SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Like the team's game earlier this week, Notre Dame College women's basketball had a tough first quarter against Ursuline on Saturday. And like their game earlier this week, the Falcons recovered to win big.
 
Notre Dame came back strong right away in the second quarter, after being down 23-18 at the end of the first. NDC won quarter two 22-5 to take a 40-28 lead into halftime. The Falcons kept their feet on the gas until the final buzzer to win 78-58 and improve to 11-1 on the year.
 
Both teams had big momentum swings in the first quarter, but Ursuline bookended the first 10 minutes of play with two 9-2 runs to lead by five heading into the second quarter. From there, Notre Dame took over by forcing six turnover and upping the pace of play.
 
"We were fired up after that first quarter and started to play at a higher speed," said senior guard Seina Adachi. "Playing fast is one of our biggest advantages we have this season."
 
The Falcons kept their pace high throughout the game, and even into the fourth quarter. Entering the final 10 minutes with a 19-point lead, Notre Dame looked like a team playing from behind. NDC scored three baskets in just over a minute to force Ursuline to take a timeout and regroup.
 
"We're really working on not worrying about the score," said head coach Lauren Macer. "Instead we want our focus to be on each individual possession and what we are trying to do on that side of the court. We know there are times where we need to make adjustments, or times where we need to keep our run going or stop someone else's run. Those are the moments I want us to think about and direct our attention to."
 
Notre Dame built its lead up to 27 with three minutes left to play before Ursuline recovered some of its missed opportunities to bring it back down to a 20-point game before time expired.
 
Adachi led both teams in scoring and rebounding. With 18 points and 11 rebounds, the 5-foot-7 guard recorded her first ever double-double.
 
"It's extremely exciting," Adachi said. "Until this year, I wasn't really focused on grabbing rebounds, but now I am trying to get more boards to help the team. At my height it can be tough, but today I just hustled and was able to get some."
 
Jada Marone, at 5-foot-5, was second on the team with five rebounds of her own, adding 17 points to her performance. The sophomore, who joined the team after the first semester a year ago, has been a vocal leader in the 2019-20 season. In Saturday's win, she led the team with four assists.
 
"It's definitely been good to have Jada feel comfortable talking to her teammates, and being vocal about what she is seeing on the court," Macer said. "She is always helping us reiterate what the game plan is when she's playing. It's been nice for her to be leader when she's on the court or on the sideline, and I think our players really feed off her energy."
 
Jen Oduho joined Adachi and Marone in double-digits with 10 points. Katie Karalic and Theresa Parr spread the ball out well with three assists each. Karalic tallied all three of her assists before making a shot of her own. Overall the senior from Macedonia, Ohio was three-of-four from the field, making all three attempts in the fourth quarter.
 
In the first half, Karalic had two assists on her stat sheet with 10 minutes played as the only other number next to her name. Her work on defense and off ball may not burst out of the box score, but she is impacting the game in ways other cannot.  
 
"Katie is a leader," Macer said. "She's a senior captain for us and she's good at knowing her role. She knows that what she does may not always show up in the stats, but it helps us win. She's been great this season at playing help-side defense and closing out to make it tough on shooters. A lot of times she is containing the other team's best player. She's someone who always puts the team first and does whatever she can to help us be successful."
 
A defensive juggernaut in her time at NDC, Karalic also plays a clean game. In twelve games this season, she has only recorded more than two fouls once. On Saturday, she had her third no-foul game of the year.
 
The Falcons are now 11-1, but are in no way satisfied.
 
"We are happy with our success, but not content," Macer said. "We know, and our players know, that there are teams we have yet to see in our conference. There are teams that gave us good games that we have to play again in the second semester, and we have a team we lost to that we will see again. Our players know they have to stay focused and not be complacent with where we are so far."
 
Notre Dame will start the second semester on the road at Frostburg State. The teams will compete for the first time, since Frostburg joined the MEC this season, on Wednesday, January 8, at 5:30 p.m.