Irish pummel Buckeyes to advance

Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale (24) scored a career-high 32 points to lead the Fighting Irish to a 99-76 victory over Ohio State on Friday in Lexington, Ky.
Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale (24) scored a career-high 32 points to lead the Fighting Irish to a 99-76 victory over Ohio State on Friday in Lexington, Ky.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Notre Dame delivered on one promise by Coach Muffet McGraw to look different without injured Brianna Turner, shifting from lobbing the ball inside to their star forward to throwing up perimeter shots with success.

The strategy suited sophomore guard Arike Ogunbowale, who thrived all over the court to help the top-seeded Irish maintain their dominance against Ohio State.

Ogunbowale had a career-high 32 points, Lindsay Allen added 16 and Notre Dame easily beat Ohio State 99-76 on Friday night in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

Playing five days after losing star forward Turner to a season-ending left knee injury, the top-seeded Irish posted their third-highest output this season while also scoring the most points against the Buckeyes. Ogunbowale seemed almost unstoppable in making 11 of 22 from the field to top her previous high by two points.

"It's evident that we don't have Bri in the paint, so it's spaced out a little bit more," said Ogunbowale, who made four threes. "Coach told us to shoot our shot and be confident in what we were trying to do, and that's what we did."

Besides Allen, the Irish got 14 points and a career-high nine rebounds from freshman forward Erin Boley, a Kentucky native who started in Turner's place. The Irish tied one season best with 12 three-pointers on a season-high 24 attempts and made 19 of 20 free throws for a thorough victory.

Notre Dame (33-3) also used a 30-point third quarter to build an 80-65 lead that wasn't seriously threatened as it reached Sunday's Lexington Regional final against the winner between No. 2-seed Stanford and No. 3-seed Texas.

"Our young players just really stepped up in such a big game," McGraw said. "I thought Erin played the best game of the season, Arike had a career high in a huge game without Bri. It was a struggle for us this week trying to overcome that, and I'm just so proud of the resilience of this team."

Kelsey Mitchell had 18 points for No. 5-seed Ohio State (28-7), which was outrebounded 42-30 and outscored 38-34 inside.

The Buckeyes initially shot well and handled their business inside but couldn't match Notre Dame's pace and aggression, especially rebounding. While their bench earned a 34-13 advantage, it couldn't make up the Irish's collective effort.

"Any mistake that we made, they made us pay for," Coach Kevin McGuff said after facing McGraw, his former boss. "They executed on offense extremely well and shot the ball well. They were clearly the better team today, and that's what we aspire to look like as a program."

The Irish meshed hustle, crisp passing and a go-for-broke shooting approach from outside to make up for the height disadvantage created by Turner's injury. Boley's second start in three games was her best and helped her team establish the outside game it needed for a victory that showed how deep the Irish are.

Marina Mabrey had 14 points and Jackie Young 13 as six scored 10 or more points. Kathryn Westbeld had 11 rebounds and 10 points.

Boley gave family and friends a lot to cheer about as the Hodgenville, Ky., native played arguably the best game in just her ninth start. Four of her five baskets on 10 attempts came from long range, while her rebounding helped Notre Dame establish an inside presence. Not bad considering the void she had to fill.

"We came out really focused," said Boley. "Everybody was pretty loose and focused, and I thought we did a good job of coming out prepared and ready to play."

STANFORD 77, TEXAS 66

Erica McCall had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Karlie Samuelson scored 15 points and Stanford outlasted Texas to reach the Lexington Region final of the NCAA Tournament.

The second game this season between the schools ended with another Cardinal victory despite the team shooting 42 percent and committing 14 turnovers. But No. 2-seed Stanford (31-5) made 8 of 14 in the third quarter and held Texas to 33 percent shooting to grab a 54-49 lead entering the fourth and eventually extending it to double digits by making 7 of 8 free throws during one late stretch.

The Cardinal also out-rebounded the No. 3-seed Longhorns 41-35 to earn its second consecutive Elite Eight appearance, and will face No. 1-seed Notre Dame in Sunday's regional final. The Irish routed No. 5 seed Ohio State 99-76 in the other semifinal.

Brittany McPhee added 12 points in Stanford's seventh consecutive victory.

Ariel Atkins scored 18 points, Joyner Holmes had 15 and Kelsey Lang had 12 rebounds for the Longhorns (25-9), who had won 5 of 6.

Texas was held below its rebounding average of 43.4 per contest and was beaten on the boards for the first time since Baylor did it by a 43-35 margin on Feb. 6. Texas struggled to keep Stanford off the glass and finished with an outcome like its season opener -- a loss to the Cardinal.

The Cardinal shot just 39 percent in the first half but stayed even in the paint (18-18) and built a slight edge on the boards. That wasn't easy considering Texas' strength there as well blocking shots. Three-point shooting was key as they made 7 of 22 from long range while Texas shot just 4 of 13.

Sports on 03/25/2017

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