For Irish, rematch not about payback
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Revenge was just fine for Medea against her two-timing husband, Jason. Likewise for Aaron Burr against his political rival, Alexander Hamilton.
But the Notre Dame women’s basketball team evidently doesn’t see last year’s upset loss to Stanford in the Lexington Regional semifinals as much of a reason for payback in Sunday’s 9 a.m. regional final on the same Rupp Arena court.
“I don’t see it as revenge,” standout Irish point guard Lindsay Allen said Saturday. “I don’t think so, because, I mean, we beat them two years ago (in the regional semifinals in Oklahoma City). I guess this game could technically be a tiebreaker type of game. So I think the real motivation is to get to the Final Four and continue to play.”
However, last year’s game was a much greater disappointment to Notre Dame players
and fans than the 2015 game was to Stanford’s. The Irish, as they are now, were the No. 2 team in the country, with a 26-game winning streak, and were gunning for a showdown with No. 1 UConn.
Instead, Stanford shot the lights out (56 percent) and hit 11 of 20 three-point attempts to
win 90-84.
“Our seniors were heartbroken,” junior forward Kathryn Westbeld said. “It’s something I don’t want any of our seniors to have to go through, especially Sunday.”
The second-seeded Cardinal (31-5) earned another crack at the Irish by beating Texas 77-66 Friday night. The top-seeded Irish (33-3) ripped Ohio State 99-76 to run their winning streak to 17. So it’s a similar situation to last year.
“It’s good to play a team that you’re comfortable with,” said Stanford forward Erica McCall, who had a career-high 27 points against the Irish last year. “I think the NCAA committee really likes this matchup. It must be pretty iconic.”
Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer wouldn’t mind if the two teams were in different brackets next year. “I’m just thinking variety maybe,” she said.
The Irish lost their top scorer and rebounder, Brianna Turner, to a season-ending knee injury in their game against Purdue last week. In their first full game without her, they didn’t miss a beat. They had six players scoring in double figures against Ohio State, led by 5-foot-8 sophomore guard Arike Ogunbowale’s careerhigh 35.
“She’s such a unique player because she’s so strong and just able to bully people down low,” Irish head coach Muffet McGraw said, “but also she’s super quick with the ball, and she’s able to slash and find the
driving lane and can also shoot the three.”
Who will guard her? “I think we’ll just have to try the spaghetti approach,” VanDerveer said. “Throw it up on the wall and see if sticks.”
Ogunbowale did pretty much whatever she wanted Friday. The Buckeyes allowed the Irish open looks all night, and only a relaxed approach in the final minutes kept the Irish from scoring 100 points.
It’s highly doubtful that they’ll be able to take similar liberties against Stanford’s defense, one of the toughest in the country.
Briana Roberson and Marta Sniezek, who kept Big 12 Player of the Year Brooke McCarty under wraps Friday, will need to do the same on Allen.
“She’s a very composed guard, a great guard,’’ Roberson said. “She has a lot of tools in her arsenal. But we’re confident in our game plan and our preparation for guarding her.”
Notre Dame has eight former McDonald’s All-Americans, twice as many as Stanford has.
“Our team is a blue-collar team,” VanDerveer said. “Maybe Notre Dame isn’t, but we have to be a blue-collar team. We’re going to have to bring our hard hats and boots and come to work. … It’s not going to be just like playing a pickup game out there.”