Ogunbowale, No. 1 Irish open with 103-58 rout of Harvard

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Arike Ogunbowale scored 30 points in three quarters as top-ranked Notre Dame opened its national title defense with a 103-58 victory over Harvard on Friday.

Ogunbowale, who hit a pair of buzzer-beaters in the Women’s Final Four last spring in victories over Connecticut and Mississippi State that gave Notre Dame its second national championship under coach Muffet McGraw, made 10 of 21 field goals and all nine free throws in 25 minutes.

Jessica Shepard had 28 points on 12-of-16 shooting to go with eight rebounds before joining Ogunbowale on the bench in the fourth quarter after playing 27 minutes. Brianna Turner, who sat out all of last season with an ACL injury, had 11 points and 11 rebounds in 21 minutes. Mikayla Vaughn, another player returning from ACL surgery, finished with 12 points.

Sydney Skinner, whose 3-pointer in the first minute gave Harvard its only lead, led the Crimson (0-1) with 15 points, all from long distance. Nani Redford finished with 12 points.

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Ogunbowale had 18 points and Shepard scored 14 as the Irish dominated the first half, leading 23-11 after the first quarter and 50-29 at halftime.

Notre Dame, which shot 63 percent in the first half, ended it with Turner scoring on a pass from Young with 4 seconds left and Shepard stealing the inbound pass and hitting a jumper to beat the buzzer. Skinner had 12 points in the half for Harvard, which was limited to 28.2 percent shooting, outrebounded 29-15 and committed 12 personals to Notre Dame’s one.

The Irish put the game out of reach with a 36-16 third quarter to lead 86-45 going into the final 10 minutes. Their largest lead was 46 points.

BIG PICTURE

Notre Dame: The Irish started the season with three players nursing injuries. Starting point guard Marina Mabrey has a quad injury, while reserve frontliner Danielle Patterson sat out with a swollen knee. Both are day-to-day. Walk-on Kaitlin Cole is out for the season after knee surgery. Starting guard Jackie Young, who played much of last year with a mask to protect a broken nose, was in a mask again after getting dinged during the team’s 107-65 exhibition victory over Lewis last week. She went without it in the second half.

Harvard: The Crimson finished 18-11 last season and received a berth in the WNIT for their 14th postseason appearance, the most of any Ivy League team. Harvard was picked to finish third in an Ivy League preseason poll behind first choice Princeton and Penn. Four of last year’s five top scorers return, led by co-captains Skinner and Madeline Raster, who played prep basketball two miles south of the Purcell Pavilion at Saint Joseph High School. It was not a good homecoming for Raster, who was kicked in the head by Turner going for a loose ball in the third quarter. She finished with five points in 13 minutes.

UP NEXT

Harvard: Visits Purdue Sunday before returning home to play La Salle.

Notre Dame: Penn visits Monday, when the Irish will hoist their 2018 NCAA championship banner.

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