SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The Notre Dame College women's basketball team (6-5, 5-1 MEC) hosted Walsh University (8-2, 3-1 GMAC) on Sunday afternoon inside Murphy Gymnasium. The Cavaliers got the best of the Falcons on the day 73-59, despite Tamia Ridley's fourth consecutive double-double performance.
 
In the first half, Notre Dame started slow as Walsh jumped out to a quick eight-point lead midway through the first quarter and never looked back. WU beat NDC 21-12 in the first and 18-10 in the second as Notre Dame faced a 39-22 deficit at the break.
 
In the third quarter the Falcons were resilient, after the Cavalier lead peaked at 18 points, NDC totaled 23 points during the stanza on 9-18 shooting from the field and 3-5 shooting from three-point land. After outpacing the Cavaliers 23-14 during the period, NDC was within striking distance (53-45) heading into the final ten minutes of the game.
 
In the fourth quarter, Lilee Carlson netted a three-pointer and Notre Dame cut the WU lead to 55-48, the smallest margin since the first half. However, the Cavaliers would respond with an 18-6 run to put the game out of reach of the Falcons. Walsh won the final quarter 20-14.
 
After the game, head coach Imani Gordon was asked about her team's performance and she has this to say, "It's not the outcome we wanted, but I think we learned a lot and I think we grew. Every game we are growing and learning. We showed some toughness in the third quarter. We won the third quarter, we came back and got a run. I told our girls, that third quarter is how we should play every quarter... We grew a tremendous amount from today and the only way is up."
 
Marina Adachi led all scorers on the afternoon with a season-high 16 points. Ridley followed up with 15 points and 16 rebounds to post her fourth consecutive double-double performance. Alana Ellis was the third and final double-digit scorer for NDC with 11 points, as Carlson tied her season-high with six assists.
 
"This is the first game that we really showed a lot of grit and toughness." Gordon stated, "Mimi [Tamia] again with a double-double, she's been great for us and we are really putting an emphasis on getting her the ball."
 
Notre Dame shot 23-60 (38.3%) from the field, 6-20 (30.0%) from three-point land and 7-12 (58.3%) from the free throw line. Walsh narrowly won the rebounding (37-35) and turnover battles (16-18) and did most of their damage off of points in the paint, out-scoring NDC 50-30 in the category.
 
Notre Dame College women's basketball has opened their 2021-2022 season impressively despite tough non-conference foes. It has been a solid 5-1 start inside the Mountain East Conference where NDC will look to add to after the holiday season, with their next contest scheduled during for New Year on Jan. 5 at 5:30 p.m. when Frostburg State comes to Murphy Gymnasium.
 
"Like I said, I think we have been learning and growing every day, so this first half I hope the girls do feel proud of what we need. Maybe we didn't win all of the games we wanted, but we are learning now and it's not about how you start, but about how you finish."