After a somewhat calm start to the 2024-25 season, chaos has begun to infect women’s college basketball, with more tumbles from top teams following last week’s upsets:
Feast Week’s peaks and valleys
Among a buffet of Thanksgiving week women’s basketball that included back-and-forth battles, close calls and blowouts, a few teams’ performances stood out above others, for both the right and wrong reasons.
TCU has earned top billing. Unranked to begin the season, they’re sure to shoot up the rankings after knocking off Notre Dame on Friday, with grad guard Hailey Van Lith’s 19 second-half points helping the Horned Frogs overcome a 14-point third-quarter deficit to take down the Irish, 76-68, at the Cayman Islands Classic. The Horned Frogs also avoided a letdown game after leftovers, taking care of South Florida, 87-46, on Saturday. Van Lith again led the way with 21 points and eight assists, while grad center Sedona Prince, named the tournament’s MVP, followed up her 20-20 performance against Notre Dame with a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds.
In contrast, it was a bleak Feast Week for Notre Dame. The Irish had the opportunity to show that their slip up against TCU was a mere blip by responding to their second-half stumble against the Horned Frogs with an authoritative win over Utah. Instead, the Irish suffered a second-straight upset on Saturday. In the 78-67 win, new Utah head coach Gavin Peterson benefitted from balanced production, with junior guard Gianna Kneepkens scoring 16 points and senior guard Kennady McQueen contributing 15 points to lead the Utes.
Conversely, a lack of bodies appears to be catching up with head coach Niele Ivey’s team. Although Hannah Hidalgo never appears short on energy or intensity, back-to-back 40-minute efforts appeared to have sapped some of the sophomore guard’s verve, as she shot just 6-for-17 from the field and scored a season-low 16 points against the Utes. Senior guard Olivia Miles managed just seven shot attempts, while senior guard Sonia Citron, who also logged 40 minutes, led the team with 22 points. Even if their returns will not lessen the load on the Irish guards, senior forwards Maddy Westbeld and Liza Karlen, both of whom have been recovering from injuries, will offer more options for the Irish.
South Carolina responded to their humbling at the hands of UCLA last Sunday in signature South Carolina fashion. Smothering defense delivered the Gamecocks’ dominant wins at…
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