Defending champ Irish rout Bethune-Cookman
SOUTH BEND, IND. – No. 1 seed and defending champion Notre Dame was just too big and strong for newcomer BethuneCookman.
Arike Ogunbowale scored 23 points, and Jessica Shepard had 22 points and 13 rebounds in the Fighting Irish’s 92-50 rout of the 16th-seeded Wildcats on Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
“Our posts did well with the advantage inside,” coach Muffet McGraw said after the Irish (31-3), champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference, won their 10th straight to move into Monday’s second round of the Chicago Region against No. 9 seed Michigan State.
Bethune-Cookman was down to nine players because of injuries.
“We can certainly appreciate the adversity they faced,” said McGraw, whose team faced injury issues last year during its title run. “They gave all they had. We were able to get the ball inside when we wanted to.”
They were, and the 6foot-4 Shepard took advantage, posting her 15th double-double of the season and 55th of her career by halftime.
“The coaches asked our guards to get the ball inside, and they did a good job getting it to us,” Shepard said after hitting 9 of 15 shots and adding four assists.
Brianna Turner, a 6foot-3 forward who sat out last season with an ACL injury, finished with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting, nine rebounds and five blocks. Sophomore reserve Mikayla Vaughn, who also sat out last season with an ACL injury, had nine points and 11 rebounds for Notre Dame, which shot 54.5 percent (36 of 66).
“We’re all excited whoever’s in the game,” Turner said. “Mik came to play today.”
Notre Dame’s height advantage was just too much for Bethune-Cookman. The Irish outrebounded the Wildcats 48-28.
“Their starting five’s size is about the size of our men’s starting five,” Wildcats coach Vanessa BlairLewis said. “It was tough for us to get the ball inside to any of our players.”
Ogunbowale hit 8 of 15 shots while adding four assists and three steals for the Fighting Irish, who also got 11 points from Jackie Young, the only junior in Notre Dame’s senior-dominated starting lineup.