The two-time NCAA tournament champion women’s team at Notre Dame has a “special” secret weapon they’re set to unleash in tandem with 19-year-old phenom Hannah Hidalgo.
Hidalgo plays point guard for the Fighting Irish in Indiana, has been renowned for her point-scoring prowess since high school, and was regarded as a five-star recruit ahead of her commitment to play college hoops for Notre Dame after her exploits at Paul VI in New Jersey.
She’s not the only extraordinary guard Notre Dame has at its disposal, though, as they also have Olivia Miles who, though she was absent for the entire season last year, has returned from a debilitating knee injury and is set to help set the college sports world on fire alongside Hidalgo.
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Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey talked about the “magical” boost that a player like Miles can have on the team, and its results, as they welcome her back to full fitness, according to Athlon Sports.
“It’s been so fun to watch her [in practice sessions],” said Ivey. “She looks so good. She’s strong. She’s confident. She has that fire of the return, just being excited and appreciative to be back on that floor again.
“And just to see her on the court my heart’s always beaming with joy just to see her out there having fun and competing. Because I know that was so hard for her to sit on the sidelines.”
Two years older than Hidalgo, Miles has been on the Notre Dame roster since 2021, and showed her potential later that year when she returned 14 points and 14 assists in a 94-35 demolition job over Bryant, in November. One month later, she recored a triple-double only the second freshman to ever do so for the program. Ivey will no doubt be hoping that she can replicate that kind of form now she’s back from injury.
Ivey even said that “it’s really fun to coach” Hidalgo and Miles on the team at the same time. “I’ve never been around these two dynamic guards together. Obviously, having had the opportunity to coach Liv and then having the opportunity to coach Hannah, they’re special players, and they’re very unselfish, and they just compete. So it’s been a lot of fun.
The NCAA women’s basketball season is right around the corner, and Ivey, as well as her Notre Dame side welcome Mercyhurst Lakers to the Joyce Center for the first game of the campaign. Subsequent games include a November 10 trip to Purdue, before November 13 and November 17 matches against James Madison and Lafayette, respectively. Notre Dame finishes the month with matches against USC on November 23, and TCU on November 29.
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