The Notre Dame Fighting Irish did not struggle at all with the Liberty Lady Flames in the opening round of the women's NCAA Tournament, thrashing them 74-43 on Sunday.
Notre Dame was in complete control from the jump, where the Irish got out to an early 11-0 lead on the Flames, and there was no looking back from there.
Natalie Novosel and Brittany Mallory anchored that run a pair of 3-pointers. Kayla McBride's three-point play was then followed up with a jumper from Devereaux Peters, which had Liberty reeling. The Flames rallied to cut the Irish lead to eight points, but Notre Dame got going again and exploded for 44-19 halftime lead, which featured 13 points from McBride.
Liberty beat itself at times, particularly with 17 turnovers in the first half and 23 turnovers on the day. Notre Dame also out-shot Liberty from the field, 48 percent to 31 percent. McBride led the Irish with 15 points, 13 of which came in the first half. For Liberty, Devon Brown was the leading scorer with 16 points.
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