Notre Dame zips past Zags to avoid upset in NCAA play
Top-seeded Irish battle back from early Bulldogs lead to post definitive win
The Gonzaga women’s basketball team clustered around a flickering, four-inch screen, watching their male counterparts do the improbable: beat a top-ranked Duke Blue Devils team some predicted would finish the season undefeated.
“We were all watching the game on one little cellphone screen on the bus,” said Zags guard Louise Forsyth with a laugh, recounting the story of witnessing Gonzaga’s epic and dramatic 89-87 victory over Duke in the Maui Invitational on Wednesday.
“We were all just screaming, and the bus driver was yelling at us to sit down. It definitely gave us a boost, some motivation for this game.”
It was less than 24 hours later that her Zags were in their own battle against a No. 1 team, taking on the top-seeded Notre Dame Irish in the opener of the women’s bracket at the TCL Vancouver Showcase. And, for a hot, blue minute, it looked like they would shock the world too.
The Zags (4-1) bolted to an 11-4 lead over the Irish (4-0), thanks to a hot start from cobalt-haired Zykera Rice, the 6-3 forward who scored her team’s first eight points.
But the defending champions flexed their muscles down the stretch, battling back to take the lead just before the end of the quarter and steadily pulled away to post an 81-65 win underneath the sails at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
“I think we’re a little disappointed,” said Forsyth, the Langley native and Brookswood grad, who hit one shot in the game, a corner three-pointer in the fourth quarter. “We were playing the No. 1 team. We talked about it, coming out hot, coming out ready to go. We were right in the game, and then we had one bad quarter and it determined the outcome. But it showed we could play right up there with the best.”
Of all the holiday tournaments for the women this weekend, the Vancouver Showcase has the best lineup, with three nationally ranked teams and the last two national champions, Notre Dame and South Carolina (2017), in the eight-team field.
The two teams put on an entertaining and fast-paced game for a crowd of around 1,000, but Notre Dame overpowered the Zags inside, dominating the glass (50-33) and using their interior passing to set up easy hoops. Six-foot-four senior forward Jessica Shepherd scored 15 points, grabbing 14 boards for Notre Dame, which was paced by Arike Ogunbowale’s 21 points.
The Irish were wracked by injuries at the guard position, even resorting to giving team manager Nicole Benz game time down the stretch in an effort to conserve the energy of the players they had left.
“We didn’t come out with any kind of emotion at all,” said Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw.
“We didn’t execute, turned the ball over, gave up a lot of offensive rebounds … but they had a great game plan. I thought they were very smart, they didn’t let us get inside as much as we wanted, and it threw us off.
“It’s been fun being in the city … maybe too much fun. Maybe that was the problem.”
The Zags came into the game with a starting five all averaging around 10 points per game, but only Rice (16 points) and Melody Kempton (14 points) reached double figures.
It was just the second time in school history the two teams had met, with the Irish winning 70-61 at the 2010 Holiday Hoops Classic in Seattle.
It was the fourth time Gonzaga has played a No. 1-ranked team, but they ’ve lost each matchup, the most recent game coming in 2012 against Stanford. The Irish have been top dogs in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the past six years, but it’s been only during the last two that they’ve flirted with the nation’s top rank. With it comes accolades, and a target.
“When you’re No. 1 in the country, everyone wants to take their best shot,” said McGraw. “They have nothing to lose.”
It’s the same for star guard Ogunbowale, whose heroics in last year’s NCAA tournament made her a media darling and gained Kobe Bryant among her admirers. The increased profile means more attention, and showed in her 1-of-7 shooting performance in the first half. But the 5-8 guard scored 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting in the second half, including 12 straight points.
“Every kid who comes out to guard her wants to be the one who shuts her down,” said McGraw.
“It was pretty rough. We couldn’t make our passes, couldn’t shoot. But we picked it up,” said Ogunbowale. “They’re a tough team.”
Rutgers took on Drake in the second game of the morning bracket.
In the evening games, South Carolina was scheduled to face ETSU and Oregon State was set to take on Western Kentucky.
Action continues today at the Vancouver Convention Centre, with games starting at noon and running through the day with the final game tipping off at 8:30 p.m.