Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

NCAA Bridgeport Regional Preview: Dancing On

It's an ACC rematch between the Irish and Wolfpack this Saturday

NCAA Bridgeport Regional:#5 Seed Notre Dame
Where:Bridgeport, CT | Total Mortgage Arena
Listen:99.9 WQLQ-FM | ND Radio Network
Notes:ND Notes
Social:@NDWBB
Sweet 16:#1 seed NC State
When:Saturday, March 26 | 11:30 am ET
Watch:ESPN
Elite 8:#2 seed UConn or #3 seed Indiana
When:Monday, March 28 | TBD

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – The fifth-seeded Notre Dame women’s basketball team is looking to turn that sweet feeling to feeling elite. The Fighting Irish (24-8) will get that chance on Saturday, March 26, in the Bridgeport Regional semifinal. The opponent, a familiar one, is ACC champion NC State (31-3). The matchup will tip-off at 11:30 am ET on Saturday, live on ESPN and the watchESPN app. Fans can also hear the game on the Notre Dame radio network.

COACH IVEY TURNAROUND IN YEAR 2

Just her 2nd year with the program but her first true full calendar year with the team – Coach Ivey already has the program back on the national scene in one of the biggest turnarounds. Around this time last year, Notre Dame finished 10-10 overall and didn’t make the NCAA tournament for the first time in a quarter of a century. Now the Irish are dancing in the Sweet 16. 

Notre Dame is currently 24-8 overall and ranked 21st in the nation after starting the year unranked (was ranked as high as 14th). Only two other Power-Five teams posted a +14 win differential or higher from last year: Utah (+16) and LSU (+17).

The Irish went 13-5 in a loaded ACC and claimed the No. 3 seed, after being projected to finish in 6th place.

Notre Dame entered the NCAA Tournament with a NET ranking of No. 20 (an improvement of 36 spots from last year). The Irish are 3-3 against the NET top-25 and 7-6 against the NET Top-50. They have zero losses outside the top-100. Coach Ivey boasts six ranked wins on the year which includes both No. 22 Oklahoma and No. 16 Georgia Tech on the road and No. 3 NC State at home. 

A SWEET HISTORY-MAKING WEEKEND

Notre Dame wanted to peak at the right time and they sure did with a dominant 108-64 win over No. 4 seed Oklahoma. 

– It marked the most points scored in a tournament game in program history.

– ND was the first team in men’s or women’s tournament history to beat a better-seeded team by 40+ points.

– Tied for largest NCAA Tournament win over a top-4 seed.

– ND’s 108 points were the most in regulation by an ACC team all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The only ACC team to score more was Duke in 1995 (120 points in 4OT).

MILES MAKES HISTORY

How about making history in your NCAA Tournament debut for Olivia Miles. She became the first freshman, in either the men’s or women’s tournament, to record a triple-double, let alone in her first game! In Notre Dame’s first-round win over UMass, Miles dropped 12 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. 

Overall, it marked the 18th triple-double ever in the women’s NCAA tourney and the 2nd by an Irish player – Skylar Diggins-Smith achieved the feat against Maryland in 2011. 

Then Miles wasn’t done. The freshman dished out 12 more assists in the win over Oklahoma, bringing her weekend total up to 23. The 23 assists marked the most by a women’s player in her first two NCAA Tournament games since at least the year 2000. 

MABREY MARCH MAGIC

Sometimes when you get to March you just need a little Mabrey magic on your side. 

Dara was unconscious in the first quarter of the Oklahoma game, connecting on five consecutive three-pointers to total 17 points in the period. The 17 points were by the most by an Irish player in a quarter since women’s basketball transitioned to quarters back in 2016. 

Dara ultimately finished with a season-high 29 points and a career-high-tying seven made three-pointers. The seven treys tied her sister Marina for the most by a ND player in an NCAA Tournament game. 

NOTRE DAME WBB TRADITION – GREEN NAILS

Back in March of 1997, Molly Peirick decided to paint her nails green for St. Patrick’s Day ahead of Notre Dame’s second-round matchup at Texas. Peirick also convinced her teammates and Coach McGraw to do the same. The Irish escaped with an 86-63 win which launched themselves to a run to the program’s first-ever Final Four. Then a tradition of painting the nails green for the Big Dance was born. Even the support staff and Irish fans get into the fun! For a full background on the history of the nails, please click here.

RUNNING WITH THE PACK

NC State went 17-1 during the ACC slate this season and that one loss happened to be a 69-66 upset in South Bend, Indiana. It marked Niele Ivey’s first top-five ranked win as head coach of the Irish. 

Maya Dodson led the way with an impressive 20-point, 10-rebound double-double, while keeping All-American Elissa Cunane at bay, who scored 13 points for the Wolfpack. 

Olivia Miles’ stat line was 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. Sam Brunelle also notched double figures again with 10 points. 

The Fighting Irish also got it done on the glass, out-rebounding the Pack, 45-38, recording 18 second-chance points.

The two sides have never met in an NCAA Tournament game. 

HOOSIERS/HUSKIES HISTORY

Notre Dame and Indiana have only met once in the Big Dance – an Irish second-round victory back in 2016. 

UConn on the other hand. Well, this is where the rivalry gets interesting. The Irish own a 5-3 record against the Huskies in the NCAA Tournament – the most of any other Division-I team.

HISTORY AS A FIVE-SEED

Notre Dame is now 7-3 all-time as a No. 5 seed. Their best finishes from this position were Sweet 16’s in both 2004 and 2008 – as the latter marked the last time they were a five-seed. 2009 (a seven-seed) was the last time Notre Dame didn’t host in the NCAA Tournament.  

CAN I HAVE THIS DANCE?

After the 2019 NCAA runner-up finish, Notre Dame made WNBA Draft history with all five starters being drafted in the top-20. The 2022 NCAA Tournament will be the program’s first since that major event.  

When looking around at that roster, only senior Abby Prohaska has experienced what it takes to make deep runs in March. Prohaska was the lone guard option off the bench during the team’s 2019 NCAA Tournament run. So it will mark the NCAA Tourney debuts for Miles, Citron, Brunelle, Peoples, Mabrey and Westbeld. 

OTHER NOTABLE NOTRE NOTES

– The Irish have now faced both the No. 1 and No. 3 rated offenses this season in terms of points per game and have defeated both of them in DePaul and Oklahoma.

– With Dara finishing with 29 points and Sonia with 25 against the Sooners, it marked the first time with two 25+ point scorers since Arike Ogunbowale (27) & Jessica Shepard (26) vs FSU, 2/10/19. 

– Another note after the first two rounds – back-to-back games with 50 points in the paint

– Olivia Miles is nearly averaging a triple-double in the NCAA Tournament with 10.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 11.5 assists. 

– Westbeld is averaging 16.0 ppg in the Big Dance while shooting lights out at 14-for-21 (.667). 

– Mabrey is averaging 23.5 ppg while converting 12-of-20 (.600) from three-point range. 

— ND —