Notre Dame vs Vanderbilt NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament preview – South Bend Tribune

Notre Dame women’s basketball advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen for the fifth year in a row by beating No. 3 seed Ohio State (27-8), 83-73, Monday, March 23 in Columbus.
The No. 6 seed Irish (24-10) will now face No. 2 seed Vanderbilt (29-4) Friday, March 27 at a time yet to be announced at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on ESPN. It will be either a 2:30 or 5 p.m. contest.
Notre Dame leads the all-time series against Vanderbilt 4-1, with the most recent meeting between the two resulting in an Irish win December 31, 2009. In just one previous NCAA Tournament meeting, Notre Dame beat Vanderbilt in the 2001 Elite Eight before winning the national championship a week later.
This time, it’ll be a battle between two USA Today Sports First Team All-Americans when Notre Dame junior ACC Player of the Year Hannah Hidalgo faces Vanderbilt sophomore SEC Player of the Year Mikayla Blakes.
The Irish were ranked 21st in the NCAA NET Rankings heading into March Madness while the Commodores were 7th. Vanderbilt boasts nine Quad 1 wins, a slight advantage to Notre Dame’s seven. The last time the former advanced to the Elite Eight was 2002, while the latter last did so in 2019.
Ahead of this star-studded battle, here’s everything you need to know about Vanderbilt women’s basketball.
The Commodores advanced to their first Sweet Sixteen in 17 years by beating No. 15 seed High Point (27-6) 102-61 Saturday, March 21 and No. 7 seed Illinois (22-12), 75-57, March 23. Both games were on Vanderbilt’s home court in Nashville.
Vanderbilt was knocked out of the SEC Championship Tournament by Ole Miss (24-12) in a quarterfinal contest after earning a double bye thanks to finishing second in the regular season standings.
Blakes joined Hidalgo as one of just three unanimous USA Today Sports First Team All-Americans for a reason. She leads all of NCAA Division I in scoring with 27.1 points per game while also putting up 4.4 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 steals per contest.
Grad student Sacha Washington is the Commodores’ leading rebounder, bringing in 7.9 per game, while freshman Aubrey Galvan is their top passer with 5.9 assists per game. The latter was named the SEC Freshman of the Year as she has 13.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game.
Senior Justine Pissott has the second-best 3-point percentage among Power-5 players with at least 200 attempts, shooting 42.3% from beyond the arc. Fifth-year Vanderbilt head coach Shea Ralph was named the SEC Coach of the Year after leading the Commodores to the most regular season wins in program history.
The Commodores have a 42-29 record in the NCAA Tournament, having made the field 30 times. Vanderbilt has made the Sweet Sixteen 15 times, the Elite Eight five times and the Final Four once with no national championship game appearances.
This is the Commodores’ third straight NCAA Tournament appearance, but they lost in the first round the past two seasons despite winning a First Four game in 2024.
Vanderbilt 75, Notre Dame 67: After making the Sweet Sixteen for the 15th straight tournament appearance, the Irish can’t advance to their first Elite Eight in seven years and fail to pull off consecutive upsets. Vanderbilt, powered by Blakes, proves to be too well-rounded for Notre Dame as the Commodores make their first Elite Eight appearance since 2002.
The Irish will play the Commodores at either 2:30 p.m. or 5 p.m. ET Friday, March 27 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN. Streaming is available with any subscription or cable package including DirectTV, YouTube TV, ESPN+, Hulu+ Live TV, Sling TV, Fubo and more.
See the link below to purchase tickets for Notre Dame vs Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen.
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at [email protected] or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley. 
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