Jessica Shepard helped Notre Dame passed its first road test of the season. She had 19 points and 12 rebounds and the No. 6/5 Irish beat WKU 78-65 on Tuesday evening inside Diddle Arena. The Fighting Irish (2-0) powered past a Lady Toppers team that received votes in this week’s AP poll. WKU (1-2) beat then-No. 16 Missouri, then took Iowa to overtime on the road last weekend.
Notre Dame flexed its frontcourt muscle, outscoring the Lady Toppers 50-32 in the paint. The Irish went to Shepard early and often, allowing her to work against WKU’s front line. Shepard transferred to Notre Dame this past summer from Nebraska and was granted an NCAA waiver Nov. 1 for immediate eligibility. The 6-foot-4 forward averaged 18.6 points and 9.8 rebounds last year as a sophomore at Nebraska.
Arike Ogunbowale and Mikayla Vaughn scored 21 and 17 points for the four-time defending Atlantic Coast Conference champs. Notre Dame led 37-28 at halftime and then held steady in the second half, stretching the lead to as wide a margin as 73-59 after WKU got as close as 57-51 early in the fourth quarter. Tashia Brown scored 25 points for the Lady Toppers, but was just 6-for-25 from the field. Fellow WKU senior Ivy Brown, who came in averaging 18.5 points per game, scored just two points in 35 minutes of play Tuesday and eventually fouled out.
(Courtesy WKU Athletics)