Irish too much for Eagles
Mismatch across the board
NOTRE DAME 97 BOSTON COLLEGE 47
Boston College’s humbling confrontation with reigning national champion and No. 6 Notre Dame had a unifying effect, according to Eagles first year coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee.
The Irish led wire-to-wire, enjoyed lopsided advantages in every statistical category and rolled to a 97-47 victory against the Eagles on Wednesday night at Conte Forum.
BC fell to 14-11 overall, 3-9 in the ACC, and hosts Clemson on Saturday. The Irish improved to 23-3 and 10-2.
“A lot of teams at this level, when they are getting beat the way we got beat, would start to turn against each other, argue with each other and put the blame on each other,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “I really didn’t see that. We have a highcharacter group of ladies that continued to support each other throughout the game.”
The numbers were appall- ing. The Eagles shot 30.5 percent from the floor and 1-of-21 from behind the 3-point arc with 23 turnovers and 29 boards.
Notre Dame shot 54.4 percent from the floor with 23 assists, 48 rebounds and five starters in double figures. The Irish outperformed BC 58-32 in points in the paint, 38-12 in points off turnovers, 23-6 in second-chance points and 22-11 in transition.
BC outscored Notre Dame 18-9 in garbage time to keep the Irish under 100 points. Notre Dame piled up 105 on Iowa and 103 on Harvard and Binghamton this season.
“For me, as a coach, that was somewhat of an embarrassing performance,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “I don’t think we came out with the energy and effort we needed early, which allowed them to feel in control from the jump.
“They are such a good team that if you give them that confidence early, it is really hard to get out of the spiral effect we were in throughout the game.”
Irish senior guard Arike Ogunbowale was the story of the game, scoring 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting with two 3-pointers. Ogunbowale passed Beth Morgan (2,322) for second place on the program’s career scoring list with 2,324 points. She needs 34 to bypass Skyler Diggins (2,357) for the top spot.
“She is an amazing player. She is the most exciting player in college basketball,” Irish coach Muffet McGraw said. “When she gets out in transition, you don’t know what’s going to happen, but you do know it’s something good.
“She can pass, she can shoot, she can pull up, she can get all the way to the rim, and she can finish with contact.”
Ogunbowale tied Morgan at the end of a 15-2 run with 4:22 to play in the third quarter. Ogunbowale was fouled on a fallaway jumper in the lane and converted the three-point play that put the Irish up, 76-27. Notre Dame outscored BC 37-7 in the third and finished the frame up 88-29.
Ogunbowale surpassed Morgan on a drive through traffic that made it 94-35 with 7:22 to play. She spent the remainder of the game on the bench.
Taylor Soule led BC with 11 points.