Women’s NCAA Tournament Raleigh Region Elite Eight Breakdown
The stage is set for what should be a regional final involving two of the tougher college basketball programs in the country. There also wasn’t much drama involved either, at least not in one of the semifinals. The other? That was a different story. Which teams are we talking about? It is Big East winner Notre Dame and Atlantic Coast Conference favorite Maryland, of course.
Here is a look at one of four regional finals across the country, with the winner headed to Denver next week for the Final Four.
No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Maryland (9 p.m. Tuesday at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina)
The Fighting Irish look like they will let nothing stand in between them and a return appearance in the Final Four, at least not after what happened in the latest game involving the team.
Notre Dame (33-3) started out the tournament with a 74-43 win over Liberty and then topped California, 73-62, in the second round. It was the regional semifinal where the Irish began to show what they are capable of doing to opponents in NCAA competition. It was the regional semifinal in Raleigh where Notre Dame all but destroyed St. Bonaventure, 79-35, putting an end to the Bonnies’ tournament run. Natalie Novosel led the way with 16 points, followed by Kalia Turner with 14 points and Kayla McBride with 10 points. Keep in mind no starter saw more than 25 minutes of action thanks to the blowout, so Notre Dame was able to empty its bench and get plenty of scoring from its reserves, including Turner’s 14 points and nine points from Natalie Achonwa. It was the most lopsided win in a tournament game since Louisiana Tech toppled Purdue, 91-47, in the 1990 Midwest Regional semifinals.
Maryland (31-4) beat Navy 59-44 in the first round and survived a huge scare against Louisville before winning, 72-68, and moving on to Raleigh. In its regional semifinal, Maryland overcame strong shooting from Texas A&M to win 81-74 as Laurin Mincy and Alyssa Thomas each scored 21 points. Mincy also added 12 rebounds. In short, Maryland knocked out the defending national champions by maintaining its hot shooting when the Aggies’ hot shooting cooled off. Maryland held Texas A&M to just one basket in the final 7 ½ minutes on the way to the victory. This is the first regional-final appearance for Maryland since 2009, when the Terrapins were in the regional final at… wait for it… Raleigh. Must be something about that North Carolina hospitality that makes Maryland feel at home, right?
Maryland is 2-0 against Big East programs this year, including an early win over Georgetown and the tournament win over Louisville. The Terrapins have not seen Notre Dame this season but the stats suggest it could be a close game. Notre Dame averages 79.6 points per game to Maryland’s 78.2, and Maryland actually holds a 14.1 to 9.1 edge in rebound margin (the amount of rebounds a team leads an opponent by in each game). However, scoring defense could tell the whole story. Notre Dame averages a stingy 52.1 points per game in scoring defense to Maryland’s 59.7, which might be a problem for the Terrapins.
Maryland will need Mincy and Thomas to come out with strong scoring just like it did against Texas A&M. Maryland definitely had the tougher regional-semifinal road to get here, but the win over St. Bonaventure means the starters may be more rested on the Irish’s side.
This game is a tossup. It’s going to come down to whichever team is better at rebounding and which team can score the points and hold down the other team’s offense. Notre Dame has losses to Baylor, West Virginia and Connecticut, while Maryland has fallen to Miami (twice), Duke and Virginia Tech. The ACC had five teams with 25 wins or more, and the Big East had two (but four or five others were quite close). If I had to pick, I’d pick Notre Dame to move on in a very close contest.
