'Just phenomenal': How Hannah Hidalgo had 'the best' performance in Notre Dame women's basketball history

Even Niele Ivey was at a loss for words. Can you blame her? Notre Dame’s head coach witnessed an unprecedented performance Wednesday night along with over 6,200 others at Purcell Pavilion.

They all saw someone do something nobody else ever has in the history of NCAA basketball.

It was Hannah Hidalgo, of course. And we’ll get to what she did in a 85-58 Notre Dame victory over Akron after what Ivey said. Which, like we said, wasn’t a lot, but her response to a simple question actually said a whole lot indeed.

Where does Hidalgo’s record-setting outing rank among the best Ivey’s ever been on the floor for in 23 seasons of pouring almost half of the years of her life into Notre Dame women’s basketball?

“Maybe the best, honestly. If it’s not one, then — ” Ivey said before a quick pause.

Then, she changed course. Got more to the point.

“It’s the best.”

Definitively. End of story.

There hasn’t been one game when any other player that’s ever come through Notre Dame was better. Hidalgo scored 44 points, breaking the previous program record of 41. She had 16 steals, which broke an NCAA record that had stood for 27 years. She chipped with in 9 rebounds, nearly notching her second career triple-double, and 4 assists. All in 28 minutes.

And all after she got up, went to class and killed some time before shoot around. Standard stuff. Which is entirely appropriate; absurd stat lines have become the standard for the Notre Dame superstar. Nightly.

“My teammates, I know that’s what they need from me,” Hidalgo said. “And I want to be able to be consistent in doing that.”

Hidalgo is averaging 34.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 7.7 steals and 5 assists in the first three games of her junior year. Small sample size, sure, but this is a player who’s already broken the single-season Notre Dame scoring record — twice. What’s stopping her from doing it again? What’s stopping her from smashing it again?

Players tend to get better as their college careers advance, often peaking in senior seasons. Hidalgo asserted herself as one of the best players in the nation and one of the best Notre Dame has ever had in the storied history of the university as a freshman. And we probably still haven’t seen the full extent of what she’s capable of — and might not see it until a season from now.

In the meantime, how can anyone who roots for Notre Dame — or just loves the sport of basketball in general — not relish in every minute she’s on the floor?

Take the second quarter vs. Akron, for instance. Hidalgo scored the first 14 points for the Irish in it. She was removed for a breather, and the pace of the game didn’t allow for her to check back in even though Ivey sent her to the scorer’s table, and the Zips ended up winning the final 4:31 of the frame, 12-9, without Hidalgo able to do anything about it.

She’s not just the best player in the sport. She’s also the most valuable.

“She brings such positive energy in the way she plays on defense,” senior guard Cassandre Prosper said. “It fuels us all on the defensive end, on the offensive end. And then she finds us on offense. I feel like because she brings up the intensity, we just got to follow her and do the same thing.”

That 12-9 Akron spurt and Hidalgo having over half of Notre Dame’s points will be an issue for, say, Saturday, when the Irish go to Detroit to face No. 14 Michigan. That’s not an opponent to resort to Hidalgo hero ball against. It’s normally not a good sign when one player takes 37.9 percent of a team’s shot attempts.

Against Akron, though, it didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered but dousing Hidalgo with water champagne-shower style when she walked into the locker room following her postgame TV interview. She walked in, by the way, a new Notre Dame and NCAA record holder, and she couldn’t even buy a bottle of champagne to celebrate if she wanted to.

She’s 20 years old. Turns 21 in February. And there isn’t anybody out there better at doing what she does than herself.

“You have to celebrate that,” Ivey said, “because that was just phenomenal to be a part of, to witness.”