SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A legendary football rivalry will make its way to the basketball court as Michigan and Notre Dame will play in the second round of the women’s NCAA tournament on Sunday, after each team won their first-round match-ups at the Purcell Pavilion on Friday.
No. 3 seed Notre Dame defeated No. 14 Stephen F. Austin in dominant fashion, 106-54. Earlier, No. 6 Michigan won the first game of the day and held off No. 11 seed Iowa State for a thrilling 80-74 win. Playing in the Birmingham 2 regional, both teams are looking to make it to the Sweet 16 on Sunday.
For Notre Dame, 11 different players scored, a point of pride for head coach Niele Ivey. Sophomore Hannah Hidalgo and senior Sonia Citron each had 24 points. Hidalgo had no problem slicing through the Ladyjacks’ defense to get to the basket. She added five steals to what she was doing on offense.
“I think towards the end, our momentum was really — the fans were really into it. The momentum was high,” Hidalgo said.
Notre Dame was able to ride its size and speed against Stephen F. Austin, which won the Southland Conference to advance to the NCAA tournament. The Irish shot 56.3 from the field Friday, and won the rebounding battle 44-30.
It was a marked difference for Notre Dame, who ended the season getting knocked out in the semifinals of the ACC tournament.
“I think we understand adversity,” senior Maddy Westbeld said. “I think you know we know what to do when adversity hits, and you kind of just have to look within and you kind of just got to take it on the chin, look at yourself in the mirror, and figure out what you can do better. And I think we all agreed to doing that. We all held each other accountable. When one man goes down, the next person steps up, and that’s what’s so incredible.”
Unfortunately for Notre Dame, someone did go down on Friday — in the fourth quarter, second-team All-American Olivia Miles stepped awkwardly on someone’s foot and fell to the ground. She was helped off the court and didn’t return, but Ivey said she expects Miles to be healthy and ready to play for Sunday.
Though Notre Dame and Michigan have a storied football rivalry, it hasn’t quite become one in women’s basketball — yet.
“It means everything. They’re down the street. Two storied programs,” Ivey said. “Phenomenal coach in women’s basketball tradition at Michigan, and they have one of our former players, Natalie Achonwa, on the bench. So again, we’re excited to play no matter who our matchup was. We’ll be ready. Excited for women’s basketball to see two great programs matched up together.”
Against Iowa State, Michigan senior Jordan Hobbs knew this could be her final game in a Wolverines uniform. After starting her career as a benchwarmer as a freshman, she fought to become a starter by her senior year. On Friday, she took matters into her own hands, turning in 28 points, a career high. She found ways to score early when the rest of the Wolverines were struggling offensively. Iowa State held a five-point lead at halftime.
“I don’t think anyone was really that worried in the first half. We’ve been in that situation so many times this year. Thinking back to like two weeks ago, playing Illinois, we were down five or six with three minutes left and ended up winning that game,” Hobbs said. “I just think everyone stayed really poised throughout that time. And it enabled us to come back really well and have the confidence in the second half.”
In that second half, Michigan’s freshmen came alive. Syla Swords, who scored just five points in the first half, finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Olivia Olson scored the key layup to seal the win at the end of the game. Even when they struggled early, they stayed calm and trusted themselves.
“That’s our freshmen for you. Mila [Holloway] didn’t make many buckets in the fourth quarter. She made a couple of them. And Syla is on triple-double watch every single time. I think they compete at such a high level and they move on to the next player even when things aren’t going their way,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said.
Michigan will need that maturity as it faces a tough Notre Dame team that was ranked No. 1 earlier this season, and is coming off an easy first-round win. But the motivation for Hobbs is clear. The more she wins, the more she gets to play for Michigan. There were moments during the game when Iowa State was up and she wasn’t sure if her Michigan basketball days were over.
“I can’t lie that there were some of those thoughts going through my head during that game, especially when they were up 10 in the third and things just weren’t going our way,” Hobbs said.
“But thinking that I get to wear Michigan again on Sunday is really special. I cherish every single minute that I’m in this uniform, in the practice uniform, in the gear. I can’t wait, and we’re going to represent it well.”
Arico also wore special gear as her Wolverines won on Friday — her vintage-look Michigan sweater was actually a nod to her daughter, a freshman on Michigan’s lacrosse team. The mothers’ group for the lacrosse team found them matching sweaters, and though Arico has plenty of Michigan gear, she had to get one.
“I ordered it and I wore it to the Big Ten [tournament], and the parent group chat was, like, our sweater’s on TV! Our sweater’s on TV!” Arico said.
Michigan lacrosse won on Thursday over USC, and Michigan basketball is into the second round. Perhaps that sweater does have a touch of magic.
