Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Irish Finish the Regular Season as ACC Champs...Again

Six Years...Six Championships

Yesterday, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women’s basketball team ended their regular season. They hosted Senior Day against the Virginia Cavaliers. After an absolutely commanding 98-68 win on the road over Syracuse last week (seriously, it wasn’t even close), the Irish (27-3, 14-2) were looking to close out the regular season by repeating as regular season ACC Champs.

I sound like a broken record, but the Irish just were too much for the Cavaliers (11-18, 5-11). Right from the get-go, the Irish took advantage of UVA turnovers and pretty easy possessions leading to points. Arike continued to lead the way with 24 points, and Bri Turner had 21 points. Besides the normal starters getting great minutes and stats, there was a slight change to the starting rotation. As it was her senior day too, Maureen Butler was able to start to replace Jackie Young in the lineup. It was a fantastic tribute to the senior, and she was subbed off the court after a couple minutes to a strong round of applause.

After all of that, the Irish rolled. They scored 100+ points this season for the seventh time.

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Champions and Going Forward

With the victory on Sunday, the Irish claimed the ACC Regular Season title for the SIXTH straight year. Yes, that’s 6 seasons in the ACC up, and six regular season titles down. BOW DOWN TO THE GREATNESS.

So, Louisville ended the season with the same conference record as the Irish. But, the Irish won the only head-to-head matchup between the two teams, so the Irish claim the title. Some people might claim that Louisville “shared” that title, but I’m not operating under that pretense. The Irish have the tiebreaker, so for our purposes, they won the conference outright.

Because of that, the Irish go forward as the #1 Seed in this week’s ACC Tournament. The Irish thus receive a double-bye in the tournament, and they don’t have to play until Friday at 2 PM in the Greensboro Coliseum. They will play the winner of North Carolina and Georgia Tech. For reference, you all can take a look at the bracket if you wish.

If the Irish get to the championship game and win the title, they will be a #1 seed in the Big Dance. They are a #1 seed as of now. A tough loss in the final against Louisville might give to them a #1 seed as well, but that isn’t guaranteed.

Keep checking in for more updates on the team as they make their tournament runs.