Ivey proved to be near perfect to capture ACC

jack-of-all trades forward sonia citron.

notre dame women’s basketball was always bound to have an uniquely small rotation this year. That’s what happens when you only carry ten scholarship players.

Ivey was well aware of the smaller roster she was constructing, placing an emphasis on quality trumping quantity in her squad. The Irish bench might have been shorter than that of most of their opponents, but Ivey had no interest in stringing along players she couldn’t trust. sunday afternoon, that trust was tested in a major way. notre dame had already taken their fair share of lumps with injuries heading into their season-ending clash with Louisville. starting guard dara mabrey, the longest-tenured member of the roster, was lost for the season with a knee injury. Graduate student center Lauren ebo, the only other player on the roster with senior-level eligibility, battled a foot ailment for most of February.

between mabrey’s absence and ebo’s reduced minutes, Ivey was already scraping by with her rotations when disaster struck. oliva miles, the Irish’s national Player of the Year contender point guard, crumpled over in agonized pain midway through the second quarter at the KFc Yum! center. she was helped off the court with what was later revealed to be a knee injury.

For the final two minutes of the second frame, a shell-shocked notre dame team looked outgunned. A quick Louisville run put the cardinals up nine heading into halftime. The Irish needed a master class from their coach as much as their squad over the final 20 minutes to claim victory as well as their first outright Acc title since 2019.

Ivey didn’t just need to beat one of the Acc’s better teams at a venue notre dame hadn’t won at since 2016. she needed to do so with an almost-unheard of lack of squad depth. To truly understand the scope of Ivey’s work in the second half, it’s important to take stock of exactly who she had available to use coming out of the break.

In total, the Irish had eight healthy scholarship players. Two of those players were freshmen — including cassandre Prosper, an early enrollee who was playing high school basketball as recently as this december. Two more of those players averaged under 10 minutes per game and had previously been used almost exclusively in a rotational role. most concerningly, Ivey was now without both starting members of her backcourt, causing her to place ball-handling duties upon her management of their minutes had to be near-perfect. she would have to effectively get both involved, but without stretching their minutes to the point where Louisville could target one of them and force a fifth foul. sunday also proved to be as much of a story of Ivey’s player development as was her in-game coaching. notre dame’s best players over the final ten minutes after citron were almost certainly the freshman duo of Prosper and bransford. The pairing combined for over half of the Irish’s fourth quarter points, as well as three rebounds and an assist. their names in the legacy of this program, bringing the trophy home.” only ten days removed from olivia miles’ buzzer-beater, notre dame and Louisville played another air-tight game. Louisville leaned out to a 14-10 lead late in the first quarter, but the Irish punched back. After junior guard hailey van Lith scored a quick five points, the cardinals offense fell silent for the final two and a half minutes. In the final minute, freshman guard KK bransford made them pay. she grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds, putting the second back home for a 15-14 advantage to end the first.

The choice to let citron run the offense rather than thrust backup point guard Jenna brown into a massive role proved to be the first major decision Ivey got right on a day where she’d have to nail many. The 6’1’’ citron immediately proved a mismatch for the Louisville defense, who struggled to stop her from getting downhill and to the rim once she got across the halfway line. citron exploded for 17 points in the second half, 10 of which came from the free throw line. most of those free throw points resulted from situations where the cardinals had resorted to fouling citron because she had driven into the paint so effectively.

The front court was another area where Ivey had to be spot on in her game management to get the Irish a win on sunday. even though notre dame had both their usual post players healthy enough to play sunday — though its still unclear if ebo was fully healthy or simply healthy enough — Ivey had to deal with a different numbers game: fouls. The officials were whistle-happy on both teams all afternoon, with both squads combining to shoot 50 total free throws. As the game wore on both ebo and Watson (as well as cassandre Prosper and KK bransford) found themselves one foul away from leaving the contest.

Watson picked up her fourth with five minutes left in the game. ebo earned hers with two minutes left. Ivey knew she couldn’t afford to play without at least one of her two tallest players in a game where notre dame was already being out-rebounded. but, she also knew losing one of ebo or Watson to a foul-out could be a death-blow to an already paperthin rotation.

Ivey subbed in ebo for Watson (or vice-versa) three times alone in the fourth quarter. It was the only form of substitution Ivey made for the final ten minutes of the game. ebo played six minutes of the final frame. Watson played four. They combined for five rebounds and an assist as the Irish ended the game on a 25-19 run. And neither of them fouled out.

The growth Ivey has sparked in the rookie tandem over the course of 2022 has been remarkable. In the first few games of the season, bransford looked all the part of a lone freshman on a squad full of returning veterans. over notre dame’s first three games, bransford didn’t play more than 20 minutes once and shot a combined 3-13 from the floor. on sunday, bransford played 20 minutes in the second half alone. she finished the game 7-11 from the floor as notre dame’s second leading scorer in a game where it desperately needed a second option to emerge. The outing was the latest in a string of strong performances for bransford, who under Ivey’s tutelage seems to grow more and more confident by the day.

And as impressive as bransford’s evolution has been, Prosper might be the even more remarkable testament to Ivey’s ability to develop talent. The 6’2’’ combo guard joined the Irish squad in december, a midseason boost to a roster that needed depth. And in her first outings, unsurprisingly for a player still of high school age, Prosper struggled. she played just three minutes on her debut against miami. Against Florida state — the first top 25 team Prosper played more than 10 minutes against — she shot 0-9. but, Ivey also kept working with Prosper for her to be ready for the next big moment. even when she’d show more signs of her inexperience — such as an 1-8 outing from the field in a crucial game against duke — Ivey kept on allowing her to work through the adjustment to the next level. And on sunday, that willingness to commit to the adjustment period paid off. Prosper provided 11 points, four rebounds and two assists against the cardinals, including a pair of free throws with six seconds left to clinch victory for the Irish.

In many ways, Ivey’s work with Prosper is emblematic of her work with this notre dame squad as a whole this season. There have been struggles, some of which have been controllable and some of which have been out of Ivey’s hands. but ultimately, Ivey has shown that she values trust in her young squad above all else. And sunday, that trust resulted in a championship.

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Upon transitioning to the second quarter, the Irish went cold. A 0-for-4 stretch from the field opened the door for Louisville to embark on a 6-0 scoring run. however, a big three-pointer from sophomore guard sonia citron knotted the score at 20. That’s when things got ugly for notre dame. While Louisville junior forward olivia cochran tallied seven consecutive points, the Irish went scoreless for four minutes. halfway through that timeframe, miles went down.

As she dashed toward the block, miles lost possession of the ball and attempted to change direction. In doing so, she landed awkwardly on her right knee and tumbled in considerable pain. After enduring the scenes of graduate guard dara mabrey’s torn AcL on Jan. 22, many Irish fans feared the worst. but even with their phenom done for the day, the Irish continued to battle, taking a 3324 deficit to halftime.

“When our sister goes down, everyone has to step up and do more,” Ivey said. “We’d already been through that situation [with mabrey and Lauren ebo], so everyone knew they had to compete.”

The Irish did more, but not before Louisville widened the margin to 10 early in the third quarter. At that point, notre dame’s top-three scorers on the day began to find their game. citron, bransford and freshman guard cassandre Prosper scored 12 of nd’s next 15 points, shrinking the Louisville lead to 46-43 by quarter’s end.

Through the first three minutes of quarter four, the margin fluctuated between one and three points. Finally, with under six minutes to play, citron sank two free throws and gave notre dame a 54-53 lead. moments later, with the Irish up two, she hit the shot heard ‘round the ‘ville. Late in the shot clock, she stepped back at the left wing, launching a three-ball that touched only nylon for a 60-55 lead.

Louisville, which endured a 1-for-11 stretch through the heart of the fourth quarter, fought desperately to tie the game. nothing was working, but a major window finally opened with 17 seconds to play. Trailing by three, the cardinals sent citron to the free throw line for two shots. she had already drained ten but clanked both on her final trip, too, setting up Louisville for a chance to tie.

Unsurprisingly, the cards turned to van Lith, the Acc’s third-highest scorer. notre dame defended her to perfection, and her contested three from the left corner missed everything. As the ball exited the vicinity of the rim, Prosper entered the biggest moment of her two months at notre dame. The early enrollee nabbed the rebound, and Louisville promptly fouled her with six seconds remaining. needing one free throw to ice the game, she calmly knocked down both.

“she is a gamer and a blessing, a beautiful addition to our team,” Ivey said of Prosper, who provided 11 points off the bench. “For her to take steals and make those free throws speaks to the program-changing player she is.”

The cardinals hit a jumper at the buzzer for fun, but the deal was done. Ivey screamed, miles hobbled off the bench and the ladies in blue and gold gathered to celebrate an outright Acc title. At the center of the party was citron, who played a career game in miles’ absence, just as she did when mabrey went out against virginia. citron dropped a season-high 27 points on a 10-for-14 performance from the free throw line. Perhaps just as importantly, she played 39 of 40 minutes, providing on-court leadership in a time of need.

“The coaches have prepared me really well for whenever miles needs a break,” citron said. “our team did a great job of focusing possession-by-possession and getting stops on defense.” bransford also scored a key 14 points for a notre dame team that outdueled Louisville 47 percent to 34 from the field.

The cardinals countered with 16 offensive rebounds against the shorthanded and foul-weakened Irish, but nd buckled down late on the glass. Inefficiency plagued van Lith (6-21 FG, 1-6 3P), but she still put up 23 points. having locked in the top seed, notre dame will wait until Friday before opening Acc tournament play. For the time being, all eyes are on the status of miles and her apparent knee injury. Ivey said the team was still “in the dark” regarding a diagnosis after sunday’s game. With or without miles, the Irish will face the winner of the eightversus-nine seed game, which will be played Thursday.

Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy@nd.edu

Happy Birthday: you’ll be met with some opposition. don’t let anger make matters worse. step back, assess your situations and options, take your time and choose reason over desire. your success depends on intelligence, preparation and simplicity. channel your emotions into love and romance. build strong relationships, and put your energy into gaining knowledge and skills that help you surpass your expectations. your numbers are 8, 12, 24, 29, 31, 36, 47.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): stretch your mind, consider the possibilities and come up with a plan that can help you get ahead financially. give your all physically, mentally and emotionally, and you will find your niche and enjoy the process. A romantic gesture will touch you emotionally.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): you’ll be put in a difficult position if you are too compliant. Pick and choose what you are willing to do and refuse to let anyone put you in an uncomfortable position. offer what you can do, nothing more, and you’ll stop others from taking advantage of you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): share your thoughts and feelings. look for any opportunity to pitch in and help. having an innovative plan, discipline and skill will increase your profile. don’t believe everything you hear; go directly to the source to stop someone from misleading you.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): don’t stand in someone’s shadow; explore possibilities in order to discover that you can do more. head to the drawing board, figure out what you want to do and get the ball rolling. sign up for whatever courses or credits you need.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): get involved in something that motivates you to make a difference. The people you meet will light up your life and contribute to how you live. The amount you grow emotionally will help you appreciate what you have and who you are.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): An emotional issue will collide with your responsibilities. make changes on the fly to accommodate those who can influence your reputation or status quo. bending to fit circumstances will show your ability to make things work, regardless of what’s going on around you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Participate in whatever sparks your interest. getting out, socializing, learning something new or visiting a place you’ve never been will help you figure out what you want to pursue next. love is in the stars, and the opportunity to improve your life looks promising.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): go about your business and honor your promises. you’ll avoid criticism from someone who can make or break your spirit. Take the road less traveled if it helps you avoid an argument or joint venture. focus on saving, not taking on additional debt.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Address domestic issues openly and enforce suggestions that ease tension and make your living arrangements workable. keeping updated with the latest technology or work aids that come along will pay off. discuss personal intentions with someone you love.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): don’t sell yourself short. speak up, follow through and make a difference. be concerned about your health; choose a fitness program that helps eliminate any bad habits you’ve adopted over the years. lower your overhead with a lifestyle change.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): you know what you want; figure out the easiest way to make it happen. Put pressure on people and situations that need a nudge. you will get the help required to use your space, skills and knowledge to improve your life.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): emotional manipulation will make it easy to get what you want, but recognize how others react to your pleas before you decide to take that route. your highest return will come from kindness and doing something nice for someone you love.

Birthday Baby: you are sassy, charming and outspoken. you are entertaining and sensitive.

launching a bullet into the top corner of the net. h e would also score three goals in the game, one of three i rish players to do so along with d obson and senior midfielder r eilly Gray.

Trailing 2-0, the h oyas answered with their first score less than a minute later. They were not able to make up any ground, though, as the pattern of n otre d ame scoring twice and Georgetown answering with one would continue for the rest of the first quarter. The period ended with the i rish holding a 6-3 advantage.

That lead was made all the more impressive by the fact that Georgetown went 6-10 on faceoffs in the quarter. n otre d ame’s defense forced five turnovers in the first. Those, along with two tough saves made by senior goalie Liam e ntenmann, allowed the i rish to make up the possession deficit and take the lead.

Last year against Georgetown, the i rish were just 9-29 on faceoffs, and that discrepancy was a key factor in them losing that game. o n s aturday, n otre d ame was a similar 11-27, but won in a blowout, thanks to their defense winning back the ball and their offense taking full advantage of limited opportunities. a fter a frantic opening 15 minutes, both defenses settled in, and the pace slowed down significantly. Four minutes into the quarter, n otre d ame struck first. Gray tallied his second goal of the game on a jump shot that he converted while being shoved to the ground by a defender. Graduate student midfielder b rian Tevlin added another three minutes later, and the i rish held an 8-3 lead midway through the second.

That was their fourth time scoring back-to-back goals in the game, but Georgetown had responded with a score after each of the first three instances. This time around, n otre d ame snapped that streak, as d obson’s third goal of the day pushed their advantage to 9-3. That score would hold until halftime, as the h oyas were held scoreless for the entire quarter. The shutout quarter was the i rish’s second of the year, after they had done the same in the third quarter of their season opener against m arquette.

Lacrosse is often a game of runs, and a six-goal halftime advantage could be wiped away in an instant if n otre d ame let their guard down. i n last year’s matchup, i ncluding Georgetown, nine of n otre d ame’s final 10 opponents are currently ranked in the top 20. The tenth, m ichigan, is receiving votes and sits just outside of the rankings. r egardless, s aturday’s result will give the i rish confidence that they match up well with any team in the nation. h aving defeated their first three opponents by a combined 28 goals, n otre d ame looks ready to keep on winning.

Georgetown held a 11-2 lead before the i rish rattled off eight consecutive goals. b ut n otre d ame had no intention of letting a similar situation play out on s aturday, and they kept their foot on the gas pedal after the break.

Kavanagh scored twice in the quarter, one of them assisted by his brother, senior attacker Pat Kavanagh. e ntering the final quarter, the i rish’s lead had been extended to 135. a nd when Gray completed his hat-trick midway through the fourth to give n otre d ame a doubledigit lead at 15-5, it was clear that there would be no stopping the i rish.

Georgetown scored three times in the final minutes, but it was too little, too late, as n otre d ame closed out a 15-8 victory.

The win was the i rish’s first on the road, as well as their first against a ranked opponent. They will have a chance to get their second in both of those categories next s aturday, when they travel to face n o. 9 m aryland. That game will continue their gauntlet of a schedule.

Contact Matthew Crow at mcrow@nd.edu

W Lacrosse

con T inued From PaGe 12 registering theirown pair of goals before Wolak slipped another one by c lemson goalkeeper sophomore e mily Lamparter — manufacturing an 8-7 affair with a quarter to play. a few minutes into the fourth period, junior midfielder e lla Little would notch the final Tiger point of the afternoon. i n the last 10 minutes and 29 seconds of the game, the i rish scored five unanswered to emerge victorious 12-9.

Though the i rish had to play from behind for much of the match, head coach c hristine h alfpenny said the team never really felt down at all.

“The scoreboard says one thing, and then the clock says another,” h alfpenny said. “ i t’s a long game. i t’s 15-minute quarters, and we made great adjustments.”

This year being the inaugural season of c lemson women’s lacrosse program, h alfpenny credited how the Tigers came out in their fifth-ever game.

“[ c lemson] had a great game plan, and they played really well,” h alfpenny said. “They’re graduate students. Their average age is probably 22-point-something, and i thought they… organized and took advantage of some of our miscues… and shot really well.” h alfpenny was happy that the i rish remained out of foul trouble and won the turnover battle, she continued.

“This is our lowest turnover game, and we knew that was going to be important,” h alfpenny said. “We thought that was an edge that we would get. c lemson has been turning the ball over at like a 15-turnover clip, and they did again. We were able to turn them over, and they turned us over. b ut we only had four unforced errors, and i think that is a game changer for us.” r ecognizing the vital role of the i rish’s depth in the win, h alfpenny added that s aturday’s performance did give reason for excitement. o n s aturday, n otre d ame travels to c harlotte, n orth c arolina to take on the n o. 10 d uke u niversity b lue d evils at 1:30 p.m. es T.

“Top to bottom it was awesome to see how we were able to come in as a team, and start to gel as a team when we needed to the most,” h alfpenny said.

Contact

Peter Breen at pbreen2@nd.edu