Hidalgo hailed by ND after near quadruple-double

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Hannah Hidalgo already had a triple-double, already set an NCAA record for steals, already had done everything possible to get Notre Dame past the Sweet 16 for the first time under coach Niele Ivey.

Yet Vanderbilt had erased a 12-point Irish lead and tied the score late in the fourth quarter of their regional semifinal Friday. With 25 seconds left, Ivey called a timeout. In the huddle, she implored her team: "If we want to make it to the next round, everything has to be ours."

Both teams took the floor. KK Bransford inbounded the ball.

"Probably not the best pass, but honestly, I threw it up knowing that Hannah was going to get it," Bransford said.

The 5-foot-6 Hidalgo leapt higher than the two Vanderbilt players collapsing on her to grab the ball. "I felt like I was floating," Hidalgo said. "Once I saw the ball go up, and I saw two people coming at me, I was like, I'm making sure I'm getting this ball."

Hidalgo grabbed it, and spotted Cassandre Prosper down low, bounced her the pass and Prosper laid the ball in for the go-ahead score in a 67-64 victory to get the Irish "over the hump," and into the Elite Eight for the first time since 2019.

Hidalgo and Ivey shared a long, emotional embrace after the game ended, a moment to acknowledge all the hard work and sacrifice that went into getting to this point. Notre Dame went into the last two NCAA tournaments with higher ranked teams but never found a way to win.

This year, with a team that started 13-8 and earned a No. 6 seed in the tournament, the Irish have found a way to advance when so much about this season said they never could. But they found the right chemistry and rhythm at the right time, they bought into what Ivey wanted to do with their defense, and they pulled upsets in their last two games. Surprising outsiders perhaps, but not themselves.

Leading the charge, of course, was Hidalgo -- who finished with a triple-double with 31 points, 11 rebounds and 10 steals on the afternoon, setting yet another mark in the process --- total steals in one NCAA tournament, breaking the previous record of 23 held by Ticha Penicheiro at Old Dominion in 1988 and Emily Engstler at Louisville in 2022.

She also broke the NCAA Division I record for steals, moving her past Lamar's Chastadie Barrs, who held the previous single-season mark of 192 steals in 2018-19.

Hidalgo was one rebound away from a quadruple-double. In her postgame comments, Hidalgo had no idea she set the NCAA steals record. She also thought she had the triple-double with rebounds. But in reality, she became the second player in NCAA tournament history with a triple-double with steals (Penicheiro in 1998).

"When I go out, I'm just playing, and I want to do whatever I have to do for the team in order for us to win, whether that's getting steals, rebounds, scoring, just dishing out whatever I need to do," Hidalgo said.

A few minutes later, Bransford definitively said, "Hannah is the player of the year."

She certainly played that way Friday in a matchup against the nation's leading scorer in Mikayla Blakes. Notre Dame wanted to set the tone early in the game with its defense, and having Hidalgo -- the ACC Defensive Player of the Year -- do it gave the Irish the boost they needed while rattling Vanderbilt early on.

"We were feeding off Hannah's energy and making sure that we were applying pressure as well and being aggressive, not letting them get easy shots, that was the biggest thing," Ponder said.

Blakes was 1-of-13 from the field at halftime and though she finished with 26 points, she shot just 7-of-26. Blakes also had a crucial turnover after Notre Dame took a 66-64 lead on the ensuing possession, dribbling the ball out of bounds - essentially sealing the game for the Irish.

"I can't perform for my team like that in a moment as big as this," Blakes said. "The last play with the ball, I guess just dribbled it off my foot. I saw an open lane, but I guess I moved too fast."

Explaining how Notre Dame grew as a team to get this point started after the Irish had another disappointing exit from the Sweet 16 last season. Hidalgo said she spoke with Maya Moore at the Final Four and got a better understanding of what it takes to try and win a championship.

From that point forward, Hidalgo was more intentional in getting to know her teammates and started to appreciate the moments instead of taking them for granted.

"It really clicked for me that in order to make this game easier, I have to be able to connect with the girls outside of basketball," Hidalgo said. "Maya just talked about how on the bus rides, they put their phones away, and they would just talk to each other, and they would play games with each other, and it was really a family, and that made it so much easier for them, and that took them all the way to the (championship). Just hearing that, I was like, I know what I have to do in order for us to get to that next level.'"

Indeed, assistant Charel Allen reminded the team before the game, "What are you going to do to get over this hump? We're not going to keep going to the Sweet 16 and dying on the same level. We have to be able to level up."

They did that, but they also know there are a few more levels to go.

"We're really going to enjoy this, but to get to the Final Four is really, really hard," Ivey said. "You have to be great defensively. It's a level of toughness that you have to have. The stage is even bigger than it was today. You have to have a great game plan and be really tough. I think that's the biggest thing. We're going to celebrate and figure out what that matchup is going to look like."