Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM JANUARY 2025 57 BY TYLER HORKA N otre Dame head coach Niele Ivey probably skimmed over the "7" in the steals column and processed it quickly. And if she did, she probably as- sumed it was next to Hannah Hidalgo's name, so she didn't say anything. If she said something every time Hidalgo had some absurd number of steals, she'd be doing a whole lot of say- ing things. She likes to keep her sound bites a bit more concise. The 7 was next to Sonia Citron's name this time. When Ivey realized that, brought to her attention by Blue & Gold Illustrated, her face lit up during Notre Dame's postgame press conference. So did Hidalgo's. Citron was sitting to the left of both of them, and all she could do was smile. "I didn't even know I had that," Cit- ron said. She did, and No. 10 Notre Dame had 16 steals as a team in an 80-70 overtime victory over No. 4 Texas Dec. 5. It was a much-needed bounce-back win af- ter losing two consecutive games in the Cayman Islands Classic over Thanks- giving. In those two defeats to TCU and Utah, the Irish allowed nearly 80 points in both matchups. They held Texas to 68 in regulation. "We had a rough week, as everybody knows," Ivey said. "We got back to work, got home and they were mentally tough. We had a couple really hard practices and film sessions. They turned the page and came out and responded." Only putting six players on the floor for the duration of the 45-minute game, Notre Dame came out in a 2-3 zone and stayed in it for most of the night. It was the only way the Irish were not going to have anybody foul out. They still came close with three players picking up four personals, but they held on just long enough. And wreaked more than enough havoc on the Horns. "We talked about it, and we felt like they would zone us," Texas head coach Vic Schaefer said. "Obviously, you're not having to run around and chase a bunch of people. That's what's so dis- heartening, to have 23 turnovers against a 2-3 zone. There's no excuse for that." Schaefer said maybe Texas was "try- ing too hard or not making the right read." For sure. Some possessions gone awry were the fault of the offense. But plenty of them were impacted by the Notre Dame defense, too. Ivey said the entire defensive scout for several days upon returning to South Bend from the Caribbean, where the Irish lost to those Big 12 foes because of defensive collapses, was built upon enacting a zone-heavy defense. Her players, all six of them, pulled it off to near perfection in holding Texas well-below its season averages. The Longhorns put up 92.9 points per game in their first seven appearances of the year, but only totaled 70 against Notre Dame. The Longhorns were plus-12.9 in turnover margin in their first seven games. They were minus-6 against the Fighting Irish. In some cases, the Longhorns were way above their season averages, too. Obviously, turnovers fell into that cate- gory. But so were three-point attempts. The Horns chucked up 24 of them after only averaging 11 shots from beyond the arc in their first seven games. As much of a size advantage as Notre Dame sacrificed in the front court with 6-0 graduate student forward Liatu King and 6-5 freshman center Kate Koval be- ing the main Irish players to go against 6-4 and 6-6 Texas centers, that Irish duo still did enough to prevent absolute annihilation down low. They held their ground as well as they could, forcing Texas to shoot more threes than usual. Citron was the No. 1 overall stopper, though. The key catalyst. "Sonia brings that energy every single game," Hidalgo said. "She's always pick- ing up the best player on the court. She's always going to be that vet for us. When we have Sonia, it makes us so much more different. She spaces everything out on offense, and she knows the defense so well. She's able to get 7 steals, and she'll probably get another 7 next game." Probably not. It's a career-high and a number generally reserved for Hidalgo to hit. But maybe, just maybe, if Notre Dame plays as connected in its zone as it did against Texas more times through- out her final season with the Irish. That defensive effort will work against anybody. "We had to focus on fighting, getting up and down, being very physical, and just being smarter defensively" Ivey said. "I thought they came in and really did a great job of following the game plan." ✦ Notre Dame Bounces Back With Defensive Dominance Against Texas WOMEN'S B A S K E T B A L L Irish Begin ACC Play With Big Road Win Notre Dame lost to Syracuse twice during the 2023-24 season. That won't happen in 2024-25. In their lone game against the Orange this season, the Fighting Irish easily handled their first ACC game of the sea- son in a 93-62 victory on the road Dec. 8. No. 10 Notre Dame improved to 7-2. Syracuse dropped to 4-6. "This was a statement win in the ACC," head coach Niele Ivey said. The Irish's lethal trio of guards, graduate student Olivia Miles, senior Sonia Citron and sophomore Hannah Hidalgo, all eclipsed the 20-point mark. Citron led the way with 25, Hidalgo had 24 and Miles went for 20. — Tyler Horka Senior guard Sonia Citron had a career-high 7 steals to go along with 18 points and 7 rebounds in Notre Dame's 80-70 overtime win over No. 4 Texas Dec. 5. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER