Irish take home fifth straight conference championship with win over Duke

The ObserverThe Observer Top Stories Through the second quarter of Notre Dame’s ACC semifinal clash with No. 14 Louisville, senior guard Lindsay Allen did something she didn’t do often: She stayed seated on the bench and remained there for the entire quarter, after getting into early foul trouble.
With the Irish (30-3, 15-1 ACC) only leading the Cardinals (27-7, 12-4) by a point, having trailed for much of the quarter and not being able to count on sophomore backup point guard Ali Patberg due to injury, it was a less-than-ideal situation for Irish head coach Muffet McGraw. Not least because of the way it resembled the beginning of Notre Dame’s 90-84 NCAA tournament defeat to Stanford the previous year.
Irish senior guard Lindsay Allen dribbles past a defender during Notre Dame’s 79-61 win over Florida State on Feb. 26 at Purcell Pavilion.
For the final minute the Irish played in this year’s ACC tournament, Allen was on the bench. But it was not against Louisville, and it was not because of fouls.
Allen came off the court because the Irish had secured a fifth consecutive conference championship and fourth in the ACC thanks to an 84-61 victory over No. 13 Duke, after beating Louisville 84-73 and Virginia 76-59 before that.
And Allen was at the center of it all, recording 33 assists in the three games and breaking the Irish and ACC career assist records along the way, as well as picking up the MVP award to close out her ACC career.
In the quarterfinal clash with Virginia (19-12, 7-9), the Irish made a 13-3 run between the first and second quarters giving the Irish a 23-14 lead. Although the Cavaliers quickly tied the score at 23-23, the Irish regained the lead by halftime, holding a 36-32 advantage.
Notre Dame made an 8-0 run early in the third quarter and led 57-47 at its ...


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