SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Defense leads to offense.
That's been the mantra for the Notre Dame College women's basketball team this season, and it's led them to a 13-1 (7-1 MEC) record after defeating Fairmont State 74-55 at home on Saturday.
Strong defensive play started early as the Falcons held FSU to fewer than 10 points in the first two quarters to take a 26-16 lead into halftime. The momentum carried over into the second half as NDC won the third quarter 24-18 and the more contested fourth quarter 24-21.
Notre Dame is playing its best defense under head coach
Lauren Macer in her third year at the helm. The Falcons have allowed just 66.6 points to opponents on average, which, if continued, would be the best mark since 2014-15. This defensive rate has led to a historic offensive output of 77.3 points per game, which, if continued, would be the highest scoring average for NDC since the 2007-08 season.
"Defense was definitely a focus for us today as it has been all year," Macer said. "We knew that Fairmont had really good guard play, so we wanted to focus on being able to defend as a team. The players really bought into it and were able to do some good things today."
Another area of strength for Notre Dame this year has been its depth. The Falcons' bench has outscored their opponent's bench in all but two games this season. On Saturday, NDC's reserves scored 23 points compared to Fairmont State's eight.
Theresa Parr and
Kyleigh Ramlow both provided energy when subbing in, scoring a combined 18 points. Ramlow reached double digits with 10 points, making two threes, and came up with three rebounds. Parr was second on the team with seven rebound and added four assists and two steals to her eight points.
"We feel so confident in our bench players this year," said starting guard
Seina Adachi. "We have so many options off the bench, and we just added Marisa back, which is big. It's a nice feeling to know that we have a deep team, and there will always be players coming in to pick up any slack or keep the momentum going."
The embarrassment of riches is something Macer has talked a lot about this season, but against Fairmont State specifically, she credited her team's 18 assists to its depth.
Jada Marone led the team with five assists, while Adachi and Karalic joined Parr with four apiece.
"Our team is deep this year so we feel confident in sharing the ball and moving things around on offense to find the open person," Macer said. "They have shown that they trust each other to make the best decision and feel good about whoever ends up with the ball in their hands."
The strong passing led to strong shooting as multiple Falcons shot well from the field throughout the game. Marone (15 points) was 6-of-9 while
Jen Oduho (11 points) went 5-for-8. The two sparks off the bench, Parr and Ramlow, each made four of their six attempts.
Leading the way for Notre Dame in scoring was Adachi with 17 points. She added a team-high 11 rebounds for her second career double-double in the span of just three games. Adachi had not recorded a double-double at any level before the December 21 game against Ursuline before the team went on break. And what took her 21 years to accomplish the first time, took her just 21 days to accomplish the second time.
Adachi ranks second on the team this season with 5.4 rebounds per game, and finished last year as the teams second-leading rebounder with 4.4; coming a long way from her freshman season when she averaged just 2.7. At 5-foot-7 it has taken motivation to get there.
"It for sure hasn't been easy, but this year I had to goal to get a double-double," Adachi said. "I try to get a double-double every game. I'm always trying to get rebounds. As a team, we can't just rely on one or two people to get rebounds, everybody has to contribute off the boards, and I'm just trying to do my part."
The senior guard also led the team with five steals.
Notre Dame returns to Murphy Gymnasium on Wednesday, January 15, for a Mountain East matchup against West Virginia State. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
