Women's basketball: Everything you need to know about Notre Dame's game at Pittsburgh Sunday
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
WHO: No. 19 Notre Dame (13-4, 4-2 ACC) vs. Pittsburgh (10-8, 1-6).
WHEN: Sunday, 2 p.m.
WHERE: Petersen Events Center (12,508), Pittsburgh, Pa.
WATCH: ACCNX (subscription required).
LISTEN: WQLQ (99.9 FM).
► One game at a time: A journey through Notre Dame's 2021-22 women’s basketball season
About Notre Dame
This is the first of four ACC rematches on the Irish regular-season schedule (rematches also remain with Syracuse and Boston College, as do both games against No. 3 Louisville). … ND beat the visiting Panthers 85-59 on Dec. 19. Olivia Miles uncoiled a spectacular showing and fellow freshman Sonia Citron a strong one, too. Miles went for 21 points, 11 assists, six rebounds and six steals against one turnover. The steals remain a career high, as do the trio of 3-pointers she hit, and the 21 points are her second-best. Citron added 15 points, eight rebounds and three steals. … For the season, five Irish are averaging from 11.1 to 12.8 points in Maddy Westbeld (12.8 ppg, 5.9 rebounds), Miles (12.4 ppg, 7.8 assists, 6.4 rpg, 2.0 steals), Maya Dodson (11.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 2.5 blocks), Dara Mabrey (11.5 ppg, 2.9 apg, 41-of-103 on 3s) and Citron (11.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 41-of-45 at the line). Sam Brunelle, coming off a team-high 15 points in Thursday’s 73-71 loss at Boston College, is at 11.3 over her last three games. … ND led 73-43 through three quarters against Pitt last month and improved to 31-4 against the Panthers all-time with wins in 14 of the last 15 meetings. … Notre Dame's Tuesday makeup at Virginia has been cancelled again. No word as to why. Also, the postponed game with N.C. State at Purcell Pavilion has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. on Feb. 1. .
About Pittsburgh
The Panthers are 0-5 against ranked teams, the closest of those games being 11-point losses to then-No. 23 Texas A&M and currently No. 18 Georgia Tech. … Senior guard Jayla Everett leads Pitt at 13.9 points per outing. She’s missed four games this season, three of those coming in November, with the Panthers going 1-3 in those. … Other Pitt pacesetters include Dayshanette Harris (10.2 ppg, 2.8 assists), Amber Brown (8.7 ppg, 6.0 rebounds), Rita Igbokwe (5.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and Liatu King (5.8 ppg, 7.1 rpg). … The Panthers are limiting their opponents to 35.9% from the field overall, 30th-best in the country among 356 Division I teams. They are at just 38.3% themselves, however, to rank 235th, and their free throw accuracy of 63.8 is 319th. … Turnovers have been a compounding issue at 18.7 a game to stand 288th. That category was especially lopsided in last month’s loss at Notre Dame. Pitt committed 27 to just 12 by the Irish. For the season, the Panthers are averaging 3.7 more cough-ups than their opponents, while the Irish are at 3.1 fewer than theirs.
Worth quoting
“We gotta dig deeper defensively to get the stops to win games on the road. It’s never going to be easy on the road. It’s never going to be easy winning in the ACC.” — Niele Ivey, Notre Dame coach, on the message to her team after Thursday’s loss at BC. The Irish led by 14 with less than 13 minutes to go.
— By Anthony Anderson