On account of its 83-73 victory over No. 3 seed Ohio State on Monday, Notre Dame women’s basketball will make its fifth-consecutive Sweet 16 appearance under head coach Niele Ivey in Fort Worth, Texas, as it faces No. 2 seed Vanderbilt. No. 6 seed Notre Dame hopes to finally get over the hump and earn an Elite Eight berth for the first time since 2019. The Commodores, meanwhile, eye their first regional semifinal win since 2002; plus, Vandy is likely motivated by last season’s first-round elimination after a 77-73 overtime loss to No. 10 Oregon.
Star junior guard Hannah Hidalgo paces the Irish squad on both ends of the floor. In her last game, Hidalgo put on another phenomenal show in Columbus against No. 3 seed Ohio State with 26 points, 13 rebounds and eight steals. The ACC and Defensive Player of the Year now averages 25.2 points per game on the season and leads the country with a staggering 5.6 steals per contest. She is not a one-woman show; four of her teammates netted double-figure scoring nights against the Buckeyes. Graduates Vanessa de Jesus and Iyana Moore — a former four-year Commodore herself — and seniors Cassandre Prosper and KK Bransford round out an elite guard contingent.
Ivey agreed, saying, “I’ve learned how to allow [Hidalgo] to be her. That’s her superpower, the way that she defends.”
She also spoke of her team’s culture and camaraderie, adding, “They’re unselfish, and I think you can see that on the floor. They just really care about each other. Again, they’re family, and they’ve developed a really close-knit bond together.”
Recently, the Notre Dame has been impressive in a string of high-profile matchups, with Hidalgo and the team challenged by elite players like Ohio State’s Jaloni Cambridge. If there is anyone capable of matching Hidalgo’s heroics, however, it may be Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes. In addition to being a defensive stalwart, the sophomore guard amassed 25 points and nine rebounds in the Commodores’ dominant second-round 75-57 blowout against Illinois; the First-Team All-American leads the country with 27 points per night. Blakes undoubtedly presents a stiff test, but Hidalgo likely will look to prove she also deserved AP First-Team All-American honors after being relegated to Second-Team for the first time in her career.
Hidalgo recalled a matchup she had with Blakes during their high school days. “It was a show. Two dynamic guards. I had to guard her the whole game. I think just her ability to do what she does, you know, the things that she brings to her team is so different,” she said.
However, she was adamant that the best team, not the best player, would prevail Friday night. “This whole game is just about playing together. You know, it’s not about me versus Mikayla. It’s about Notre Dame versus Vanderbilt,” Hidalgo said. “It’s really just the way that we’re going to win the game tomorrow is by playing together like we’ve been doing the past couple of months.”
Blakes expressed a similar sentiment, saying, “I take it how I take every game, just focus on the team really. It’s a team sport — we have to be together as a team offensively and defensively. Whatever it takes for me to do that, I’m willing to do.”
And, like the Notre Dame, not all of Vanderbilt’s firepower is concentrated in one player. Three Commodores besides Blakes average double digits — guard Aubrey Galvan (likely to be the primary assignment on Hidalgo), wing Justine Pissott and forward Sacha Washington. The matchup may well boil down to which supporting cast outbattles the other. Yet this remains a contested matchup that cannot be won by Hidalgo or Blakes alone.
Hidalgo understands that and recognizes the importance of the bond in Notre Dame’s locker room. “I’m so excited to be able to be alongside these women and play with them and to be able to win together with this group of girls. It just means so much more, and it’s a lot deeper than basketball,” she said.
Tipoff between No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 2 Vanderbilt is set for 2:30 p.m. Friday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. With a spot in the Elite Eight against either top-seeded UConn or No. 4 North Carolina on the line, the game will be nationally broadcast on ESPN.
