Notre Dame vs UCONN 3/30/18 - NCAAW Picks & Predictions

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will play the UConn Huskies on Friday in the women’s NCAA Tournament Final Four from Columbus, Ohio with the winner moving on to the April 1 National Championship game. Notre Dame reached the Final Four by defeating Oregon 84-74 behind the 24 points of Kathryn Westbeld and 18 from Jessica Shepard. Notre Dame lost four of its players earlier this season to ACL tears, but has battled against adversity to reach the Final Four in Columbus.

UConn reached its 11th consecutive Final Four with a 94-65 rout of South Carolina. Crystal Dangerfield was 5-for-5 from 3-point territory. As a team, UConn hit 68% from the field and nine 3-pointers during the first half. Dangerfield scored 19 points in the first half alone and finished with 21, while Gabby Williams led the team with 23 points. Notre Dame is the third highest scoring team in the nation averaging 85.6 points per game. Arike Ogunbowale leads the Irish with an average of 20.7 points per game, while Jessica Shepard is averaging 15.6 and Jackie Young 14.3 per game. The key for Notre Dame is Ogunbowale who can score against any defense she faces with her drives and jump shots. However, she must refrain from taking poor shots and her 44.9% field goal percentage is the lowest amongst all regular players for the Irish.

While Notre Dame is third in the nation in scoring, UConn is 1st. The Huskies are averaging 89.4 points per game. However, it is their defense that comes up big as it held Duke to only 59 points and 39% shooting, during the semifinals of the regional. Then when the offense is needed, like in the regional finals against South Carolina, the Huskies come up big and score 94 points hitting 12 shots from beyond the arc. A big key for UConn will be Katie Lou Samuelson. She averages 17.5 points, 4.5 boards and 3.8 assists per game and hits over 47% from 3-point territory.