Game Four - Notre Dame 71 - Fordham 56
The Irish cruised to a 23-9 lead after one quarter thanks to a blistering start from Dara Mabrey, who scored 15 pts on 6-6 shooting in the opening period. Fordham, meanwhile, missed several bunnies and and failed to record any second-chance points despite pulling down 5 rebounds.
At this point, it looked like Notre Dame would cruise to a straightforward beatdown of the Rams, but that was not to be. The Irish lead swelled to 21 in the 2nd quarter but Fordham went on an 8-1 run into halftime to once again cut the margin to 14. The 3rd quarter followed the same pattern with the ND lead growing to 20 at 54-34 before the Rams cut it to 7 with a 13-0 run that spanned the end of the 3rd quarter and beginning of the 4th.
As against Syracuse, it was once again Maddy Westbeld who stepped up with ND in need of a bucket to stem the tide. 5 points off of two Westbeld jumpers halted the momentum and the game was effectively killed when Citron drained a 3 to give the Irish a 16-point lead with 4:19 remaining. Two Kaitlyn Downey 3s kept the game vaguely interesting down the stretch but the Irish held their nerve and salted the game away.
Overall, Notre Dame shot 49% from the field compared to 34.3% for Fordham but the Rams took a whopping 19 more attempts than the Irish. The biggest cause of that was turnovers. Asiah Dingle was relentless in her attempts to pickpocket Irish guards and came up with 4 steals. However, many of the ND turnovers were of the unforced variety: stepped-on-the-line out of bounds, charges, 3 seconds, travelling. This game served as a reminder that Notre Dame is still a relatively undisciplined team that for all its potential still has a long way to go.
A cleaner performance could have lead to a 30+ point win but the Irish aren't there yet. For this team, simply not letting a 13-0 run lead to a meltdown and instead coming up with some key buckets to see the game out is a step in the right direction.
Orange Ape Award: Dara Mabrey - 20 pts (6-8 FG, 6-7 FG)
While Irish fans (including myself) sometimes question why Mabrey is given so much playing time, last night was an exhibit of her value to this team. Not only can she get hot and carry the offense for a quarter as she did in the first quarter, but she's also a valuable secondary option as a ballhandler. She will not get you the assists that Miles will (just one last night) but she will steer the ship in a storm and provide valuable leadership. She made all of her field goals in the 1st quarter but her presence was nevertheless vital for the remaining three quarters.
I could have chosen Westbeld again (18 pts, 7 reb) or Citron (12 pts, 10 reb). Somehow it's appropriate that I haven't selected Citron yet. She's rarely the most impressive player in any given game but she's almost always in the top 3.
