Notre Dame dominates NC State women in ACC Tournament quarterfinals
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Hannah Hidalgo paced Notre Dame with 25 points and sustained offensive control.
- Notre Dame led wire-to-wire, despite brief N.C. State surges.
- High turnovers and low assists hurt the Wolfpack in the quarterfinal loss.
N.C. State women’s basketball coach Wes Moore likes to call the postseason “March Gladness,” but there wasn’t much to be happy about on Friday.
N.C. State’s trip to Georgia for the ACC Tournament was cut short after falling to Notre Dame, 81-63, in the conference tournament quarterfinals, despite finishing the regular season with three straight wins. The Wolfpack will miss the semifinals for just the third time in the last decade.
Moore’s squad was unable to find its footing on either side of the floor, while the Irish were in command all afternoon and will move on to face Duke at noon on Saturday in the semifinal.
This is the second time this season N.C. State has lost to the Irish after losing in South Bend, 79-67, last month. The Wolfpack also moves to 0-4 against the Irish in the ACC Tournament.
“You cannot give up 81 points and expect to win against good teams,” Moore said. “Our goal in the past has been to try to hold teams to 60 points; 15 a quarter. You can go back to that to begin with. In ACC games, we’re No. 1 in the conference in offensive scoring. We’re No. 6 in defense. We’ve got to realize that we’re not a football team. We got to play both ends.”
Notre Dame (22-9) led wire-to-wire, and, except for a short second-quarter stretch, was never particularly close. It looked like the obvious winner with more than 15 minutes left in the second half. Even when the Wolfpack went on a 14-3 fourth quarter run, the outcome looked decided.
N.C. State (20-10) looked out of its depth on defense, unable to slow down ACC Player of the Year Hannah Hidalgo and Iyana Moore. The duo shot a combined 8 of 11 in the first half, while the rest of the Notre Dame team went 1 of 4 from the floor, and scored 10 points apiece. They went into halftime combining for 33 of Notre Dame’s 40 points.
Without the defense able to get a handle on the two, N.C. State faced a 10-point deficit six minutes into the game.
“This is a really tough conference, and we just played N.C. State. They’re a really great team,” Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said. “For us to come out here, on a back to back and have this performance for 40 minutes, it’s just just amazing.”
Hidalgo, in her sixth tournament game, hit the 20-point scoring mark in the third quarter. That tied N.C. State alumna Elissa Cunane for the most 20-point games in the ACC Tournament this century. Hidalgo, a junior, finished with 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals. Moore contributed 20 points.
“She’s just a fierce competitor; the best two-way player in our game,” Ivey said. “If I had to go against her, I wouldn’t sleep. She’s just phenomenal. I just love that she’s with us.”
Junior forward Khamil Pierre recorded her 21st double-double of the year in the first half. She finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Pierre said before the game that the team understood it didn’t play well the first time. The team lacked energy and common principles. Pierre stepped up in a big way, but she didn’t get nearly enough help.
Qadence Samuels provided a lift for the Wolfpack at the end of the first quarter. She scored seven of the team’s last nine points in the first quarter to help pull the team within eight before the break. Her overall effort, however, made the biggest impact. The junior pulled down four early rebounds, including three on the offensive end. One such rebound came while competing against four Notre Dame defenders. Samuels added 12 points and six boards.
The rest of the starting lineup finished with 24 points on 10-24 shooting. Tilda Trygger didn’t attempt a shot.
N.C. State ended the game 42.1% from the field and 21.1 from 3-point range. When the team drew fouls, it didn’t help itself, either. The Wolfpack finished 64.7% at the line.
Overall, it came down to N.C. State leaving a lot on the table.
The Wolfpack averages only 14.5 assists per game, preferring to play 1-on-1 offense. That didn’t work against the Irish. The Irish were too skilled and too scrappy on defense for the Wolfpack to try and take defenders individually. It only recorded 12 assists on 24 made field goals, five of which came in the fourth quarter, while turning the ball over 17 times.
N.C. State went to the locker room with 12 first-half turnovers due to a combination of issues. Notre Dame not only capitalized on the offensive isolation, but the Pack’s out-of-control possessions and a lack of energy on hustle plays hurt it, too.
It scored nine points in the third quarter and gave up 22.
Notre Dame also finished with positive margins over N.C. State in rebounding, steals, fastbreak points and second chance points.
“We just got our butts kicked,” Wes Moore said. “Played them twice in the last two weeks, and they’re good. They play hard, they’re tough. I’ve gotta look in the mirror. I’ve gotta do a better job of getting the team prepared and demanding effort and competitiveness.
“Tip your hat. They’ve come out and just jumped on us. Now, we’ve got to try to figure it out before the NCAA Tournament and try to get things fixed.”
The Wolfpack is expected to make the NCAA Tournament field. But, for the first time since 2023, it will start on the road by not receiving a top-16 national seed.
This story was originally published March 6, 2026 at 3:44 PM.
