SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Hannah Hidalgo scored 21 points and No. 3 seed Notre Dame routed No. 6 seed Michigan 76-55 in the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
Notre Dame advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive season. The Irish will have a rematch in Birmingham against either TCU or Louisville. The Horned Frogs defeated Notre Dame in the Cayman Islands in November. The Fighting Irish swept Louisville in two ACC regular-season games.
Olivia Miles, who suffered an ankle injury in Notre Dame’s 106-54 victory against Stephen F. Austin in the first round, started for the Fighting Irish. She had eight points, five assists and four rebounds.
Liatu King turned in a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Sonia Citron scored 16 points for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame (28-5) opened up with an 11-2 run and stormed to a 32-12 lead after the first quarter. The Fighting Irish looked like the team that dispatched Texas, Southern California, UConn and Duke in the regular-season rather than the team that dropped three of its last five regular-season games, hitting 12 of their first 16 shots. Michigan (23-11) started out 1-of-7 from the field.
Notre Dame held Michighan to a season-low 55 points. The Wolverines’ previous low was 58 points in losses to USC and Michigan State. Michigan entered the game averaging 78.2 points a game.
A pair of freshmen led Michigan. Olivia Olson scored 20 points and Syla Swords scored 17 points.
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