Hannah Hidalgo credits maturity to help her overcome shooting struggles

The Fighting Irish pulled away in a top-dozen conference matchup last night despite a second consecutive poorer shooting night from G Hannah Hidalgo.

After the 64-49 win for No. 1 Notre Dame over No. 11 Duke on Monday, Hidalgo spoke about her focus and impact despite not scoring as much or as efficiently in her last two. She said she has had to learn to not worry about that total and realize over time that there are more ways to affect the game than just with her points.

“Yeah, I think it’s, um, maturity because I wasn’t like that last year. I definitely, it’s definitely tasking on the mind when you don’t see the ball go in, especially if you’re worried about scoring. But I had to come to the conclusion that points don’t matter and I have to figure out how to be involved in a different way,” said Hidalgo. “Like, last game, I wasn’t scoring the ball but I had seven steals. So it’s, like, being involved in another way.”

In a pair of wins over Pittsburgh and Duke, Hidalgo averaged just 15 points while shooting only 28.8% overall and 18.4% from the three-point line. Those are definitely down from her season’s statistics of 24.9 points, which is second-most in the country as she has scored twenty-plus in all but four games this season and had done so in every game since December, on splits of 48.7% from the field and 41.3% from three.

Still, Hidalgo has had an effect on those two latest wins in other ways. That includes defensively with ten steals in total, including the seven last week. With that, the rest of her stat line from those two wins was 5.0 steals, 4.5 assists, and a rebound, which is about in line with the rest of her numbers.

Some scorers can be taken out of a game, or can even take themselves out of a game, if they don’t put up their points. Not Hidalgo, though, as one of the best players in the sport with or without her scoring.