No. 5 Notre Dame advances to Sweet 16 with monster 44-point win over No. 4 Oklahoma

No. 5 seed Notre Dame left nothing in doubt advancing to the Sweet 16 on Monday night.

The Fighting Irish knocked out No. 4 Oklahoma, 108-64, at the Sooners' Lloyd Noble Center in the Bridgeport region of the NCAA women's basketball tournament. The 44-point winning margin is the largest by a team seeded equal to or lower than its opponent, per ESPN Stats and Information. They are the first women's or men's team to defeat a better-seeded team by at least 40 points, according to Stats Perform.

Four of five starters reached double-digits and three hit the 20-point threshold. The Fighting Irish assisted on 24 of 41 baskets and ballooned a 7-7 tie at the two-minute mark into a 35-12 lead through one quarter.

The only starter who missed out on double digits was freshman point guard Olivia Miles, who was too busy dishing out 12 of those assists. She was on triple-double watch once again, but finished short shooting 4-of-9 for nine points and seven rebounds.

"In transition they kind of spread into the paint, so that's how I was finding Dara [Mabrey], finding Sonia [Citron] and Maddy [Westbeld]," Miles said. "I feel like when we pushed in transition and I was able to see the floor, we were able to spread them out. We were hitting shots — I just kept hitting the hot hand."

Miles had nine points, seven assists and seven rebounds heading into the fourth quarter with the Fighting Irish leading, 85-47. The available passes were too good to give up and Miles missed out on a second straight triple-double in as many NCAA appearances. It would have been the second back-to-back triple-doubles, joining Stanford's Nicole Powell. Powell did it on March 16 and 18 during the first two rounds of the 2002 NCAA tournament. The only other player to have two tournament triple-doubles is Oregon star and New York Liberty point guard Sabrina Ionescu.

NCAA Mabrey show continues

Dara Mabrey provided the highest offensive setting for Notre Dame in the first half, continuing the unofficial tradition of Mabrey sisters showing out for the Irish in the NCAA tournament. Older sister Marina Mabrey was on the back-to-back championship game teams. Their older sister Michaela also attended Notre Dame.

Mabrey led all scorers with 29 points and had was out-scoring Oklahoma herself before half. She was 11-of-19 overall and 7-of-12 from the 3-point line. She had six rebounds and three assists. The seven 3-pointers tied Marina for most in a tournament game.

"To be honest, when you shoot like that — I felt like I was unconscious there for — at one point I wasn't thinking," Mabrey said. "I just knew when I caught it I was going to let it go and it was going in. As a shooter when you believe in yourself like that, you believe I'm going to make it and it's going in, chances are it's going to go in."

Mabrey said that confidence and positive energy "spreads like wildfire" and shows growth.

"Our team is maturing, therefore it's easiest to spread that confidence when you're confident as a leader," Mabrey said. "I think that they did exactly that. I hit those shots and then everybody started scoring."

Sonia Citron added 25 points, going 7-of-13 and making all 11 free throws. She had six rebounds, four of the team's 16 steals and three assists. Maya Dodson scored 20 on 8-of-11 shooting and added three rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Maddy Westbeld had 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists. The team was 51.9% from the floor and 40% (10-of-25) from 3.

Oklahoma's top offense goes quiet

The Irish quieted one of the highest-scoring offenses in the nation this year. Oklahoma averaged 83.2 points per game, third behind DePaul and Iowa. Taylor Robertson led the Sooners with 19 points. Liz Scott had 11 and eight rebounds and Skylar Vann scored 11 off the bench with nine rebounds. Oklahoma turned the ball over 28 times and shot 32.3% (21-of-65).

Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said she talked to the team about lifting their defensive effort since they were playing at Oklahoma's home court. And they "rose to the challenge."