Women’s basketball: Hidalgo scores 29 points as Irish down Huskies 79-68 in South Bend

Fighting Irish guard Hannah Hidalgo scored 29 points, 18 of which came from downtown, as No. 8 Notre Dame handed the second-ranked Huskies its first loss of the season on Thursday night in South Bend.  

Hidalgo led all scorers with 29, with Paige Bueckers’ 25 points leading the way for the Huskies. The two stars were the only players to score over 20, with Sarah Strong (14), Kaitlyn Chen (11) and KK Arnold (10) all reaching double digits for Connecticut in a night without lead-guard Azzi Fudd.  

Fighting Irish guard Olivia Miles got things started for Notre Dame, burying a three on the team’s second offensive possession to build a 3-0 lead. The Irish shot 56% from behind the arc, knocking down 10/18 attempts from three as Miles and Hidalgo used the triple as the team’s offensive heartbeat to quell Connecticut runs in all four quarters.  

The first points of the night for Connecticut came from Ice Brady, who knocked down a jumper on the next possession before Liatu King scored her first points on the next possession to answer.  

The teams traded misses following a Paige Bueckers layup before Ashlynn Shade plucked the ball from Hidalgo’s hand only to get tangled up with Miles on the other end of the court, injuring the Irish guard on the play.  

The Huskies were out-rebounded on the offensive glass 6-1 in the first quarter, as evident by Liza Karlen’s third-chance points to put the Irish up 9-4 at the mid-way point of the first. Connecticut recorded four turnovers and shot 29% from the field as the first media timeout was called. 

Bueckers and Strong combined for a turnover on the defensive end after the break as Strong used a nifty underarm release to pull within one at 9-8. Connecticut used a 6-0 run to claim their only lead of the night, which stood for 24 seconds after a Hidalgo three pointer to put the Irish up 12-10.  

Hidalgo picked off the Connecticut pass on the ensuing possession and drilled a triple from the wing to swiftly bring the lead back up to five. A Cassandre Prosper three on the next Notre Dame possession pushed the lead to eight, as the Irish shot 67% from downtown in the opening frame.  

Kaitlyn Chen closed the first quarter scoring by beating the buzzer and closing the lead to six. UConn turned the ball over six times in the opening quarter and gave up a five rebound advantage to the Irish, leading to an 18-10 deficit after one.  

Bueckers scored the first of her ten second quarter points following a slew of layups from Brady and Arnold, but the Irish again saw scores from King and Hidalgo to guard its seven point advantage. Reigning Big East Player of the Week Sarah Strong sat for most of the second period after grabbing three quick fouls as Bueckers shouldered most of the quarter’s scoring. 

Following two consecutive Bueckers baskets, King drilled a long jumper which killed the Husky momentum and stretched the lead back to seven and again to nine on the next possession.  

King and Hidalgo combined for Notre Dame’s final 14 points of the half, as the lead swelled from nine to 11 to 13 following a Hidalgo three and King jumper. Connecticut scored the final points of the half as Bueckers, again from the baseline, hit a jumper as time expired. The Huskies ran to the halftime locker room down 11 points but shooting evenly with the Irish at 42%. Notre Dame’s 6/9 mark from deep was the differentiating factor, as the Huskies shot 0/7 from three in the opening two frames.  

Connecticut bolted to a 7-0 run to open the third — piloted by Strong (who hit the team’s first three pointer of the night) – and closed the lead to four. King and Miles answered on consecutive possessions for the Irish before Jana El Alfy scored from the block to make it 43-39 Notre Dame.  

Both teams traded blows (A Sonia Citron triple was answered by a Chen three) for the handful of minutes before the media timeout, which saw the Huskies down 46-42 at the break. Auriemma’s squad, on average scoring on 22 assists per night, was held to 4 at the midway point of the third – a season low.  

Bueckers and Arnold worked the Irish defense on back-to-back possessions to close the gap to one basket – forcing a Notre Dame timeout. The Irish responded with a Hannah Hidalgo triple out of the break, which gave the Irish another five point cushion. Bueckers knifed through the middle of the Notre Dame defense on the following possession, and after an Irish miss and a Kate Koval block on El Alfy down low, Arnold zig-zagged to the hoop to close the lead to one point with 30 seconds remaining in the quarter.  

Hidalgo again hit from deep as the quarter expired — the third buzzer beater of the game – to put out the fire and give the Irish momentum heading into the final period.  

Notre Dame used a bundle of quick baskets to extend the lead back to 10 within the first two and a half minutes of the fourth. The Huskies were climbing uphill from that point on, never reaching within five points again. A Miles three point shot acted as the dagger that handed Connecticut a third straight loss to the Irish, and after a four minute stretch of fouling, the score finalized at 79-68.  

The Huskies will next be in action on Sunday when they welcome the Georgetown Hoyas to the XL Center in Hartford at 1:30 p.m.