The Notre Dame women’s basketball team had a bit of a slow start on offense against the Easter Michigan Eagles.
Fortunately for the Fighting Irish (9-2, 1-0), so did the Eagles (1-6). Notre Dame did finally settle in with its second basket with 7:18 left in the first quarter — and once the shots started falling, they never stopped. The Irish would have a 15-0 run before EMU finally got a point. Notre Dame would go on to win 118-49.
The Irish rocketed out to a 33-9 lead and essentially had the game in hand once the buzzer sounded to mark the end of the first quarter. Notre Dame would lead 61-20 at halftime.
Not that there was any real doubt, even in the first few minutes when the score was 2-0 in favor of the Irish. Even as the Irish’s first few shots didn’t fall, it was clear Notre Dame was in command of the game — unless the Eagles got on an early run, the Irish would be fine.
Of course, it was Notre Dame that then had the early run. And the mid-game run. And the late run.
The Irish crossed the century mark with more than six minutes remaining in the game. Eastern Michigan had yet to reach 40 points, and the Eagles of course finished with just 49.
Notre Dame set a team record with 17 made three-point shots during the contest — breaking the old record of 15. The Irish scored the fifth-most points in team history.
Fighting Irish guard Hannah Hidalgo led all scorers with 27 points while fellow guard olivia miles had 17 and forward Liatu King had 15. Guard sonia citron was also in double figures with 11.
King also had 15 rebounds for a double-double.
Emma Risch was a huge story for the Irish — the guard came off the bench and had 23 points, including 7-of-9 from three-point land. Guard Cassandre Prosper had 20 off the bench.
Next up for Notre Dame, after a brief break for final exams, will be a visit from Loyola Maryland at noon EST on Dec. 22.
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