Hannah Hidalgo went off on Wednesday night in what ended up being a historic outing for the Fighting Irish star.
Hidalgo dropped a career-high 44 points and had 16 steals while leading No. 18 Notre Dame to a blowout 85-58 win over Akron. That marked the most points scored by a player in a single game in Notre Dame history.
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Her 16 steals not only broke Notre Dame’s program record, which Hidalgo already owned, but it set the NCAA’s single-game steals record. Several players had 14 in a game since steals became a recorded stat during the 1987-88 season, most recently when Jillian Ingram did so in 2008 with Georgia Tech.
Hidalgo had 41 of her points through three quarters, which put the Fighting Irish up by 25 entering the final period. She then quickly sank a layup on a fast break to break the program scoring record a few minutes into the fourth without any issue.
Hidalgo had nine rebounds and shot 16-of-25 from the field in the win to go with her 44 points. She went 9-of-11 from the free throw line, too.
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The win pushed Notre Dame to 3-0 on the year, and marked the Fighting Irish’s third straight blowout win. They’ll take on No. 14 Michigan and No. 8 USC next in back-to-back games, which will mark their first true tests of the season.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.