The uncanny stat that will live in mothballs for another year is how almost invincible Notre Dame women’s basketball teams have been over their history when they reach the Eight Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
Nine times advancing to the Final Four in 10 appearances.
But for the fourth year in a row, the Irish stalled in the Sweet 16. And the whys surrounding that and their 71-62 loss to 2 seed TCU, Saturday at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala., are more painful and perplexing than the last three.
“I think we just had so much talent,” departing senior Sonia Citron offered. “Sometimes too much talent, you know, we didn't even know what to do with.”
TCU (34-3) knew.
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Get the ball in the hands of transfer portal stars Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Prince on offense, and stifle the third-seeded Irish (28-6) defensively to offset huge disadvantages in points off turnovers (21-4), second-chance points (11-2) and even bench points (4-0).
Van Lith led all scorers with 26 points as the former Louisville/LSU star bumped her personal record against the Irish to 7-2 in coaxing first-time Sweet 16 participant TCU into Monday night’s Elite Eight matchup against No. 1 seed Texas (34-3), a 67-59 survivor of 5 seed Tennessee in Saturday's second game at Legacy ...
