Notre Dame prevails
Marina Mabrey scored 18 points and No. 1 Notre Dame dominated from start to finish in a 78-48 victory over Wake Forest on Sunday. Jessica Shepard had 16 points while Brianna Turner had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Fighting Irish.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Marina Mabrey scored 18 points and No. 1 Notre Dame dominated from start to finish in a 78-48 victory over Wake Forest on Sunday.
Jessica Shepard had 16 points while Brianna Turner had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (16-1, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who got a rare off-day from leading scorer Arike Ogunbowale. Ogunbowale, who had 30 points Thursday in Notre Dame’s 82-68 victory over No. 2 Louisville, saw her 37-game double-digit scoring streak end. She scored just four points on 1-of-11 shooting from the field.
But roommate Mabrey hit 7 of 11 shots, including 4 of 7 three-pointers, and had 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Shepard finished with 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.
Christina Morra scored 13 points and Ivana Raca had 12 for the Demon Deacons (9-7, 0-3).
Ogunbowale made two free throws with 54 seconds left in the first half. Notre Dame took a 37-15 halftime lead after starting on an 18-0 run, three points short of a pair of 21-0 first-half runs against Pittsburgh, which was held to 14 points by halftime of Notre Dame’s 100-44 victory on Jan. 3.
Notre Dame commanded the boards 30-16, forced 13 turnovers and held Wake Forest, which missed its first 11 shots, to 20 percent shooting (6 of 30). But the Irish had 10 miscues themselves and shot just 41 percent (14 of 34) in the first half, including 6 of 18 in the second quarter.
The Fighting Irish came out shooting 81.8 percent with 8 assists on 9 baskets as they increased the lead to 5720 with 4:16 to go in the third quarter. Shepard, Mabrey and Turner all had six points in the spurt. The lead reached 40 points before Notre Dame finished the third quarter up 62-28.
In other Top 25/SEC women’s games Sunday, Asia Durr scored 21 points and No. 2 Louisville bounced back nicely from its first loss of the season, topping Georgia Tech 61-44. … Katie Lou Samuelson scored 19 points to reach the 2,000-point milestone and No. 3 Connecticut overcame a sluggish start to beat South Florida 63-46. UConn’s Christyn Williams (Central Arkansas Christian) had no points and was 0-for2 from the floor. … Ruthy Hebard had 19 points and a career-high 18 rebounds, Satou Sabally added 19 points and No. 5 Oregon routed UCLA 72-52. … Alanna Smith scored 20 points, DiJonai Carrington added 19 and No. 6 Stanford rolled past Arizona 78-48 to complete a two-game Pac-12 road sweep in the desert. … Erika Cassell had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 8 North Carolina State remained the only unbeaten Division I women’s team with a 66-38 victory over Virginia. … Mikayla Pivec scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half and No. 10 Oregon State routed Southern California 76-52. … Junior guard Tiana Mangakahia scored 34 points and had 10 rebounds and 10 assists for her first triple-double and No. 12 Syracuse defeated North Carolina 90-77. … Caliya Robinson had 16 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 of her 6 blocks in a critical last-minute possession and Georgia defeated No. 13 Tennessee 66-62, giving the Lady Vols a three-game losing streak for the first time in 33 years. … Natisha Hiedeman scored 20 points with 10 rebounds, Erika Davenport also had a double-double and No. 15 Marquette held off Georgetown 72-62. … Crystal Allen scored 16 of her 28 points in the fourth quarter, La’Karis Salter had a double-double and Mississippi upset short-handed, cold-shooting No. 16 Kentucky 55-49. … Te’a Cooper scored 14 points, Alexis Jennings had 10 points and 7 rebounds, and No. 21 South Carolina beat LSU 76-53 for its eighth consecutive victory. … Kobi Thornton scored 19 points with 10 rebounds and Clemson ended an 18-game losing streak by beating No. 22 Florida State 57-45. … Jaelynn Penn scored 15 of her 21 points in the first half, Ali Patberg had 15 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists, and No. 25 Indiana beat Wisconsin 75-68.