NEWARK, N.J. — What a homecoming for Hannah Hidalgo.
On Sunday, No. 10 Notre Dame (1-1) put on a show at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (2-1), downing the Highlanders 104-57. Hidalgo — a native of Haddonfield, N.J. — had 26 points, 12 steals, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Her 12 steals tied Marina Mabrey for the most in school history (11/23/15).
And even better, Hidalgo’s family, friends and entire high school team were on-site to witness it.
“She’s a great player,” junior guard Sonia Citron said of Hidalgo. “It may be surprising to other people because she’s a freshman, but our team has known the impact she was going to have from the beginning.”
Citron added 26 points of her own on Sunday afternoon, marking the first time since the 2022 NCAA Tournament that Notre Dame had two players score at least 25 points. She scored in an incredibly efficient manner, too, going 10-11 from the floor and draining her only attempt from behind the arc.
While Hidalgo and Citron stole the headlines, it was a team effort for Notre Dame. All five starters scored in double figures: Hidalgo, Citron, Maddy Westbeld (14), Kylee Watson (12) and Anna DeWolfe (10). Westbeld posted her first double-double of the year with 11 rebounds and tied her career-high with 4 steals. Freshman Emma Risch notched her first collegiate points, finishing with 8 and going 4-5 from the charity stripe.
“I thought we had great contributions from everyone on the team, especially our starters,” Karen and Kevin Keyes Family Head Coach Niele Ivey said. “Soni and Hannah did a great job leading us.”
As a team, Ivey emphasized wanting to set the tone from the jump. While the Highlanders stayed in the game in the first quarter thanks to scrappy play, the Irish started playing suffocating defense in the second and third frames. After going 7-18 from the floor in the first 10 minutes, NJIT made just 9 of its next 33 shots. Alejandra Zuniga was the Highlanders’ leading scorer with 14.
Ivey also wanted to win the battle on the boards. Notre Dame posted 40 rebounds to NJIT’s 30. The Irish had the fourth-best rebounding margin in the nation last year at 10.6.
Up next, Notre Dame has its home opener against Northwestern on Wednesday. The Irish have won 28 consecutive home openers. The game tips off on the ACC Network at 7 p.m.