Notre Dame Women's Basketball Hosts No. 24 Florida State On Senior Night

After seeing its 19-game winning streak end in double overtime on Sunday, No. 3 Notre Dame looks to bounce back with a home game against Florida State Thursday night. Here is all the information to know for the matchup:

Where: Notre Dame, Ind. - Purcell Pavillion
When: Thursday, Feb. 27 – 8:00 PM EST
Network: ACC Network – Jenn Hildreth (Play-by-Play); Debbie Antonelli (Analyst)
Radio: ND Radio Network, 96.1 FM WSBT in South Bend all games also stream on the Audacy App/Audacy.com – Sean Stires (PBP); Karen Keyes (Analyst)

Let's take a look at today’s matchup:

NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (24-3, 15-1 ACC)

Head Coach: Niele Ivey (113-35 – 5th season at Notre Dame)

Notre Dame saw its 19-game winning streak end with Sunday’s 104-95 double overtime loss at NC State. The loss dropped the Irish from No. 1 to No. 3 in the national rankings. A win on Sunday would have locked up the regular season ACC championship and the No. 1 seed in next week’s ACC Tournament, but the Irish have a one-game lead over the Wolfpack in the conference standings with two games to go.

Hannah Hidalgo led the Fighting Irish with 26 points, while Sonia Citron scored 23, Olivia Miles scored 22 and Liatu King registered her 11th double-double of the season with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Notre Dame is the best 3-point shooting team in the nation (40.5%) but made just 7 of 27 (26%) from behind the arc in the loss while NC State connected on 24 of 26 free throw attempts to hand Notre Dame its first ACC loss of the season.

Projected Irish Starting Lineup 

G Olivia Miles - 5-10, Grad – 16.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 6.0 APG
G Hannah Hidalgo - 5-6, Soph – 24.7 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.8 APG, 3.8 SPG
F  Liatu King - 6-0, Grad – 11.7 PPG, 10.8 RPG, 2.2 SPG, 25 BLK
G Sonia Citron - 6-1, Sr – 14.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.8 APG, 2.0 SPG
F  Maddy Westbeld - 6-2, Grad – 8.4 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 17 BLK

FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES (22-6, 12-4 ACC)

Head Coach: Brooke Wyckoff (78-36 in 3rd season at Florida State/overall)

Brooke Wyckoff is in her third full season as head coach at her alma mater after also serving as interim head coach for the Seminoles for 19 games in 2020-2021. She has led the Seminoles to the NCAA Tournament in each of her first two seasons.

Ta’Niya Latson leads four FSU players who averaged in double figures at 26.2 ppg. Second-leading scorer Mikayla Timpson is averaging a double-double with 17.3 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. O’Mariah Gordon (16.7 ppg) and Sydney Bowles (11.2 ppg) average double figures as well. Timpson leads the ACC and is No. 3 in the nation with 91 blocked shots.

Latson has missed Florida State’s last three games (Miami, Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech) with an undisclosed injury. The Seminoles have gone 3-0 in her absence.

Projected Starting Lineup (Based on FSU’s last game)

F  Makayla Timpson - Stats – 17.3 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 91 BLK
G Sydney Bowles - Stats – 11.2 PPG, 3.2 RPG
G Carla Viegas - Stats – 6.5 PPG, .7 RPG
G Amaya Bonner - Stats – 3.7 PPG, 2.7 RPG
F  Malea Williams - Stats – 4.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Ta’Niya Latson (26.2 ppg) and Hannah Hidalgo (24.7 ppg) are the top two scorers in not only the ACC but in the entire nation. They are also likely to finish 1-2 in the ACC Player of the Year balloting when the award is announced next week (Hidalgo is considered the favorite to win the award). Latson’s status for Thursday’s game against Notre Dame is unknown as FSU head coach Brooke Wyckoff has remained tight-lipped about both what the injury to her star guard is as well as her potential availability. Fellow Seminole guard O’Mariah Gordon (16.7 ppg) has missed the last two games as well, also with an undisclosed injury.

With both Latson and Gordon out, Sydney Bowles scored a career-high 32 points to lead the Seminoles to a 73-70 win over then No. 20 Georgia Tech on Sunday. She became the fourth FSU player to score at least 30 points in a game this season.

The win moved FSU, who has been in and out of the national rankings this season, to No. 24 in this week’s AP and Coaches polls and knocked Georgia Tech out. The win moved Florida State into a three-way tie with Louisville and Duke for fourth place in the ACC heading into the season’s last two games.

After losing to NC State on Sunday, Notre Dame (15-1) leads the Wolfpack (14-2) by a game in the conference standings. The Fighting Irish have a much tougher final two games to close the season against FSU and Louisville (both 12-4), while NC State faces Wake Forest and SMU (both 2-14), who are the bottom two teams in the conference. Barring a major upset by either of those teams over NC State, Notre Dame likely needs to win each of its last two games this weekend to lock up the outright ACC regular season championship and the No. 1 seed at next week’s ACC Tournament that comes with it. They need the wins to stay in the hunt for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament as well. 

Thursday's game will see Senior Night recognition for Maddy Westbeld, Olivia Miles, Kylee Watson, Liza Karlen, Liatu King, Sonia Citron, and Sarah Cernugal.