Notre Dame's women move on to Sweet Sixteen in NCAA tourney

TOLEDO, Ohio -- Notre Dame's women's basketball team is on its way to the Sweet Sixteen after beating Arizona State Monday night 84-67.

This one wasn't quite as easy as Saturday's win over Robert Morris. The Irish didn't get that strong start that they wanted early on, so they struggled throughout the first half.



The Sun Devils took a three point lead over the Irish for a few minutes in the first half.



But it wasn't long before Notre Dame came back-leading by 6 at the half.



The Irish cruised through the second half and never trailed.



"I think we just needed to take a breath and that's what we did going into the second half, halftime we all just took a giant woosah [sic] and calmed down and just focused on what we needed to do," said Irish Forward Natalie Achonwa.



Achonwa led the team with 25 points in just 27 minutes.



Kayla McBride pitched in 22 and Jewell Loyd added 19 for the win.



Notre Dame will move on to the third round and play this weekend back home in South Bend at Purcell Pavilion for the Sweet Sixteen.