Irish take on first ranked battle of season against No. 20 Maryland – The Observer

With an undefeated begin to their season, the No. 7 Notre Dame girls’s basketball workforce advances to face No. 20 Maryland on Thursday within the ACC/B1G Problem.

The Terrapins are coming off of a two-game win streak in opposition to Towson (81-70) and Pitt (87-63) and have a stable 6-2 report on the season to date. And whereas Maryland did lose to DePaul, their solely different loss got here to No. 1 South Carolina. 

This will probably be Notre Dame’s first ranked opponent and it’ll function a litmus check for the rest of the season. 

The Irish are additionally coming off a collection of spectacular wins, their most up-to-date being a dominating 85-65 win in opposition to Arizona State. The chief in factors was graduate switch heart Lauren Ebo with 20 factors, adopted by sophomore guard Sonia Citron with 15 and freshman guard KK Bransford with 14. Junior ahead Maddy Westbeld and sophomore guard Olivia Miles tied with 6 assists on the evening. That is all with Westbeld not taking part in as a lot time as typical for the ahead.

On the season, Notre Dame’s closest recreation was in opposition to Cal, with a 11-point distinction. Each different victory has been by 20+ factors. The Irish have been successful their recreation by a median of 25 factors per recreation. And whereas the Terrapins are their first ranked opponent, the Irish expertise is definitely deep sufficient to persevere. 9 gamers common not less than 9 minutes per recreation over the primary six video games. And, as they give the impression of being to play their first ranked opponent, they need to use all that depth to safe one other win.

Nevertheless, Maryland is a worthy contender. Diamond Miller is their main scorer with a median of 17.6 factors a recreation. Comparatively, Miles leads the Irish with 16 factors, and each groups’ second scorer – Citron for ND and Abby Meyers for Maryland – has a median of 15.3 factors per recreation. 

Each groups are coming off wins at neutral-site video games. The Terrapins and the Irish each have a frightening schedule forward and, with expertise on each side of the courtroom, each groups anticipate to make it far within the season. Maryland is at the moment on a run, making it to the Elite Eight in 2021 and Candy Sixteen once more final yr. Nevertheless, the Irish are nonetheless rebuilding their roster with head coach Niele Ivey. Even so, after lacking the NCAA Match in 2021, the Irish made it to the Candy Sixteen final yr. 

With a win, Notre Dame establishes themselves as a dominant determine within the NCAA and retains their scorching streak going, forward of a top-10 battle with UConn on Sunday.

After Maryland, Ivey’s squad will face No. 3 Connecticut at dwelling. The Huskies even have a frightening 5-0 report on the season, and are anticipated to make it far by means of the yr. 

Each groups are each off to a stable begin to their season. Though this recreation won’t decide both workforce’s NCAA match rankings, each groups need to set up themselves for future video games. 

The Notre Dame girls’s basketball workforce will face off in opposition to the Maryland Terrapins on Thursday, Dec. 1, at Purcell Pavillion. 

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