BOSTON (AP) — Olivia Miles scored 22 points with 10 assists and eight rebounds, combining with Sonia Citron to score 14 straight points in the fourth quarter on Thursday night when No. 9 Notre Dame pulled away from Boston College to win 72-59.
Citron finished with 23 points to help the Irish (18-2, 9-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) bounce back from their first league loss of the season, a 69-65 defeat at North Carolina State on Sunday.
Maria Gakdeng scored 16 points, T’Yana Todd had 13 and Andrea Daly scored 10 with eight rebounds for BC (14-11, 4-8). The Eagles, who beat Pittsburgh on Sunday to snap a five-game losing streak, were looking for their second victory over a Top 25 team this season, having also beaten then-No. 10 N.C. State on Jan. 5.
BC came within five points, 55-50, before the Irish ran off 14 points in a row — nine by Citron, and five by Miles.
That put an end to what had been a back-and-forth game in which the Irish opened big leads and then frittered them away.
Notre Dame led by 11 in the first quarter and held a 38-30 lead with two minutes gone in the third. BC scored 13 of the next 18 points, capitalizing on back-to-back Irish turnovers to tie it 43-all with three minutes left in the quarter.
But Natalija Marshall put back the rebound of her own miss, Miles drove to the basket, Maddy Westbeld added a pair of baskets and then Miles stole the ball and found Citron on the fast break to make it 53-43.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame: Hosts No. 16 Duke on Sunday.
Boston College: Visits Syracuse on Sunday.
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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll