WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Hannah Hidalgo scored 11 of her 28 points in the first 7-plus minutes and No. 6 Notre Dame led by double figures for more than 35 minutes Sunday night as the Fighting Irish beat Purdue 102-58 for their 10th consecutive win over the Boilermakers.
Notre Dame (2-0) has a 15-14 lead in its all-time series with Purdue.
Liatu King finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds for Notre Dame. The graduate transfer from Pittsburgh, where the 6-foot forward had 18 double-doubles and was an All-ACC first-team selection last season, made 9 of 12 from the field with four steals and two blocks. Olivia Miles added 17 points and Sonia Citron scored 14.
Purdue (1-1) made just two of its first 20 field-goal attempts and the Fighting Irish, who led 28-7 at the end of the first quarter, jumped to a 23-point lead early in the second. Ella Collier and Destini Lombard each scored five points in a 12-4 spurt that trimmed the Boilermakers’ deficit to 36-21 with 2:58 to go until halftime but Notre Dame closed on a 9-0 run to take a 24-point lead into intermission.
Lombard led Purdue with 13 points, Collier scored 11 and Reagan Bass added 10.
Purdue doubled its first-half total with 21 third-quarter points, but Miles, who missed all of last season while recovering from a torn her ACL in her right knee suffered against Louisville in the 2022-23 regular season finale, recorded nine of the Irish’s 33 in the period. The 5-foot-10 graduate guard hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to stretch the lead to 78-42 going into the fourth.
So hot right now
The Fighting Irish, who beat Mercyhurst in the season opener, have won each of their first two games by 44 points while scoring 207 points on 84-of-152 (55%) shooting from the field
Up next
Notre Dame returns home to take on James Madison on Wednesday. Purdue plays host to Indiana University Indianapolis (formerly IUPUI) on Thursday.
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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
