#3 Notre Dame women's basketball preview Cayman Island Classic
SOUTH BEND, Ind -- Irish remains unbeaten through the first four games of the season. Now preparing for TCU in the Cayman Island Classic.
Notre Dame handled business on the West Coast beating the previously third ranked USC Trojans 74-61 over weekend.
Although there could on be one winner, Notre Dame vs USC was a great showing for the culture of women's basketball. That's something Head Coach Niele Ivey acknowledged before the trip to the West Coast.
"I think it's just shows how far along we are in this basketball world," Ivey said a week ago.
Fast forward to Tuesday.
"That game is kind of like, that was Saturday, you know, we enjoyed it. It was a big win, and statement win for the program and for women's basketball, but now we got to focus on the next game. And I never looked too far in advance. It's really TCU," Ivey mentioned.
Preparing for TCU shouldn't be too much of an issue, considering their point guard is as familiar face for the Irish. Yes, the Horned frogs have new faces on the roster, but Hailey Van Lith is the former ACC point guard at Louisville and she's running the offense at TCU.
"It's going to be a tough matchup. We're excited for it. Having a little bit experience versus Hailey Van Lith but having depth and the great guards and the great posts, so we're going to be, it's going to be a really tough task for us," Ivey said.
Through the first four games, Ivey has had dynamic production from her pre-season All-American guards Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles, leading the team in points averaged. But they've yet to see Sonia Citron arrive on the scene with her offensive prowess.
"I mean, it just shows our depth. You know, we have a lot of weapons on this team. This team is very unselfish. Everybody can step up. Everybody can do something well," Ivey mentioned.
"Sonia's still finding her rhythm. So, what those that game is going to come where she's just going to be offensively explosive, and again, she's She does whatever it takes for us to win. So, if that means she's being a defensive stopper, if that means she's leading us in assists, rebounds, or scoring, she's going to do whatever it takes to help us win," Ivey added.
The Irish were led by Hannah Hidalgo who was named the AP player of the week, Tuesday.
Hidalgo led the team with 24 points, six rebounds, eight assist and five steals. As the sophomore continues to put on epic performances, she's first in the country averaging 5 steals per game and third in points per game with an average of 24.8.
"We enjoyed that excitement in the moment, but you know, the day after, we're watching film more figuring out, you know, how to get better. You know, how do we improve? Because we have a game coming up soon, so, you know, it's on to the next game. That wasn't the championship, so we still have a long way to go," Hidalgo said.