Loyd, McBride lead top-seeded Notre Dame over UT Martin
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Jewell Loyd poured in 27 points and Kayla McBride tallied 22 points and 10 rebounds as the top-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish made easy work of the 16th-seeded Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks, 97-64, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Loyd shot a perfect 6-of-6 from the foul line and McBride added five assists and four steals for Notre Dame (32-1), which has won 27 consecutive games and will face ninth-seeded Iowa in the second round. Natalie Achonwa scored 16 points and ripped down eight rebounds, while Skylar Diggins had 10 points and six assists.
For UT Martin (19-15), Heather Butler led all scorers with a season-high 37 points and was stellar from 3-point range (6-of-11), but she also turned the ball over six times. Jasmine Newsome added 15 points and five assists for the Skyhawks.
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UT Martin trailed by just seven with four minutes to play in the opening stanza, but Notre Dame ended the frame on an 11-0 run to go into intermission with a 49-31 lead. The Irish shot 51.5 percent from the floor in the first half.
Notre Dame picked up right where it left off in the second half, using an 11-2 run to take a 60-33 advantage less than four minutes in, and it never looked back from there.
The Irish shot an outstanding 19-of-20 from the free-throw line, which helped mask a poor showing from 3-point range (2-of-11).