Notre Dame falls short versus Maryland in first loss of season

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - The No. 7 Fighting Irish women’s basketball team faced its first ranked opponent Thursday night, playing host to No. 20 Maryland.

In what as another first for this year’s Irish squad, the team came up short on the scoreboard at the end of four quarters, losing to the Terrapins 74-72.

A back-and-forth affair all night, the Irish led by as much as 7 and trailed by as much as 8. Sonia Citron led the Irish on the stat sheet, pouring in 24 points and 10 rebounds, both team highs.

But the team was flummoxed by Maryland’s Diamond Miller all night. Miller had a game-high 31 points and knocked down the final shot of the game — a buzzer-beater to break the 72-72 stalemate and earn the Terps the win.

“Just incredible matchup; this is what you want for women’s basketball,” said Notre Dame Head Coach Niele Ivey after the game. “Eyes on us. Thought this was an incredible game. Shout out to Maryland, thought they played a tough game and Diamond Miller with an incredible shot. We found a way late-game to make plays and execute, which I was really pleased with, but defensively we have to show better effort for 40 minutes and I feel like Maryland was tougher than us this evening. That’s something we have to grow from, take this lesson and move on for obviously an incredible opponent on Sunday versus UConn.”>

Notre Dame has a couple of days to try to shake off the loss before hosting No. 3 UConn on Sunday. Tipoff at Purcell Pavilion is set for 3 p.m.

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