NO. 3 NOTRE DAME 83, NO. 22 MICHIGAN 63
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Muffet McGraw noticed some signs of fatigue after Notre Dame won a tournament in Florida last weekend.
The Irish still had enough energy to get past Michigan -- and set up a matchup of unbeatens this weekend against No. 1 Connecticut.
Arike Ogunbowale scored 20 of her 32 points in the first half, and No. 3 Notre Dame beat No. 22 Michigan 83-63 on Wednesday night. The Irish were coming off a victory Sunday over South Carolina that capped a three-victories-in-three-days stretch at the Gulf Coast Showcase.
"We were really, really tired," said McGraw, Notre Dame's coach. "We looked tired at practice, tired in the game. To find the adrenaline to get us through that game was a great effort."
The Irish (7-0) earned another impressive victory heading into their showdown with No. 1 Connecticut in Hartford, Conn. Notre Dame held Michigan star Katelynn Flaherty to 13 points on 5-of-18 shooting. It was the first time all season she scored fewer than 20.
"That was the key to the game; we had to shut down Flaherty," McGraw said. "She's a great player, great scorer. We did a really good job on her. Everybody had a turn guarding her at some point."
Jackie Young added 18 points and 14 rebounds for Notre Dame, which has played its last six games away from home.
Hallie Thome scored 24 points for Michigan (4-2). Flaherty had a career-high eight assists on a night when open shots were hard to come by.
Notre Dame led 24-13 after the first quarter. Michigan cut the lead to five on a layup by Thome, but Ogunbowale made a pair of three-pointers to help the Irish to a 39-30 lead.
"I knew our team needed a little lift, so I was able to knock them down," Ogunbowale said.
It was 43-34 at halftime and 62-49 after three quarters. Notre Dame then started the fourth with a 14-2 run to break the game open.
Ogunbowale tied her career high in scoring. She also had 32 points against Ohio State in March.
The Wolverines simply had no answer for her defensively.
"I think tonight, they got a taste of one of the best players in the country in Arike," Michigan Coach Kim Barnes Arico said. "Now, how can we defend that? Who's going to make that their mission?"
In other Top 25/SEC games Wednesday, Teaira McCowan scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 20 rebounds to lead No. 6 Mississippi State over Louisiana-Lafayette 94-37. Mississippi State (7-0) didn’t have much trouble in this one, jumping out to a 30-8 lead by the end of the first quarter and coasting the rest of the way. The 6-foot-7 McCowan couldn’t be stopped, making 15 of 20 shots from the field and had 4 blocked shots and 3 steals. Victoria Vivians added 16 points. Chloe Bibby and Blair Schaefer both added 13 points. Louisiana-Lafayette (2-5) was led by Skyler Goodwin, who scored 14 points. … Shakayla Thomas scored 31 points, 17 in the fourth quarter, and Imani Wright added 26 points as No. 13 Florida State (7-0) erased a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat Iowa 94-93 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Megan Gustafson, who scored 34 points on 15-of-18 shooting, scored the first 6 points of an 8-0 run to end the third quarter and the first 4 points of the fourth quarter to put Iowa (7-1) ahead 75-63. Tania Davis knocked down a three-pointer for the Hawkeyes with 17.2 seconds to go. Both teams then went 1 of 2 from the line before Thomas made it a two-possession game with two foul shots with five seconds left. Davis ended it with a three at the buzzer. … Kaila Charles scored Maryland’s final three points in the last 40 seconds to lift the No. 15 Terrapins to a 60-59 victory over Virginia (3-5). Virginia’s Lauren Moses made 1 of 2 free throws with 14 seconds left and Maryland turned it over, but Dominique Toussaint missed a three-pointer and Jocelyn Willoughby the put-back in traffic as time ran out. … DiJonai Carrington and Alanna Smith scored 19 points apiece, Kiana Williams added a career-high 17 and No. 16 Stanford made a school-record 11 three-pointers in the second half to pull away for a 86-66 victory over San Francisco. The Cardinal (5-3) trailed 28-24 at the half as both teams shot less than 30 percent. Stanford quickly passed San Francisco (2-4) in the second half but back-to-back three-pointers by Ninni Salmi put the Dons up 40-38. A 10-2 run put the Cardinal up for good and they led 56-49 after three quarters. … Anriel Howard had a career-high 23 points and 13 rebounds, and Danni Williams added 19 points as No. 18 Texas A&M beat Rice 82-76. Chennedy Carter made 7 of 8 free throws and scored 17 points for Texas A&M (6-1), which was 14 of 21 from the line compared to Rice’s 9 attempts. Erica Ogwumike led Rice (5-2) with 26 points on 11-of-13 shooting for her third consecutive game with 20-plus. … Alex Louin scored 16 points, Adrianna Hahn added 15 points, and No. 25 Villanova held off Princeton 62-59. Louin made two free throws with 4:03 left to extend Villanova’s lead to 62-53 but the Wildcats went scoreless the rest of the way. Mary Gedaka added 12 points and Quinn had 7 points and 10 rebounds for Villanova (6-0), which improved to 63-9 against the Ivy League. Bella Alarie had a career-best 29 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks for Princeton (3-2).
Sports on 11/30/2017