Notre Dame women's season ends in Sweet Sixteen after a bit too much of various factors
Too much potency from Oregon State’s two talented bigs, too much foul trouble to effectively counter, too little production out of Hannah Hidalgo relative to the freshman All-American’s own lofty standards and too many bizarre interruptions were among things that conspired to put an end to Notre Dame’s 2023-24 women’s basketball season Friday afternoon in Albany, N.Y.
Hulking 6-foot-4 Raegan Beers and versatile 6-3 Timea Gardner, both just sophomores, feasted on the interior-depleted Irish during the Beavers’ 70-65 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 win.
The duo paired for 39 points and 24 rebounds — matching ND’s team total — and did their damage efficiently at a combined 18-of-27 from the field as OSU (27-7) beat the Irish for the first time ever across six meetings.
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“She’s an incredible player, and I knew that going in,” Irish coach Niele Ivey said of Gardiner, who nearly doubled her season average with 21 points. “Recruited her, (have) watched her for a very long time. … She hit us with some dagger, dagger plays.”
Beers, a third-team All-American, repeatedly jabbed away as well.
“She’s a phenomenal player,” ND guard Sonia Citron said after Beers closed with 18 points, 13 rebounds and 9-of-12 shooting. “We tried a couple different things on her, whether it was fronting her and trying to be in help, or playing behind her and trying to trap. We tried to throw a couple different things at her, (but) credit to her.”
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There were only so many different things, or at least players, available to throw.
The Irish (28-6) particularly could’ve used starting center Kylee Watson in this matchup, but Watson, of course, was out after suffering a season-ending knee injury earlier this month in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
Fellow inside defensive player Maddy Westbeld, one of just two such deployed individuals ND had left alongside Nat Marshall, then picked up her third foul with four minutes to go in the second quarter and sat the rest of the first half.
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“It kind of threw me off defensively a little bit in the second half with playing as aggressive as I wanted to,” Westbeld said, “so that was really unfortunate.”
Irish misfortune showed up all over the place in this one.
Like when Hidalgo was sent to the sideline after the first quarter to have a nose stud removed. It took 4:09 of game time and at least three individuals working to remove the stud on the bench before she could return.
“I guess it was a point of emphasis in the Sweet 16, (but) she’s had a nose ring the entire season,” Ivey said. “Just wish we had known beforehand, but can’t control it, so had to move on.”
The nose-stud escapade came after the game also was stopped a mere 32 seconds in because the shot clock was counting down tenths of seconds at 0:10 left rather than 0:05. Yes, really.
“Felt we got a flow, got a stop, then the clock,” Ivey said. “It’s part of it, so we just have to pivot, but definitely had more stoppage than I would’ve expected in a Sweet 16 game.”
The game also had fewer points from Hidalgo than maybe anyone could’ve expected.
Averaging 22.9 going in, Hidalgo finished with 10, matching her season low. She also wound up just 4-of-17 from the field with no made 3s, her second-worst percentage of the season.
After hitting two shots in the opening 5:35, she missed a dozen straight before connecting again at just 57 seconds remaining in the game on a drive that pulled the Irish to within 65-63. Her final make came at 2.9 seconds to go for the final count.
“Her shot wasn’t falling today, (but) I feel like she was trying to get herself going by being a pest on defense,” said Ivey, who had a couple extended one-on-one huddles with Hidalgo during the game. “She (forced) a couple backcourt violations, which is awesome. She’s never going to stop playing regardless. Defensively, I love her intensity, and it’s been contagious with our team all season.”
That team wasn’t about to start faulting its superstar now.
“Even though things weren’t going her way, she told us, ‘I’m gonna give you everything I have on this possession, on the ball-handlers,’ and she did just that,” Citron said of Hidalgo, who added three steals to finish as the national leader. “She didn’t let it affect her defense, and I honestly think that just speaks to her growth as a person, as a player and as a teammate.”
Growth was a theme for the Irish this season, who had to overcome never getting All-American Olivia Miles back from last winter’s knee injury after there was initially hope she’d be able to return, had to overcome season-ending injury setbacks to a pair of its promising young players in Cass Prosper and Emma Risch, had to overcome a mini-slump of sorts well into the league season and eventually had to overcome Watson’s season-ending injury to win the ACC Tournament and a pair of NCAA Tourney games anyway.
“I would just tell you, I love my team,” Ivey said. “That’s the one thing I know. This is an incredible group, and we battled a lot this season, and we left it on the floor, and just proud of who we are.”
Citron, a junior, finished with a game-high 22 points and three steals.
Westbeld, a senior who has the option to return next season, added 19 points and a game-high four steals.
Anna DeWolfe, a grad transfer from Fordham, chipped in 12 points in her final ND game.
The Irish made their third straight Sweet 16 appearance, and their 10-game winning streak that was halted by the Beavers was the program’s best since 14 straight five years ago.