WBB vs Notre Dame Dec 18

The Ladies (#6) host Notre Dame (#5) Dec 18 at 4 PM. The game is on the ACC Network. Jenn Hildreth is doing play by play; Jasmine Thomas is the analyst. There has only been one other top ten matchup in Cassell Colisseum. The other happened Feb 17, 1996 when the #10 Hokie men's team hosted #1 UMass; UMass won 74-58.

Former Hokie point guard Dara Mabrey returns to Cassel during what will probably be her final year of college basketball. She played for the Hokies in 2018-19 and 2019-20 before transferring to Notre Dame. She will be playing her fifth year.

The star guard for ND is PG Olivia Miles who led their easy win over UConn on Dec 4. She led the Irish with 21 points (10 of 18, 0 for 3 from 3) and 8 rebounds. Maddy Westbeld, 6'3" Junior Forward contributed 17 points (6 for 11, 3 for 5 from 3) and 9 rebounds. Kylee Watson, 6'4" Junior Forward starts; but 6'4" Center Lauren Ebo plays nearly half the game. Kitley will have some strong competition in this game.

Notre Dame is 8-1 on the season with their only loss to #15 Maryland 74-72 at home on Dec 1. They rebounded to easily defeat then #3(now #9) UConn on Dec 4; UConn star Azzi Fudd only played 13 minutes after being injured early in the game.

In the loss to Maryland both Miles and Westbeld had four fouls and Watson had three. In the win against UConn, four players had three fouls. Notre Dame does not have a deep bench; only 7 players played significant minutes against the two ranked teams. Miles (2.0), Ebo (2.8) and Westbeld (2.2) average two or more fouls per game. Foul trouble and a short bench could be a factor in this game. How the refs call this game could be important. If the refs allow a lot of contact and physical play, the Irish could keep their players on the court. If the refs call a tight game, Notre Dame may get deep into the bench.

Notre Dame shoots well from beyond the arc; three of the starters shoot 39%, 42% and 50% from three, a fourth starter shoots 27%. The other three players with significant minutes do not even attempt threes; one of them will probably have a career night from beyond the arc against us. As you might guess if you watched her play for the Hokies, Mabrey has the most attempts (61) and makes (24) from three. The Irish average 50% overall and 37.5% from three.

The Irish have out rebounded their opponents by 16 per game this year. And they have gotten 4 more offensive rebounds than their opponents on average. However, they were outrebounded in the loss to Maryland 41-37; and UM got 17 offensive rebounds to NDs 13. I seem to remember Notre Dame, and especially Westbeld playing a very physical game. The Hokies are going to have to bang with them underneath to keep them from dominating on the boards. This would be a good game to have Owusu available.

This is going to be a great game(I hope). The Hokies should have a slight edge because they are in Cassell. The Queens of Cassell (Kitley and Amoore; check out their podcast on youtube) are going to have to play very well to bring this one home. Owusu will probably not play today; she had surgery on her pinky figure Dec 6 and is expected to return in Jan or Feb. We can win without her; but our chances would have been better if she played. As I mentioned above, how this game is called will be important. The Hokies do not normally play a physical game and the Irish do. Kitley is used to dealing with players trying to push her around; but she does not often face players as tall as ND whose style is as aggressive. Amoore and the other perimeter shooters may have to carry the team today. The game may come down to who has the better day from beyond the arc because ND also shoots well from three; but Mabrey showed she can have an off night when she played for us. This would be a good game for Cayla King to get hot. For what it's worth, given the caliber of the competition, our three point defense (23.7%) has been better than theirs (30%).

GO HOKIES!