Notre Dame crushes Lafayette ahead of layoff

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame won’t play again until after final exams at the university are completed next week. That meant a strong performance Wednesday against Lafayette was a must. There was no problem with that whatsoever as the Irish cruised to a wire-to-wire 96-42 victory in which each of their dressed players scored.

While the Irish (7-1) played well in the first half, it wasn’t enough to completely fend off the Leopards (4-5). Although a loss was unlikely even at that point, it still would have been for the Irish take a stranglehold on the game. They did just that in the third quarter, clamping down on defense and outscoring the Leopards, 28-8. Even with the fourth quarter merely a formality on this night, they continued to lay down the hammer and had a 30-11 scoring advantage.

By the time it was over, the Leopards had a whole bunch of goose eggs, if not slightly better, on their side of the stats sheet. The Irish did not allow any field goals off turnovers, fast breaks or second chances. Most impressively, they didn’t let the Leopards get to the free-throw line until the fourth quarter.

Hannah Hidalgo had another huge game with 26 points and padded her national steals lead with six takeaways. Maddy Westbeld achieved a double-double of 17 points and 19 rebounds. Kylee Watson scored 14, and Anna DeWolfe had 10 points to go with three of her own steals.

Natalija Marshall came off the bench to score 12 and grab eight boards as well as lead the Irish with six assists.

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Story originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire