GREENSBORO, N.C. – The No. 2 team in the country and the Atlantic Coast Conference’s (ACC) top seed, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, three-peated as the league champion with a 68-57 win over 17th-seeded Syracuse at Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday.
The score was tied once early on, 8-8 at the 6:16 mark of the opening quarter, but from that point on, the Irish wrote and directed the script with no opportunities for the Orange to make edits as 5,017 in attendance took it all in.
Notre Dame led 42-30 at halftime, and coasted to the win, even while scoring only seven points in a choppy final quarter that featured long stretches of missed shots and turnovers by both teams.
Madison Cable’s 6-of-14 shooting, more specifically a dominating 6-of-9 finish beyond the arc, led Notre Dame with 18 points, a point total finish that was duplicated by teammate Brianna Turner (5-12/8-12 FT), who pulled down 11 rebounds to record the double-double.
Alexis Peterson’s 19 points and Briana Day’s 17 points matched up evenly for Syracuse, but a more consistent shooting performance and dominating rebounding made the difference for the Irish to claim another season sweep of conference titles.
Notre Dame converted on 42 percent of its field goal attempts inside and outside while sharing the ball to finish with 18 team assists and outrebounding the Orange by a 42-29 margin.
The Irish extended their unbeaten record in league tournament play to 10-0, and currently sit with a 57-1 all-time record in ACC play.
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Scoring leaders
Notre Dame: Madison Cable 18 pts. (6-14/6-9 3 pts.); Brianna Turner 18 pts. (5-12/8-12 FT); Kathryn Westbeld 10 pts. (5-8)
Syracuse: Alexis Peterson 19 pts. (6-14/3-8 3 pts.); Briana Day 17 pts. (8-12); Cornelia Fondren 10 pts. (4-9)
Rebounding leaders: Notre Dame – Brianna Turner (11), Madison Cable (8); Syracuse – Cornelia Fondren (8)
Turning point
Cable’s three-point shooting single-handedly made the difference due to Notre Dame’s unselfish ball movement that found her open to successfully convert at a 67 percent rate.
Even while the Orange changed its defense to man from a zone during the second half, the Irish’s ability to keep pace offensively and pull down rebounds denied any opportunity for the outcome to be questioned.
What they said
Notre Dame head coach Muffett McGraw:” I am so proud of this team and what they’ve accomplished, what we’ve been able to do this year. We’ve faced some adversity early, and we just kept moving forward. We found a way to win. We’ve got so many different people that have contributed. These three (Brianna Turner, Madison Cable, Lindsay Allen) have done the lion’s share of a lot of the big games, but we’ve had so many people off the bench contribute.
But I think a lot of the credit goes to the senior class. This class has really reinforced our culture. They’ve been tremendous leaders, and they set the tone. They’re incredibly unselfish, great teammates, great team players, and they have really, really helped our chemistry, and it’s the best it’s ever been. It’s a great group to be around. I love working with them. They come in ready every single day, and I’m just so proud of them right now.”
Notre Dame’s Madison Cable (on winning third straight ACC Tournament title and winning MVP award):” It’s obviously great. I don’t think that many people have done, but I think this year we’re looking to take it a step further and maybe win the next tournament.
Well, yeah, it’s great to win it (MVP), but I could never have won it without any of my teammates. It could have gone to either one of these people sitting next to me, and I mean, everyone played great and contributed, so I think that’s what I’m most happy about.”
Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman:” Well, we had a hard time getting matched up in some situations, but I thought at the end of the day, when you’re down by 12 and you’re not really scoring the ball at a good rate and you’re right there in distance; we just wanted to be there.
We thought if we got in front of them and got matched up in the second half we would be in pretty good shape. We went into the half 27-26, so I think the match-up was a big thing and a big reason why we were in the basketball game second half.”
Syracuse’s Britnney Sykes (on Notre Dame breaking the Orange press):”We have to run through our press and just get back, and if they are throwing that pass, we make our adjustments, and we did. And we went into our double face, and we got them matched up, so that was the key to the game, just getting matched up, make sure they can’t pass the ball down the court and pass to their shooters in the corner.”
Up next
Notre Dame: NCAA Tournament
Syracuse: Awaits at-large berth into NCAA Tournament