Notre Dame wins outright ACC regular-season championship
Niele Ivey’s transformation as a worthy successor to Muffet McGraw officially has been completed. With Notre Dame needing a road win over Louisville in its regular-season finale to clinch at least a share of the ACC regular-season title, the pressure couldn’t have been higher. The road was made tougher with the sudden loss of olivia miles, one of the country’s best players, to a right knee injury. All signs pointed to a disappointing precursor to the ACC Tournament.
Instead, Ivey kept her team focused, and the Irish overcame a 10-point third-quarter deficit to come away with a hard-fought 68-65 win over the Cardinals. With Duke losing to North Carolina, the Irish won their first outright ACC regular-season championship since 2017. They last won a share of the ACC regular-season title in 2019.
The 24-4 Irish finished conference play with a 15-3 record. They will have the top seed in the conference tournament, which begins Wednesday in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their first game will be in the quarterfinals Friday against the winner of Thursday’s second-round game between NC State and Syracuse.
Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.
Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89
