Hidalgo's magical March for Notre Dame leaves her wanting more

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Hannah Hidalgo made a little March Madness history and went deeper in the NCAA Tournament than she had in her first two years at Notre Dame before running into a tough draw against UConn in the Elite Eight.

The fiery defensive savant, who also just happens to be one of the leading scorers in the country, now looks forward to her final season and getting the Fighting Irish back to the Final Four, where they haven't been since 2019.

“I think it gives us motivation,” Hidalgo said after a 70-52 loss to the Huskies in the Fort Worth Regional 1 final Sunday. Notre Dame lost in the Sweet 16 each of the star guard's first two seasons.

“It’ll be a different roster than it was this year, completely different, but we finally got over that hump,” Hidalgo said. “We know that the people coming in next year, they’re going to have to raise their level because we know what it feels like to get to the Elite Eight. And now we’re going have to get over that hump. The same that we felt with getting to the Sweet 16 two, three times, and just wanting to get over that hump.”

Hidalgo was the only double-figure scorer for the sixth-seeded Irish with 22 points and had 11 rebounds against UConn, but the undefeated defending champs on a 54-game winning streak neutralized what made the 5-foot-6 sparkplug's tournament run so special.

For the first time in 10 career NCAA Tournament games, Hidalgo had more turnovers (five) than steals (three).

In the first two rounds, she became just the second player with multiple tournament games of at least eight steals, then recorded 10 in a Sweet 16 victory over Vanderbilt while breaking the NCAA single-season record for steals.

She's the first in Division I with 200 steals in a season, finishing with 202, and already had the most in a single tournament before facing the Huskies. That record is 29.

“She is one of the best players in the country,” backcourt mate Vanessa de Jesus said. “It just helped me grow, learning from her how to score, how to read defense, she’s just really inspirational. I can’t wait to see what’s next for her.”

Hidalgo squared off with national scoring leader Mikayla Blakes of the Commodores in the Sweet 16, getting the upper hand in that showdown with a 31-point triple-double that included 11 rebounds and those 10 steals. She also had seven assists, the last on what turned out to be the winning bucket in the final minute.

No matter how far the Irish go in the NCAA tourney next year, Hidalgo, who was third nationally at 25.3 points per game, will have work to do to top this magical March.

“I think she’s still going to continue to grow with her leadership,” coach Niele Ivey said. “I think that was the biggest separator for her was her maturity. I think you’re going to see her being even more poised, more composure. We’re going to work on that this summer as far as continuing to build that trust with a brand new team.”

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness