Hannah Hidalgo hailed by ND teammates after near quadruple-double

FORT WORTH, Texas — Hannah Hidalgo already had a triple-double, already set an NCAA report for steals, already had carried out every thing potential to get Notre Dame previous the Sweet 16 for the primary time underneath coach Niele Ivey.

Yet Vanderbilt had erased a 12-point Irish lead and tied the rating late within the fourth quarter of their regional semifinal Friday. With 25 seconds left, Ivey known as a timeout. In the huddle, she implored her crew: “If we want to make it to the next round, everything has to be ours.”

Both groups took the ground. K. K. Bransford inbounded the ball.

“Probably not the best pass, but honestly, I threw it up knowing that Hannah was going to get it,” Bransford mentioned.

The 5-foot-6 Hidalgo leaped greater than the 2 Vanderbilt gamers collapsing on her to seize the ball. “I felt like I was floating,” Hidalgo mentioned. “Once I saw the ball go up, and I saw two people coming at me, I was like, I’m making sure I’m getting this ball.”

Hidalgo grabbed it, noticed Cassandre Prosper down low and bounced her the go, and Prosper laid the ball in for the go-ahead rating in a 67-64 victory to get the Irish into the Elite Eight for the primary time since 2019.

Hidalgo and Ivey shared an extended, emotional embrace after the sport, a second to acknowledge the exhausting work and sacrifice that went into getting so far. Notre Dame went into the final two NCAA tournaments with higher-ranked groups however by no means discovered a technique to win.

This 12 months, with a crew that began 13-8 and earned a No. 6 seed within the match, the Irish have discovered a technique to advance when a lot about this season mentioned they by no means may. But they discovered the appropriate chemistry and rhythm on the proper time, purchased into what Ivey needed to do with the protection and pulled upsets of their final two video games, stunning outsiders maybe, however not themselves.

Leading the cost was Hidalgo, who completed with 31 factors, 11 rebounds and 10 steals on the afternoon, setting one other mark: complete steals in a single NCAA match (26), breaking the earlier report of 23 held by Ticha Penicheiro at Old Dominion in 1988 and Emily Engstler at Louisville in 2022.

She additionally broke the NCAA Division I report for steals with 199, shifting her previous Lamar’s Chastadie Barrs, who held the earlier single-season mark of 192 steals in 2018-19.

Hidalgo was three assists away from a quadruple-double. She grew to become the second participant in NCAA match historical past with a triple-double with steals (Penicheiro in 1998). In her postgame feedback, Hidalgo had no concept she set the NCAA steals report.

“When I go out, I’m just playing, and I want to do whatever I have to do for the team in order for us to win, whether that’s getting steals, rebounds, scoring, just dishing out whatever I need to do,” Hidalgo mentioned.

A couple of minutes later, Bransford definitively mentioned, “Hannah is the player of the year.”

She definitely performed that manner Friday in a matchup towards the nation’s main scorer in Mikayla Blakes. Notre Dame needed to set the tone early with its protection, and having Hidalgo — the ACC Defensive Player of the Year — do it gave the Irish the enhance they wanted whereas rattling Vanderbilt early.

“We were feeding off Hannah’s energy and making sure that we were applying pressure as well and being aggressive, not letting them get easy shots, that was the biggest thing,” Prosper mentioned.

Blakes was 1-of-13 from the sector at halftime, and though she completed with 26 factors, she shot 7-of-26. Blakes additionally had a vital turnover after Notre Dame took a 66-64 lead on the following possession, dribbling the ball out of bounds — basically sealing the sport for the Irish.

“I can’t perform for my team like that in a moment as big as this,” Blakes mentioned. “The last play with the ball, I guess just dribbled it off my foot. I saw an open lane, but I guess I moved too fast.”

Explaining how Notre Dame grew as a crew to get so far began after the Irish had one other disappointing exit from the Sweet 16 final season. Hidalgo mentioned she spoke with Maya Moore on the Final Four and received a greater understanding of what it takes to attempt to win a championship.

From that time ahead, Hidalgo was extra intentional in attending to know his teammates and began to understand the moments as an alternative of taking them as a right.

“It really clicked for me that in order to make this game easier, I have to be able to connect with the girls outside of basketball,” Hidalgo mentioned. “Maya just talked about how on the bus rides, they put their phones away, and they would just talk to each other, and they would play games with each other, and it was really a family, and that made it so much easier for them, and that took them all the way to the [championship]. Just that hearing, I was like, I know what I have to do in order for us to get to that next level.”

Indeed, assistant Charel Allen reminded the crew earlier than the sport, “What are you going to do to get over this hump? We’re not going to keep going to the Sweet 16 and dying on the same level. We have to be able to level up.”

They did that, however additionally they know there are a number of extra ranges to go.

“We’re really going to enjoy this, but to get to the Final Four is really, really hard,” Ivey mentioned. “You have to be great defensively. It’s a level of toughness that you have to have. The stage is even bigger than it was today. You have to have a great game plan and be really tough. I think that’s the biggest thing. We’re going to celebrate and figure out what that matchup is going to look like.”