With its wire-to-wire first round victory over No. 11 Fairfield on Saturday, Niele Ivey’s sixth-seeded Notre Dame women’s basketball team will now face No. 3 Ohio State on Monday afternoon with a berth in the Sweet Sixteen on the line. Notre Dame is looking to advance to its fifth consecutive Sweet Sixteen, while the Buckeyes are aiming to advance beyond the first weekend for the first time since 2023, despite being selected as a host each of the past three seasons.
Despite their slow start to the year, the Irish claimed their eighth victory in their last nine games with the 79-60 triumph over Fairfield. Junior guard Hannah Hidalgo spearheaded Notre Dame’s efforts on both ends of the court, almost reaching rarified air with a near quadruple-double of 23 points, nine rebounds, six assists and eight steals. Complementing the ACC’s Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year was senior guard Cassandre Prosper, who added 17 points and eight rebounds against the Stags.
On the other side, the Buckeyes overcame a sluggish start to rout No. 14 Howard, 75-54. Four double-digit scorers contributed to Ohio State’s balanced attack against the Bison, but the Buckeyes were led by star sophomore guard Jaloni Cambridge. The 2025 Big Ten Freshman of the Year scored 21 points on an efficient 9-14 shooting.
The duel between Cambridge and Hidalgo, two of the most electrifying guards in the country, shapes up to be one of the better one-on-one matchups across the Tournament. The pair have competed together in the past with USA Basketball, where Cambridge’s quickness impressed the speedy Hidalgo.
“I just remember her speed. She’s a great guard, dynamic guard. Knows how to get her teammates involved. It’ll be a fun game tomorrow,” Hidalgo said.
Cambridge, who averages nearly 23 points and six rebounds a night, has also captured Ivey’s attention on the defensive end. “Jaloni and Hannah is going to be a great matchup but they both do things that are different. Again, they have great inside presence, shooters. I would say the difference is they press for 40 minutes, and so that’s something that we're preparing for,” Ivey noted.
Hidalgo is also drawing an extra level of attention in Ohio State’s preparation, as the nation’s leader in steals can be a pest all over the floor at all times. Ohio State boss Kevin McGuff stressed the importance of limiting live ball turnovers against the Irish.
“Hannah’s got great instincts and very, very quick hands. I think she’s won them a lot of games because her steals tend to be live ball turnovers in the open court that end up in uncontested layups, which are 100 percent shots,” he said. “It’s like a fine line of not overdoing it where we take ourselves way out of everything we want to do. At the same time, we have to be very aware of where she is and how she’s playing, because those plays can really affect the game.”
McGuff also addressed how Ohio State can challenge Hidalgo on the offensive end, where she ranks third nationally in scoring at over 25 points per game.
“In general, you’re not going to necessarily stop her. But we can slow her down. We can make her really work for the shots that she gets. I think that will be the key. It’s not like we’re going to shut her out, but we don’t want to give her anything easy, we want to make her work for the shots that she does get and hopefully through that we can have some effectiveness,” McGuff said.
As for the coaches, the McGuff versus Ivey matchup is made-for-TV material as well. McGuff was a long-time assistant under legendary Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw, including on the 2001 team that won the program’s first national championship. The star guard on that Irish squad was Ivey, who then got her coaching career started in 2005 as an administrative assistant under now-head coach Kevin McGuff at Xavier. Ivey and McGuff’s wife, Letitia, a Notre Dame alumna, remain good friends, and Ivey serves as the godmother to one of their daughters.
Despite the short turnaround between games, both coaches are confident in the endurance of their short rotations.
“In the ACC [Tournament], we had three games in a row, so we know what to expect. The girls know what to expect as far as that routine. We have that blueprint of what to do. We do have to have some really strong, intense prep. Then we’re pretty smart about what we need to do as far as saving their legs,” Ivey commented.
Hidalgo agreed, noting that Fairfield’s unique style of play served as beneficial preparation for Ohio State on short rest.
“I think Fairfield was a great prep game with us not playing for about a week or so. With us having to figure out how to defend the three-point line — run them off the three-point line — while also continuing to stay in front of the drive,” Hildago said.
All told, both Ivey and McGuff hail from the Muffet McGraw coaching tree, meaning Monday’s battle will feature mirror images of personnel, style and preparation. Hidalgo and Cambridge are likely a given for both sides, meaning depth pieces like Notre Dame senior guard and former two-time Ohio Ms. Basketball KK Bransford, will likely decide whether its the Buckeyes or the Irish advancing to the Sweet Sixteen.
Notre Dame leads the all-time series 4-1 over Ohio State, with the lone previous NCAA Tournament meeting resulting in a dominant Notre Dame win in the 2017 Sweet Sixteen. Monday’s second round contest is set to tip off at 4 p.m. inside Columbus’ Schottenstein Center, with the national telecast presented by ESPN.
