Through three years in blue and gold, junior guard Hannah Hidalgo has submitted her legacy as one of the most iconic and proficient players in Notre Dame history. From her first game scoring 31 points and snatching three steals against No. 6 South Carolina, Hidalgo has been a force for Niele Ivey’s team. Starting each game she has been available to play, Hidalgo has sharpened her craft each season to become a more complete player and leader for Notre Dame. This season, leading a limited Irish team far beyond expectations, Hidalgo has broken defensive records en route to her third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance in Fort Worth, Texas, this weekend.
Hannah’s freshman year was punctuated by a slew of awards including ACC Rookie of the Year, ACC Defensive Player of the Year, 2023 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year and the ACC Tournament most valuable player. On top of the accolades, Hidalgo averaged 22.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 4.6 steals per game. Hidalgo led the country in the steals category for the first of three straight seasons in her career. Hidalgo recorded a record-setting 12 steals in the second game of the season, a preview of the defensive motor to come. Leading the team to the Sweet 16, where it eventually fell against Oregon State. Hidalgo’s freshman year was an unrivaled success alongside Juju Watkins as two of the best freshman seasons ever for women’s college basketball in the same year.
In her sophomore season with the return of graduate guard Olivia Miles and graduate forward Maddy Westbeld from injury, Hidalgo’s stats shifted to 23.8 points, five rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.7 steals. Overall, an improvement from the season before, although her offensive role changed with Miles as a facilitator back from injury. Notre Dame defeated the eventual national champion UConn Huskies at home in a game where Hidalgo led in scoring with 29 points. Notre Dame also defeated No. 4 Texas in overtime and No. 3 USC on the road. Three top five victories in a month stretch in games where Hidalgo led in scoring gave Irish fans hope at a deep run in March Madness and belief in the talent to make the Final Four. Realistically, this 2024-25 season was Hidalgo’s best opportunity to win a championship, with the sheer versatility and capabilities of the roster, but Niele Ivey’s team fell short against TCU in the Sweet 16.
In the 2025-26 season, Hidalgo has set new records for Notre Dame and the country at large. Only three games into her season, Hidalgo recorded 16 steals in 28 minutes, which set a Division I record for the most steals in a game in the Irish win over Akron. Hidalgo also added 44 points to provide the highest scoring game in Notre Dame women’s basketball history.
In January, Hidalgo became the fastest player in ACC women’s basketball history to reach 2,000 career points in just 86 games. She also passed Notre Dame and WNBA legend Skylar Diggins to become the Irish’s all-time leader in steals with 382. Currently Hidalgo has 468 steals, 11th in women’s basketball history. At her current pace, with one more season, Hidalgo will be top-3 all time in steals, potentially fighting for the first or second spot. Hidalgo is Notre Dame’s all-time leader in 30-plus-point games, 20-plus-point games and consecutive 10-plus-point games, which accounts for all 101 of her games.
This season in 2025-26 is arguably the most impressive for Hidalgo, increasing her individual stats to 25.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 5.6 steals, but also lifting a team of nearly all transfers into the Sweet 16. Of Notre Dame’s top 10 players in minutes and points from a season ago, Hidalgo and Prosper are the only two remaining players. Additionally, Hidalgo is not sharing the backcourt with the superstar Miles and guard Sonia Citron, the third overall pick in the 2025 WNBA draft and runner up for Rookie of the Year.
Comparing Hidalgo against other Notre Dame greats starts to give a better picture to her transcendent impact on the floor. Some of the greatest Irish players include Skylar Diggins-Smith, who led Notre Dame to two national Championship games and is third in points and second in steals in her career. Or Ruth Riley, who also brought Notre Dame to the national championship twice and won one in 2001. She finished her career with the most rebounds and blocks in program history. In terms of truly clutch and game-changing shot making, Arike Ogunbowale helped the Irish win the 2018 national championship with back-to-back game winning buzzer betting shots. She also leads the Irish in career points, with Hidalgo only 219 behind. While all of these greats boast accolades and historic resumes for Notre Dame, none truly measure up against Hidalgo’s total impact on the game.
If you mesh the impact of all these players between scoring, defensive presence, clutch scoring and leadership, you start to see the impact that Hidalgo brings to the Irish this season. She has the ability to make clutch game-winning shots, as she did against No. 11 USC on Nov. 21. She leads the program in steals, and is already second in points in only three seasons of work. Truthfully, the only trait that all three other players share is the Final Four and Championship pedigree. Hidalgo still has two more opportunities, including this season as she is already in the Sweet 16 to take on No. 2 Vanderbilt Friday.
It would be nearly unfathomable for Hidalgo to lead Notre Dame past Vanderbilt and UConn to make her first Final Four, but one thing Irish fans have learned is to not count out Hidalgo.
She just posted a game of 26 points, a career high 13 rebounds, eight steals and two assists to defeat No. 3 seed Ohio State, gaining national recognition for her performance. Vanderbilt is a fantastic team who has yet to be tested in the tournament making easy work of No. 7 seed Illinois. Hidalgo has a chance to submit her ballot for Player of the Year as she will guard Mikayla Blakes, a sophomore guard for Vanderbilt who averages 27 points on the season. If the Irish can pull off the upset, they will face the undefeated and clear No. 1 overall seed UConn sitting at 36-0. The Huskies beat the Irish 85-47 back in January holding the Irish to 1-16 from 3-point range.
Hidalgo has already lifted this team beyond what many even thought possible after the mid-season woes for Notre Dame. This March Madness run can only add to another historic season for the junior. All Hidalgo has left to do to cement herself as the greatest player in the history of Notre Dame women’s basketball is make a deep run in March Madness. Despite the odds, she has her team right back in the position to do so.
