Both teams shorthanded but Notre Dame with more firepower
Down their leading scorer Dani Carnegie for the second straight game, #17 Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball suffered their third straight loss of the seaon, falling to #3 Notre Dame 81-66 in the Purcell Pavilion. Tech is now 15-3 (3-3 ACC) having played through one of the mini-gauntlets of the season. The loss is Tech’s first loss to a ranked opponent all season.
Both Nell Fortner and Neile Ivey (ND’s head coach) came in with 103 wins at their respective schools, albeit Ivey taking only five+ seasons to get to 103 while Nell took six+ at Tech. Nell of course still has far more all-time wins (265) with this being her 15th season as a head coach.
Carnegie as noted did not play in her second straight game after suffering what looked to be a hamstring injury in the 2OT loss to Virginia Tech on January 9th. The team hasn’t provided a timetable for her return as ACC injury reporting requirements don’t necessitate the kind of injury reports one would usually find in professional sports.
Notre Dame was also without their best player as Hannah Hidalgo was out as a precaution with a knock to her ankle.
Chit-Chat Wright got her first career start in the place of Ines Noguero, which head coach Nell Fornter noted in her pregame interview with Richard Musterer that she did to add ball handling and another scorer to push pace early.
What ended up happening was a serious size mismatch with Chit-Chat on the floor without the needed scoring to compensate. Notre Dame quite literally doubled up Tech in rebounds 50-25, getting just about any rebound they wanted to on both ends of the floor.
Maddy Westbeld, Notre Dame’s replacement starter for Hidalgo, was dominant with 20 points on 8-11 shooting plus five rebounds. Her and Sonia Citron combined for 41 of Notre Dame’s 81 points.
Tech really was only in this game because for all Notre Dame had going for them with their size and outshooting Tech 55% to 38%, the Irish could not take care of the ball with 21 turnovers to Tech’s 12. The Jackets scored 22 points off those turnovers, 14 more than Notre Dame.
The loss more boiled down to the fact Tech couldn’t hit shots and had trouble getting around Notre Dame’s zone defense. The Jackets needed big nights from more than just Tonie Morgan (17 points, five assists) and Kara Dunn (21 points, five rebounds), particularly from Chit-Chat Wright, who only shot 4-14 with 10 points. This was a night Tech at full strength would’ve had a real shot at taking down the Irish, but the depth wasn’t there to pull it off, and Carnegie’s absense ABSOLUTELY is a major factor in that.
How it happened
1Q
Notre Dame’s size was an immediate problem for Tech, nearly doubling Tech in rebounding at the first timeout 13-7, including four offensive rebounds for four second chance points. Those four points gave Notre Dame their first gap going on a 9-0 run to start while also making life difficult for Tech to get out of first gear offensively. Tonie Morgan eventually got rolling and was able to get to the free throw line and hit her usual driving layups, scoring 11 in the quarter including a three pointer at the final buzzer to shrink Notre Dame’s lead to four. Despite the shrunken lead, Notre Dame killed Tech on the glass.
Stats via Notre Dame
2Q (20-16 ND)
The start of the 2nd was a perfect mirror of the 1st quarter with Notre Dame going on a 9-0 run powered by Citron before Chit-Chat Wright ended the run with a deep three, by which Tech was down 27-19. Westfeld stretched the lead all the way to 12 with a bucket to make it 31-19 and could’ve been more if Notre Dame wasn’t struggling with turnovers. By the 4:44 media timeout, they were up 33-22 but with eight turnovers to Tech’s four. The turnovers finally bit the Irish as Tech went on an 8-0 run with a bucket from Tianna Thompson and a three by Dunn to force Notre Dame’s first timeout up 35-30.
Notre Dame got a couple buckets after but Tech kept the pace up, scoring their final four buckets while the Irish finished with 10 second quarter turnovers and only held a three point lead going into half. It was all the more impressive as Tonie Morgan only played three minutes in the quarter dealing with foul trouble.
Stats via Notre Dame
3Q (39-36 ND)
Thankfully there was no 9-0 by the Irish to start this quarter, but instead a three by Kara Dunn to tie it at 39-39 on Tech’s first possession, the first time Tech hadn’t been losing since the early 1st quarter. Morgan tied it again at 41-41 before a 5-0 Cassandre Prosper run made it 50-43 in Notre Dame’s favor. Dunn hit five points of her own to pull Tech within four but Westbeld and Citron buckets at the end of the quarter felt like daggers as Notre Dame pulled ahead by double-digits.
Stats via Notre Dame
4Q (61-50 ND)
Notre Dame wasted no time getting this game to a garbage time state going up 18 points within 90 seconds, forcing Tech’s first timeout of the game. Tech switched into a zone defense which only worked so well because Notre Dame clearly downshifted with the big lead, providing easy room for Rusne Augustinaite to hit a couple threes and shrink Tech’s deficit back to 11 at 73-62, forcing a Notre Dame timeout at the 4:18 mark. No final push from Tech was to come as the Irish easily finished it out 81-66.
Stats & Game Leaders
Stats via Notre Dame
Game Leaders
Points: Kara Dunn (GT)/Sonia Citron (ND) – 21
Assists: Sonia Citron (ND) – 6
Rebounds: Liatu King (ND) – 12
3PM: Cassandre Prosper (ND)/Kara (GT) – 3
Turnovers: Sonia Citron (ND)/Liatu King (ND)/Cassandre Prosper (ND) – 4
Tech next plays Sunday, January 19 vs. Clemson in McCamish at 2pm on ACCNX.