If she hadn’t done so already, Hannah Hidalgo proved on Monday afternoon why she is the best two-way player in college basketball. With Notre Dame’s season and potentially Hidalgo’s collegiate career on the brink, the star junior guard steered Niele Ivey’s Irish to an 83-73 second-round victory over No. 3 Ohio State in Columbus.
Just 48 hours after posting an astounding 23-point, 9-rebound, 6-assist and 8-steal statline in the 79-60 first-round victory over No. 11 Fairfield, Hidalgo was back inside the Schottenstein Center to outdo herself once more. The ACC and Defensive Player of the Year brought the energy in front of a raucous Buckeye crowd, leaving the court with a smile and her hands held high, booking a spot in the Sweet 16.
“It’s that standard, that standard of excellence that we’re always trying to get back to,“ Ivey said post-game, flanked by Hidalgo.
Led by 13th-year head coach Kevin McGuff, a former assistant and 2001 national champion at Notre Dame under hall-of-famer Muffet McGraw, Ohio State advanced to the second round via a comfortable 75-54 win over No. 14 Howard on Saturday morning. Despite their omission from the preseason AP Poll, the Buckeyes remained a consistent winner and reached the Big Ten Championship game, earning the right to host in the NCAA Tournament for their fourth straight campaign.
On the floor, the Scarlet and Gray have been led all season by sophomore guard Jaloni Cambridge. The 2025 Big Ten Freshman of the Year entered Monday’s action averaging 22.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. She poured in a career-high 41 at Illinois back in January and led a quartet of Buckeyes in double-figures against the Bison with 21.
The aforementioned Hidalgo entered play ranked third nationally in scoring at 25.2 points per game, while leading the country in steals with more than five a night. Hidalgo’s running mate is the ACC’s Most Improved Player, senior guard Cassandre Prosper — averaging 13.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per contest on efficient 49% shooting.
In front of a solid but not sold-out crowd inside the Schottenstein Center, the Buckeyes blitzed Notre Dame to start, opening up a 9-0 lead in the first two minutes of action. Cambridge connected on her first three jumpers, and sophomore center Elsa Lemmilä denied the first two Irish looks from the interior, prompting Ivey to burn a quick timeout.
Speaking on Notre Dame’s regrouping during that break, senior guard Vanessa de Jesus said, “It was a loud crowd, they have a lot of fans here. We knew it was a big game coming in. So for us, it was taking a breath, staying patient and knowing that we put the work in. So, just going out there and playing as Notre Dame.”
The full-court pressure forced another Irish turnover and breakaway layup before senior guard Iyana Moore canned threes on consecutive possessions to ease the Irish into the game. The frenetic pace continued throughout much of the first quarter, with three Hidalgo steals on four Buckeye turnovers allowing the Irish transition offense to find easy buckets and trim the lead to 3.
Hidalgo found Ohio native KK Bransford on a nice dime to end the first frame; the senior guard’s quickness and athleticism allowed the Irish to claw back to just a 22-20 deficit after one. Yet, the squad was still without a defensive answer for Cambridge, who led all scorers with 9 points in the quarter. That solution came with drop coverage from senior forward Malaya Cowles, who sagged off of Lemmilä and prevented Cambridge from getting downhill. A forced turnover early into the second quarter led to a runout for de Jesus. Notre Dame had its first lead at 26-24.
“It’s funny because I was looking to try to ice her, keep her to one side of the floor. I had to change it up because she’s an amazing guard at 41 points,” Ivey said of that decision. “So I was just trying to throw some different things at her. So sometimes it was drop, sometimes we switched.”
After a trio of free throws by de Jesus, Ohio State’s defense responded by forcing three turnovers to draw the Buckeyes back within two, but a 6-0 run by Notre Dame capped off a 19-point turnaround. The Irish led 43-35 at the intermission, led by Hidalgo’s 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Prosper and Bransford each also added 8, while Cambridge led the Bucks with 13.
“We’ve been through moments where we’ve had rough starts and we had to crawl back,” Hidalgo said of her team’s response to Ohio State’s hot start. “Because of that adversity, because of how we started this season, we’ve been able to figure it out.”
Coming out of the locker room, the Irish quickly picked up where they left off, as Hidalgo forced a turnover on the first Buckeye possession, leading to a three-pointer from de Jesus to push the lead to double digits. Hidalgo’s intensity did not waver, as a rebound over the 6-foot-6 Lemmilä resulted in a tough finish on the other end, forcing McGuff to call a timeout with Notre Dame leading 50-37.
McGuff got through to both his team and the officiating crew. Notre Dame was whistled for four quick off-ball fouls, as the Buckeye defense locked in on Hidalgo; the ensuing three-minute scoring drought led to a 10-0 Buckeye spurt. A 6-0 run solely from Cambridge pulled the Bucks back to within one and took Hidalgo with her third personal. Ivey elected to trust her star, and it paid dividends as Hidalgo steered clear of a fourth and scored twice, bringing the score to 58-54 Irish after the third.
Notre Dame started the final quarter with triples from Moore and de Jesus in succession, pushing the edge back up to 8 and forcing another Buckeye timeout. The break only gave Hidalgo more of a jolt, as she immediately recorded her sixth steal and turned it into an and-one on the other end. A few possessions later, the New Jersey native drilled a moonball three, and you could feel the energy slowly drain out of the Schott.
Hidalgo’s fourth foul turned out not to be the lifeline the Buckeyes needed, and after Prosper back-cut for yet another hoop plus the harm, the Scarlet and Gray faithful started heading to the exits with 2:30 remaining. Hidalgo then equaled her own NCAA Tournament record of 8 steals and cashed in a pair of free throws to make it a 75-59 advantage.
Ohio State was held without a field goal for over eight minutes until Cambridge connected on a late triple. All told, the Bucks committed seven turnovers and just nine field goal attempts across the quarter. “It started with turnovers, which they really made us pay. Hannah had eight steals. But when you’re giving up layups off of turnovers, it’s just really hard to overcome,” McGuff saidc post-game.
Hidalgo finished with 26 points, bringing her season total to 856 for the most ever in a Notre Dame season, and added 13 rebounds. “I try not to be the villain. But it’s fun., ” she said. Notre Dame also received balanced scoring from the rest of the lineup, with de Jesus adding 15 and Prosper and Moore each totaling 13.
Cambridge was phenomenal for the Buckeyes in the losing effort, pouring in 41 points on 13-25 shooting from the floor and 5-8 from deep. “41 doesn’t matter with an L. You want to win. If I could have scored zero and got a win, I would have been satisfied,” Cambridge said.
McGuff was more complimentary of her performance, however, saying, “She’s a great kid, and we obviously love having her here, and we rely on her quite a bit. But she’s also extremely competitive, and I think everyone could see she gave it everything she had tonight. We came up short as a team, but it certainly wasn’t for what Jaloni was giving us and contributing to our team.”
With the victory, Notre Dame moves to 5-1 all-time against Ohio State, including 2-0 in the NCAA Tournament following its 99-76 Sweet 16 victory back in 2017. Ohio State wraps up its season at 27-8, its fifth straight season with at least 25 wins, but also the third consecutive year of failing to reach past the second weekend in March.
As for Notre Dame, the Irish now move on to their fifth consecutive Sweet 16. The program has advanced no further under Ivey but will try to eclipse its plateau and reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2019, when Notre Dame advanced to the National Championship Game before ultimately falling by one to Baylor.
The Irish will head to Fort Worth later this week to prepare for Friday’s Sweet 16 showdown with second-seeded Vanderbilt, which will enter play at 29-4 overall. Tipoff time from Dickies Arena has yet to be determined, but the game will be broadcast nationally on the ESPN Family of Networks.
