Notre Dame, IN (SportsNetwork.com) - Jewell Loyd scored 18 points to pace her top-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish past the 16th-seeded Montana Lady Grizzlies, 77-43, in the first round of the NCAA Women's Tournament at Purcell Pavilion.
Brianna Turner contributed 12 points for Notre Dame (32-2), while Taya Reimer, Lindsay Allen and Michaela Mabrey all chipped in nine points in the win.
The Fighting Irish move on to the second round of the tournament, and will face off against ninth-seeded DePaul on Sunday.
Kayleigh Valley netted nine points with six rebounds to lead Montana (24-9), while Maggie Rickman, McCalle Feller and Kellie Rubel each scored eight points in the loss.
Montana missed all but two of its 21 3-point attempts in the contest, and could only connect on 30.6 percent of its shots from the floor in the loss, compared to 62.3 percent shooting by Notre Dame.
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