 6:38 that gave the Fighting Irish a 46-19 lead. In that run, Notre Dame held Toledo to 0-of-9 shooting and forced five Rocket turnovers.

Game Ball Goes To: Sophomore forward and Ohio native Kathryn Westbeld, who made her second career start and anchored a solid Notre Dame effort in the paint (where the Fighting Irish outscored Toledo, 38-16) with a game-high 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Westbeld finished four points off her career, set at Virginia Tech on Jan. 29, 2015.

Unsung Hero: Making her first appearance of the year after nursing a sore Achilles during the preseason, junior forward Taya Reimer came off the bench to score eight points on 4-of-6 shooting in 16 minutes of action. Reimer made her first three shots of the night to help offset a rare subpar shooting performance from Turner (last year’s NCAA field-goal percentage champion).

Unofficial Play of the Game: With time winding down in the first half, Allen calmly set up her offense, then knifed into the lane before delivering a perfect pass to Westbeld cutting to the basket. Westbeld’s reverse layup with three seconds left in the period sent Notre Dame to the locker room with a 29-17 lead and proved to be a precursor of the Fighting Irish offensive success in the second half.

Stat Of The Game, Part I: Notre Dame held Toledo without a field goal for 12:40 (more than the length of an entire quarter) during the middle stages of the game, allowing the Fighting Irish to get their offense rolling and pull clear of the Rockets. Toledo’s Kaayla McIntyre hit a basket with 5:01 left in the second period to bring the visitors within 19-15, but they didn’t make another shot (aside from four free throws) until the 2:21 mark of the third period, when Ana Capotosto sank a baseline jumper. By then, Notre Dame was in front, 46-21 and the Rockets never got closer than 20 points the rest of the evening.

Stat Of The Game, Part II: Notre Dame struggled to find its shooting touch in the first half, connecting on just 7-of-25 (.280) in the first 17:19 of the game. However, beginning with a jumper from freshman guard Arike Ogunbowale at the 2:41 mark of the second period, the Fighting Irish made 22 of their last 36 shots, closing with a .611 field-goal percentage during the final 22:41 of the contest.

Additional Notes: Notre Dame held an opponent to fewer than 40 points for the first time since Jan. 24, 2015, when it posted a 74-36 win at Clemson … the Fighting Irish held an opponent below 25-percent shooting for the first time since Nov. 23, 2014, when they limited Holy Cross to a .186 field-goal percentage (11-of-59) in a 104-29 victory at Purcell Pavilion … Toledo is the first Notre Dame opponent that did not have a double-digit scorer since March 20, 2015, when Montana was held in check during a 77-43 Fighting Irish win in the first round of the NCAA Championship at Purcell Pavilion … Toledo’s 17 first-half points were the fewest by a Notre Dame foe since March 7, 2015, when Duke scored 15 points in the first half oa 55-49 Fighting Irish win in the ACC Championship semifinals at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina … Notre Dame improves to 4-2 all-time against Toledo (not counting a UT win that occurred in 1974-75 when the Fighting Irish were still a club team, three seasons before they achieved varsity status as a Division III program) … Notre Dame rises to 39-14 (.736) all-time against the current Mid-American Conference membership, winning its 22nd consecutive game against a team currently played in the MAC … the Fighting Irish also are 24-5 (.828) all-time at home against those present MAC schools, including a 15-1 (.938) record in the 29-year Muffet McGraw era … Notre Dame moves to 77-16 (.828) all-time against Ohio schools, including an active 20-game winning streak, and the Fighting Irish are 39-7 (.848) all-time at home against teams from the Buckeye State … junior guard Lindsay Allen finished one assist shy of her first career double-double, settling for tying her career high with nine assists, a mark she’d set twice before (most recently on Feb. 23, 2015, against Louisville at Purcell Pavilion) … senior guard Hannah Huffman tied her career high with a game-best seven rebounds, matching her total against Holy Cross on Nov. 23, 2014, at Purcell Pavilion … sophomore forward Brianna Turner blocked at least five shots for the eighth time in her career and first since she tied her career high with seven blocks in the aforementioned Feb. 23 win over Louisville at Purcell Pavilion.

Up Next For The Fighting Irish: Notre Dame heads out on the road for the first time this season at 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT) Saturday, when it travels to Brookings, South Dakota, to take on South Dakota State at Frost Arena. The game will be televised live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app, as well as regionally in the upper Midwest on the Midco Sports Network. In addition, radio coverage will be available in South Bend on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) and free of charge worldwide online through the official Notre Dame athletics multimedia platform, WatchND (watchnd.tv).

— 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).