TCU and Notre Dame Will Face Off Again in the Sweet 16.
The Irish are coming off of a pair of blowout wins over their first two NCAA Tournament opponents, Stephen F. Austin and Michigan. Notre Dame won the contests by an average of 36.5 points, including the program’s largest win in NCAA Tournament history, a 106-54 victory over the LadyJacks. The Irish shot a combined 54.1 percent from the floor.
There were several notable individual efforts across the two games as well. Both Sonia Citron and Hannah Hidalgo had 24 points each against SFA. Citron added 7 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 blocks, recording her eighth game of the year with 3+ steals. Liza Karlen posted her first double-double of the year with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Kate Koval became the first Irish freshman since at least 1999 to record a 4-block game in the NCAA Tournament.
Against the Wolverines, Liatu King went 7-7 from the floor, 4-4 from the free throw line and finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds. In doing so, King became the sixth player in Irish history to record at least 15 rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game and the fourth to notch a 15-15 showing in the Big Dance.
Like Notre Dame’s star backcourt, TCU has a couple stars of its own in Third Team AP All-American Hailey Van Lith and Honorable Mention AP All-American Sedona Prince. The offense starts with Van Lith, who is averaging 17.7 points and 5.5 assists per game. Prince dominates in the paint for the Horned Frogs with 17.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per contest with a field goal percentage of 58.8. In TCU’s win over the Irish in November, Prince had 20 points, 20 rebounds and 8 blocks.
Notre Dame and TCU will air on ABC at 1 p.m. ET. The Irish are 3-1 all-time against the Horned Frogs, and this is their first postseason meeting. Beth Mowins, Debbie Antonelli and Angel Gray will be on the call.