In Fort Worth, Texas, the moment that defined hidalgo notre dame on Friday afternoon did not arrive with a quiet stat-line detail—it came in the churn of a one-possession Sweet Sixteen game, where every rebound and every deflection carried the weight of a season. When the final minutes tightened and the arena noise rose, Hannah Hidalgo kept producing plays that made Notre Dame’s path feel possible.
What happened in the Sweet Sixteen win—and why it mattered
Notre Dame beat No. 2 seed Vanderbilt 67-64 in Fort Worth on Friday afternoon, sending the Fighting Irish to the Elite Eight for the 11th time in program history. The win extended a late-season surge: Notre Dame has won 10 of its last 11 games, a stretch the program framed as playing its best basketball at the best time of the season.
The matchup itself swung through runs and answers. Vanderbilt took an early 5-2 lead before Notre Dame’s defense sparked an 11-0 run over a five-minute span to make it 13-5. After the opening 10 minutes, Notre Dame led 15-11, having forced Vanderbilt into 10 first-quarter turnovers while holding it to 2-for-12 shooting.
Notre Dame pushed its advantage to 12 in the second quarter at 25-13, with Hidalgo scoring six of the Irish’s first 10 points in that stretch. Vanderbilt answered with a nine-point burst to cut it to 25-22, and Notre Dame carried a 31-26 lead into halftime.
In the second half, the margin rarely settled. Notre Dame led 50-44 after the third quarter, then watched Vanderbilt tie the game 57-57 on a three-pointer with just under six minutes left. Vanderbilt took a brief lead at 60-59 with just over two minutes remaining, and the score reached 64-64 after two Vanderbilt free throws with 56 seconds left. With 26 seconds left in regulation, Notre Dame inbounded the ball in the offensive end—one of those sequences where coaches stop talking and players start deciding.
How Hannah Hidalgo’s triple-double reshaped hidalgo notre dame in March
Hidalgo’s line read like a full game plan: 31 points, 11 rebounds, 10 steals, seven assists, and a block. She posted a triple-double while also doing the kind of defensive work that changes how a team breathes—turning possessions into opportunities and turning pressure into pace.
Her first half alone underlined what kind of day it was becoming: 16 points, seven steals, four rebounds, two assists, and a block in the opening 20 minutes. The defensive tone matched it. Notre Dame held Vanderbilt to 23. 1 percent shooting in the first half, the lowest field-goal percentage the Irish have allowed in a half of an NCAA Tournament game since Robert Morris shot 21. 9 percent in the second half on March 17, 2017.
The steals, though, reached beyond the box score. With 10 steals in the game, Hidalgo became the all-time NCAA single-season record holder for steals with 199, passing Chastadie Barrs of Lamar, who set the previous record of 192 in 2019. In the same game, she also set the NCAA Tournament record for steals in a single tournament with 26.
Her performance arrived inside a broader team context. Cassandre Prosper scored 15 points and added five rebounds, a secondary scoring push that mattered in a three-point game. And the overall arc—fast defensive pressure, Vanderbilt’s rallies, and a final margin that never allowed comfort—created the stage where Hidalgo’s activity could be felt possession by possession, not just totaled after.
What comes next for Notre Dame: UConn in Fort Worth at 1 p. m. ET
Notre Dame’s reward for surviving the Sweet Sixteen is another game in the same city. The Irish will play No. 1 seed UConn at 1 p. m. ET on Sunday, March 29 in Fort Worth, Texas, inside Dickies Arena. The game will air on ABC.
Elite Eight games can be described as a destination, but for teams still playing, they function more like a test of whether recent habits hold under brighter lights. For Notre Dame, that includes the defensive edge that forced 10 Vanderbilt turnovers in the first quarter and kept Vanderbilt’s shooting percentages low early, as well as the late-game composure required after the score swung to ties and brief deficits in the final six minutes.
And for fans trying to make sense of what they’re seeing, hidalgo notre dame has become shorthand for a particular kind of March night: a player piling up points while also hunting rebounds, creating turnovers, and driving the game’s emotional tempo. In Fort Worth, that blend is what pushed Notre Dame one step deeper—into a Sunday afternoon with everything still on the line.
Image caption (alt text): Hannah Hidalgo celebrates on the court after her triple-double in the Sweet Sixteen for hidalgo notre dame in Fort Worth.
