LIMA – Toledo Notre Dame Academy did everything expected from a five-time defending league champion.
And then it soared well beyond that level.
Notre Dame Academy sprinted the floor and knocked down 16 of 23 3-point shots in a 93-36 romp over Lima Senior in a girls basketball game Monday at Lima Senior.
Notre Dame hit 70 percent on 3-pointers and shot 59 percent from the field overall.
“That’s not bad,” Notre Dame coach Travis Galloway said. “I thought we played in a great rhythm, offensively. I thought we did a good job of making the extra pass and then our shooters were in rhythm to shoot the ball.”
But it wasn’t just shooting.
Notre Dame outrebounded Lima Senior 46-27 and took each rebound and came down the floor at rocket-like speed to convert the transition layup or knock down a 3-pointer.
“They’re just at a whole another level,” Lima Senior coach Vince Halliday said. “They’re really athletic, they’re deep. They made 10 threes in the first half and five different girls made them. They were playing at a whole different speed than what we’re capable of playing.”
Notre Dame also forced 27 Lima Senior turnovers.
“Obviously we want to play with tempo and we want to play fast and I thought our kids did a great job of taking what the defense gave us,” Galloway said. “I thought we did a good job of committing to running all the time. … And we did a good job of rebounding their first miss tonight.”
Notre Dame is 2-2, 1-0 in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference. It has won the last five TRAC titles, including sharing the trophy with Toledo Central Catholic last year.
Lima Senior is 1-2.
Notre Dame went 1-2 at the Lakota West Journey to the Tourney tournament, defeating Canton McKinley, then falling to Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame and Homestead (Ind.), which is ranked No. 13 in the nation.
Notre Dame had seven different girls hit 3-pointers.
Bre Hampton-Bey, who committed to Michigan, but recently de-committed there, had 15 points with three 3-point goals for Notre Dame.
Mariah Copeland, who is headed to Toledo, had 12 points and four 3-pointers.
Drew Whitaker came off the bench to score 12 points with two 3-pointers. Kailah Johnson had 11 points and seven rebounds. Jala Johnson had 10 points and two threes.
Kierre James led the Spartans with 10 points and two 3-pointers. Destiny McDonald had eight points. Freshman forward Lexi Williams had six points and six boards.
Notre Dame ran out to a 15-4 lead and had canned three 3-pointers off the break. By the end of the first quarter, it led 26-10.
Notre Dame went on a 15-0 second-quarter run to pull out to a 45-12 lead. During that run, Johnson, Hampton-Bey and Erin Fankhauser all sank threes.
Notre Dame led 54-14 at the half. By that point, it had it 10 of 13 on 3-pointers and was shooting 20 of 32 from the field.
“Their commitment level to running the floor is what we’re striving to do here. They’re really good,” Halliday said.
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