Did Notre Dame women’s basketball advance to ACC tournament semifinals on Friday?
GREENSBORO, North Carolina — The Notre Dame women’s basketball team, ranked sixth by USA Today, made it quite clear that this weekend’s route back to a second consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title would not be easy.
Notre Dame had to figure out some things it probably did not plan on figuring out in a conference tournament quarterfinal matchup after being pushed in unexpected ways by a California team it had already defeated in Indiana earlier in the season.
For example, down by six points in the middle of the third quarter. As in letting Cal become overconfident on the offensive end with a defense that had been dominant at one point but then slackened off, then regained its dominance.
A tournament victory was certain when the Irish realized that staying in the Triad area for at least one more day was preferable to going back to whatever was waiting for them on campus.
It was the Irish. There it was, on the carpeted floor of a small locker room inside the Coliseum. It was like entering Four Winds Casino back home as you walked through the open door just after Notre Dame’s 73-64 victory over Cal sent the Irish to Saturday’s semifinal matchup against No. 11 Duke. Simply go with the flow. Like the Irish rolled with the highs and lows, the successes and failures, Friday’s good and bad.
