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'Big-time shot, big-time player': Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame come back to beat USC, 61-59

IMG_9992by: Tyler Horka3 hours agotbhorka
notre dame hannah hidalgo
Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Hannah Hidalgo (3) reacts in the first half against the Louisville Cardinals at the Purcell Pavilion. (Photo by Matt Cashore-Imagn Images)

It was always going to be Hannah Hidalgo. Notre Dame just needed to help get her there.

For much of Friday evening, it didn’t look like the No. 24 Fighting Irish (4-1) could. As in, get Hidalgo to the point of having the ball in her hands in the final 20 seconds of a tied game at Purcell Pavilion with the No. 11 Trojans (3-2) in town.

Too many turnovers. Too many missed shots. Not enough going right.

But then, the turnovers turned into assists. The misses turned into makes. Nothing could go wrong.

Especially when the ball never left Hidalgo’s hands on Notre Dame’s final possession. Why would it? The best player in NCAA women’s basketball was either going to win the game for Notre Dame or have it go to overtime. And, again, it’s Hidalgo. Did you really think she was going to miss?

Of course not.

Her mid-range, pull-up jumper was nails. It went through the hoop with 1.9 seconds remaining, and the Irish turned USC over in those final two ticks to seal the deal. Notre Dame, trailing by as many as 11 late in the third quarter, beat USC, 61-59, just six days after losing by 39 to now-No. 6 Michigan.

Quite a turnaround — one that was needed in the worst way.

“I can’t say enough about this team,” head coach Niele Ivey said. “I am so proud of the way we responded. Clearly, coming off a really, really tough loss. Got to work this week. They just stayed the course. Got after it. Super competitive this week. Really found that toughness that I know that we have.”

About that game winner?

“Big-time shot, big-time player,” Ivey said.

“A really excellent player made a tough shot on a really excellent defensive player,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb added. “She made a big shot.”

There wasn’t a better embodiment for Notre Dame’s flipping of the switch than redshirt junior guard KK Bransford, however. Hidalgo was on her game all night, except for a minor stretch of inefficient shooting. But Bransford? She had as many turnovers (6) as rebounds (3), points (2) and assists (1) combined through three quarters. She eventually willed herself to a stat line of 11 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist and 7 turnovers — just 1 in the fourth quarter.

Bransford became an offensive rebounding machine. She sured up her game and stopped trying to do too much. Instead, she let Hidalgo, who had 22 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 assists, find her for easy buckets under the basket. Those came much more easily than trying to get to her spot and being met by a sea of cardinal and gold jerseys.

Ivey pulled Bransford aside for a quick pep talk going into the fourth quarter. She told her there were 10 minutes left and whatever happened in the first 30 would be of little consequence if she helped Notre Dame complete its comeback and earn a victory.

That, she did. In a big way, scoring nine of Notre Dame’s 15 points in the frame. She outscored the Trojans on her own. They had eight.

“I felt the belief,” Bransford said. “I didn’t want to leave anything out on the court. Just telling myself, ‘You don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself.'”

The Irish wouldn’t have won without Duke transfer Vanessa de Jesus, either, who had 13 points and made three of the Irish’s five three pointers. She was a steadying force throughout, also contributing a team-high 4 assists and 2 steals.

One of the takeaways came in the final minute of the third. She scored on a breakaway layup. Then Hidalgo did the same to cap a 6-0 spurt in the final 1:03 of the quarter. That trimmed the lead from 11 to five and instilled much of the belief Bransford spoke of.

Even Gottlieb called that stretch the most pivotal point of the game. Hidalgo’s heroics stole the headlines, but when the home fans were at their quietest the Irish came up with game-changing plays that reinvigorated the near-capacity home crowd and set Notre Dame up to win it in the end.

“I thought it was huge,” Ivey said. “That group, they turned it on defensively. Got a couple of steals out of preparation, so they felt good about that, and came down and made some great squares. And I thought that really ignited our fourth quarter.”

It’s a fourth quarter that goes down as a season saver for Notre Dame for the time being. Lose the game, and the Irish are 3-2 with back-to-back losses in marquee matchups. Probably unranked in Monday’s Associated Press Poll. Win it, and they’re 4-1 ahead of a home game vs. Central Michigan on Monday then a week and a half off prior to heading to Oxford, Miss., to face No. 13 Ole Miss, which should be another ranked showdown.

The victory doesn’t completely eradicate everything that went poorly for Notre Dame, which was more than Ivey would like to admit. But it’s always preferred to take lumps and learn in a win than in a loss.

That’s what the Irish did vs. the Trojans. They learned the hard way vs. the Wolverines.

“After that wake up call vs. Michigan, we got back in the gym and we knew we had to turn some things around,” Hidalgo said. “We fine-tuned a lot of things. There is still a lot of work, but we know this is a game of runs.”

A season of runs. Maybe Notre Dame can go on one now.