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Notre Dame knocks out Mississippi State in NCAA Women’s Tournament – The Vicksburg Post
Notre Dame knocks out Mississippi State in NCAA Girls’s Match
Printed 7:18 pm Sunday, March 19, 2023
- Mississippi State’s Asianae Johnson (3) reacts after Notre Dame’s KK Bransford, proper, knocked the ball away from her in the course of the first half of a second-round sport within the NCAA Girls’s Match on Sunday. (AP Photograph/Michael Caterina)
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — 5 years after Notre Dame broke Mississippi State’s coronary heart within the NCAA ladies’s basketball match, it did it once more.
Lauren Ebo had 10 factors, 18 rebounds and 4 blocks to assist No. 3 seed Notre Dame beat Eleventh-seed Mississippi State 53-48 within the second spherical of the NCAA Match on Sunday.
“Conserving them off the boards was vital for us and rebounding is one thing we actually struggled with prior to now month or so,” Ebo stated. “I wished to go on the market and assist us get to the Candy Sixteen.”
Notre Dame (27-5) superior to the Candy 16 for the second yr in a row and the nineteenth time in program historical past. It would play Maryland on March 25 in Greenville, South Carolina.
Mississippi State (22-11) has solely confronted Notre Dame twice in ladies’s basketball, and each occasions had its season finish by the hands of the Irish. Notre Dame received 61-58 with a 3-pointer on the buzzer within the 2018 nationwide championship sport.
The Bulldogs had been a determined underdog this time, after advancing out of the First 4 earlier within the week. Mississippi State received two video games in this system’s first NCAA Match look since reaching the regional closing as a No. 1 seed in 2018-19. It misplaced within the nationwide closing within the two seasons prior.
“What we did was so particular,” first-year Mississippi State coach Sam Purcell stated. “You’ve got a program that lots of people across the nation stated, ‘It’s performed; it had its glory years.’ However these younger ladies had been an absolute pleasure to teach.”
Maddy Westbeld added 9 factors and 15 rebounds for the Irish, who blew an eight-point lead within the fourth quarter earlier than making the performs down the stretch for the win.
Mississippi State scored eight straight factors to open the fourth quarter and tie the sport at 41. Ebo scored the primary Irish basket of the ultimate interval on an offensive putback with 4:38 remaining.
The Irish regained the lead for good, at 45-43, on a pair of KK Bransford free throws with 3:49 left
“The group erupted,” Notre dame coach Niele Ivey stated. “We actually wanted a basket to settle us in.”
Ebo additionally did it on the defensive finish, holding the Bulldogs’ main scorer Jessika Carter to 5 factors on 2-for-11 capturing. The Notre Dame submit participant set the varsity file within the NCAA Match together with her rebounding effort. She broke Katryna Gaither’s mark of 16 set in 1997.
“(Ebo) knew that Mississippi State’s offense went by means of Carter, and that was one thing we had been targeted on,” Ivey stated. “We needed to get the stops, shield the paint together with her and we needed to set up our inside sport.”
A mess of Mississippi State guards agitated Notre Dame’s main scorer Sonia Citron, who was incessantly picked up full courtroom. She scored 14 factors.
Citron, Bransford and Jenna Brown shared ballhandling duties with second-team Related Press All-American level guard Olivia Miles out the rest of the season with an undisclosed knee damage.
The trio mixed for 4 assists with 9 turnovers.
“I knew they had been going to stress us lots, and we labored on all of it week,” Ivey stated. “I believe typically you’ve simply bought to be taught within the second.”
Kourtney Weber led Mississippi State with 14 factors, 10 of which got here within the fourth quarter.
“Tonight was only a evening the place you’ve bought your third sport in per week, the primary two had been simply capturing the ball like no different and issues are going properly, however it’s a must to give credit score to Notre Dame’s protection. They’re lengthy they usually made us take some rushed pictures,” Purcell stated. “For us to make a run, it was simply becoming of who we’re. We’ve bent, had dangerous moments, however we by no means broke. They laid it on the road and we had an opportunity on the finish however got here up a pair free throws brief, a few layups brief, and that’s life.”