SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – It had been 33 days since the Notre Dame College women's basketball team last played on their own court, and the Falcons return to Murphy Gymnasium Thursday evening resulted in a 33-point victory over Shepherd. Winning by the largest margin of victory this season was a fitting way to come home.
 
The 85-52 win was a team effort as five players reached double-digits. NDC (11-5, 7-2 MEC) was hot from the tip as they led 22-8 after the first quarter and 46-18 heading into halftime.
 
In the first half, the Falcons shot 56.3 percent from the field and continued to shoot above 50 percent in the second half. For the third time this season, the team made over half of their attempts.
 
"Getting in the gym, getting those extra shots is a big factor," said Maggie King. "Coach always stresses having pride in what we do. We're here to play college basketball so we have to put the work in."
 
King saw that work pay off tonight as she made five of her seven field goals doing most of her damage inside where she feels most comfortable. Marisa Finazzo, Seina Adachi, Kim Cook and Kyleigh Ramlow joined King in the scoring fun as each ended with more than 10 points.
 
This is the second-straight game where at least four Falcons have scored in double-digits and the reason is due to unselfish play.
 
"I feel like we all made the extra pass tonight and wanted to see each other succeed," King said. "When we play like that, where we aren't as concerned with ourselves, we play our best."
 
Coming together as a team also helped on the defensive end. Shepherd turned the ball over 21 times, 14 due to NDC steals, which resulted in 27 points for the Falcons.
 
"They're starting to fully trust each other," said head coach Lauren Macer on her team's defensive success. "They know that if they go for the steal, that someone is behind them to rotate and help."
 
With the defensive pressure, the Rams were only able to convert on 37.3 percent of their shots, including only making 25 percent in the first half. And when it comes to getting those stops, there's a simple motivating factor.
 
"We just want to be on offense," King said. "We're a really good offensive team. We want to play offense more than we want to play defense so we try hard to get the ball back in our hands."
 
The Falcons have now won all 10 of their last home games played against conference opponents, dating back to last season, and will continue to take lessons from those wins going forward.
 
"We really focused on building from last game and putting four quarters together," Macer said. "I think that mentality helped us play one possession at a time and stay consistent. That's how we're going to win games."
 
Notre Dame will try to keep that mentality going against Fairmont State on Saturday, January 13. Tip off in South Euclid is scheduled for 2 p.m.