Sunday was the last home game for the Fighting Irish until February 3rd. The team wants to go on the the road against Tennessee, North Carolina and Clemson. Getting a tune-up before the road will set the pace for the next week and a half. Prior to the game, Jackie Young was recognized for her 1,000th career point.
First Quarter
The first quarter saw the turnover bug strike against both teams. Early in the first BC actually goes on a quick little 5-0 run, courtesy of Makayla Dickens 3 pointer, and BC holds the lead for a short period of time. For BC it was all about Dickens. Early on she had 9 of BC’s 14 points. It seemed as though ND did not have an answer for her.
The second half of the first quarter, the Irish shut her down and got down to business. Capitalizing on an 11-2 run, to take a 32-19 lead in the first quarter. The Irish were powered by Arike Ogunbowale’s 13 points (two 3-pointers), and Jessica Shepard’s three assists and two defensive rebounds. The Irish out rebounded the Eagles 9-5, the Irish had seven turnovers while BC had nine, and the Irish had 12 points in the paint compared to BC’s 6 . ND converted on turnovers with 13 points, while BC only scored 7. The turnover bug is not what Coach McGraw had in mind for her Irish squad. Coach said “she was quite disappointed with the turnovers.”
Second Quarter
The second quarter was not some thing the Fighting Irish want to experience. Ogunbowale and Dickens the scoring leaders for their respective teams did not keep up the pace in the second quarter. The second quarter leader for the Irish was Marina Mabrey and for BC Taylor Soule led the meager scoring efforts for their teams. Mabrey fired consecutive three pointers to earn six of her nine points of the Irish total 17 points for the quarter. Soule had eight of the teams 15 points.
The big stats of the second quarter was the 8-0 run the Irish put on BC over a four minute period. BC also coughed up the ball four times over a period 3:42. The Irish defense for sure was in control, but the offense only shot 50% or 6-12. The offense for BC 44% or 7-16. The Irish took a 49-34 lead into the locker room at the half.
Third Quarter
It was deja vu all over again in the third. Both teams struggled to score. Like everything else, you just need to be a little bit better than your opponent. Unfortunately that was the case for the Irish. The most excitement for the quarter was the coast to coast score of Jackie Young and the buzzer beating lay-up by Arike as time expired in the third. The Irish were 7-18 from the field or 39%. BS was 6-16 for 38%. The Irish completed the quarter with a 18-16 margin and the score for the game to this point was 67-50.
Fourth Quarter
Thank goodness for book end quarters. The Irish broke out of their funk of the previous two. The fourth quarter saw Jackie Young spend some extra time on the floor with the non-starters. With that time on the floor, Jackie scored nine points almost beating the Eagles by herself as BC only scored 13 points the whole quarter. The Irish outscored the Eagles 25-13 in the final block. The final tally for the game was 92-63.
Arike Ogunbowale led all scorers with 24 points, 9-8 from the field, 3-7 from three point range and 5 steals. Jackie Young had a double-double, 18 points, 7-13 from the field, 13 rebounds (6 offensive and 7 defensive). Brianna Turner had 16 points, 7-10 from the field and eight rebounds (3 offensive and 5 defensive). Marina Mabrey had 14 points, 5-8 from the field and 3-6 from three point range. Don’t forget Jessica Shepard, 11 points 4-9 from the field and 10 rebounds (4 offensive and 6 defensive).
Next Up
The Irish head South to Tennessee to take on the Lady Vols. The last time these two teams played, the Irish overcame a 27 point deficit that altered their course enroute to the National Championship. The game will be on ESPN at 7 PM EST on Thursday January 24th.
Great pictures!!!