SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Marina Mabrey scored 26 points and No. 8 Notre Dame used a late 9-0 run to beat Virginia 82-74 on Sunday.
Arike Ogunbowale scored 21 points, hitting four 3-pointers, for the Irish (20-3, 8-1), who moved back into a first-place tie atop the ACC standings with Florida State.
Jocelyn Willoughby scored 16 points and J’Kyra Brown had 14 points and five steals for Virginia (14-7, 3-5), which went scoreless for nearly six minutes of the fourth quarter. Lauren Moses also had 14 points for the Cavaliers.
Brianna Turner totaled nine points and eight rebounds, all in the second half after only playing six minutes in the first half due to foul trouble.
Irish point guard Lindsay Allen finished with 11 rebounds and 10 assists to match Mary Gavin’s 1988 school-best streak of three straight games with 10 or more assists.
Virginia started the second half with an 8-0 run to tie the game, 41-41, but the Irish responded with a 9-0 run of their own.
Breyana Mason’s 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter again tied the game with just under seven minutes left, part of an 11-1 Cavaliers run to open the final quarter.
But they would miss eight straight field goals while the Irish scored the next nine points to again go up by nine.
Facing the nation’s seventh best field goal percentage defense (33.8 percent), the Irish started 7 of 8 from the field and also hit their first six 3-pointers, all in the first quarter. They finished 26 of 52 from the field for 50 percent.
RING OF HONOR
Former Notre Dame All-American Beth Morgan (Cunningham) was inducted into the Irish ring of honor during a ceremony after the game. Morgan is second on Notre Dame’s career scoring list with 2,322 points and helped lead the Irish to their first Final Four in 1997.
Morgan, currently an assistant coach with the team, is the fourth women’s player inducted into Notre Dame’s ring of honor, joining Skylar Diggins, Niele Ivey and Ruth Riley.
BIG PICTURE
Virginia: Coming off a shocking 76-27 home win over No. 17 Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers were allowing an average of 45.3 points over their last four games, but couldn’t duplicate that defensive performance against Notre Dame, which had 44 by halftime.
Notre Dame: Playing consecutive home games for the first time since Dec. 7, the Irish improved to 28-0 in ACC play at Purcell Pavilion.
UP NEXT
Virginia: The Cavaliers host a pair of games next week, beginning with Georgia Tech on Thursday.
Notre Dame: The Irish hit the road again to face Virginia Tech on Thursday.
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