FORT WORTH, Texas – Sometimes, the power of friendship is real. Notre Dame women’s basketball’s roster is full of five-star recruits, yes, but the 2025-26 Irish were by no means expected to be the team that broke the streak of four straight Sweet Sixteen losses.
Not if last year’s squad that featured Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles, Sonia Citron and others couldn’t. Quite frankly, the 2025-26 Notre Dame squad has done more than just surpass its middling expectations.
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Making their first Elite Eight since 2019, the 6-seed Irish have proved that what might matter most in March Madness is team chemistry. At least, that’s what is most important to them.
“Those girls are my sisters; we have such an undeniable bond,” senior KK Bransford said. “Knowing how sad we were last year — lots of tears, lots of very disappointed faces — to see this with smiles on our faces is amazing.”
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Bransford is one of just three scholarship players who returned to Notre Dame after last season. Joining her was fellow senior Cassandre Prosper and junior Hannah Hidalgo.
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The three were quickly branded by sixth-year head coach Niele Ivey as the Irish’s “core.” Hidalgo, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player and Defensive Player of the Year, has been one of the NCAA’s best players this season, making history as the first player of the last quarter-century to average 25-plus points, five-plus rebounds, five-plus assists and five-plus steals per game.
In Notre Dame’s 67-64 Sweet Sixteen win vs. 2-seed Vanderbilt (29-5) Friday, March 27, Hidalgo set an NCAA single-season record with 199 steals and counting. She also set an NCAA single-tournament record with 26 steals and counting.
“We didn’t do all this work just for it to be over right now,” Hidalgo said. “I was telling the girls, ‘This is not our last game playing together. We’re going to figure it out and win this game so we can be able to play a game together again.’”
More: Cassandre Prosper’s growth is why Notre Dame women’s basketball made Elite 8
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Prosper and Bransford have answered the call, too, with the former winning ACC Most Improved Player while averaging 13.9 points and 6.7 rebounds in 33.2 minutes per game. She has started all 35 games in a 25-10 season.
Although she missed 12 games due to a midseason right knee injury, Bransford has become the Irish’s spark plug off the bench. In a round of 32 upset win vs. 3-seed Ohio State, Bransford scored 10 points.
Ivey has won 71 of Notre Dame’s 78 wins in the NCAA Tournament. She won the 2001 national championship as the starting point guard and served as an assistant coach for the 2018 national champs, but securing her first Sweet Sixteen victory in five tries as a head coach felt like a career-defining win.
“I love this program; I pour into these kids,” Ivey said. “It means more to me, because I went here — I walked in their shoes. So, I want them to experience what I experienced.”
In the locker room after being doused with water by the Irish’s celebration, an emotional Ivey told the Irish that they have made her a better coach, person and mother. She told them that they have changed her life.
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Ivey was addressing everyone — players, coaches and support staff — but Ivey has not been shy about the fact that the trio of Bransford, Hidalgo and Prosper serve as her anchor.
“The biggest thing with coach Ivey is she’s a great person,” Prosper said. “It’s not all business for her. It’s not all about wins and losses. It’s really about the relationship that she builds with her players.”
Hidalgo agreed.
“It’s bigger than basketball,” Hidalgo said. “Whether that’s inviting us over to her house or taking us out to dinner, connecting with us outside of the court makes it easier to play and give everything you have for her. We’ve been through so much.”
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Bransford joked that the biggest reasons why she has grown so close with Ivey are because she’s “cool” and “a baddie,” but it isn’t just Ivey’s reputation nor her personal bonds that gains the respect of her players. At the end of the day, Ivey is a winner because her sport has been integral to her life for nearly 40 years.
“She knows the game of basketball,” Bransford said. “She’s been here at all levels. She’s been a player, an assistant coach and now a head coach. We know that she knows what she’s doing, so we put full trust and faith in her.”
It hasn’t been a perfect season for Notre Dame. The Irish were at one point considered a potential nine seed in the NCAA Tournament after going 3-6 in January, but seasons aren’t remembered for anything other than what happens in March.
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Heading into the Elite Eight vs. 1-seed and defending national champion UConn (37-0), Notre Dame has gone 13-2 since Feb. 1 and won 10 of its last 11 games. Considered a 27.5-point underdog according to DraftKings Sportsbook, beating the Huskies will be a nearly impossible feat.
Even if the Irish’s season does end Sunday, March 29 against UConn, making it within one game of the Final Four with this group should be considered a success. It wouldn’t have been possible without Bransford, Hidalgo, Prosper and, bringing them all together, Ivey.
“Their faith never wavered,” Ivey said. “They came in and gave me their all, and we just weathered the storm. It’s a special group; we’ve come a long way.”
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.
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This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: How Notre Dame women’s basketball made the NCAA Tournament Elite 8
