WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Arike Ogunbowale scored 25 points while Marina Mabrey had 22 points while No. 2 Notre Dame beat Wake Forest 96-73 on Sunday in Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball action.
The Irish (13-1, 2-0 ACC) now have an ACC record of 64-2 since joining the league for the 2013-14 season. Notre Dame is a combined 95-3 over the past seven seasons in the Big East and ACC with six straight regular-season conference titles.
"When we joined the conference, we had a really good team, we had a couple of Final Four teams early on," Coach Muffet McGraw of Notre Dame said. "I think it was really difficult for us to learn 15 new teams. There was a lot of learning, a lot of scouting. Everything was new for us. A lot of venues, a lot of different places. I think we were really laser-focused to start."
The Irish made their first six shots en route to taking a 24-6 lead late in the first quarter. Notre Dame shot 56 percent from the field while winning for the sixth straight time since losing at top-ranked Connecticut on Dec. 3.
The loss ended a six-game winning streak for Wake Forest (8-6, 0-1). The Demon Deacons — who had been idle since winning at College of Charleston on Dec. 21 — shot 42 percent from the field after missing six of their first seven attempts.
"We started at the top of the conference and we knew it would be a challenge, but we were excited about that challenge," Coach Jen Hoover of Wake Forest said. " ... But you've got to give them a lot of credit — when one person makes a mistake, they find that person. So all five people can't make mistakes against them. They did a good job of attacking us and we didn't respond until too late."
Elisa Penna tied a career-high with 24 points and Amber Campbell added 18 points for Wake Forest.
Big picture
Notre Dame: The Irish made half of its 3-point attempts for the second straight game. It is a combined 13-of-26 during that span after going 4-for-22 during a 91-85 win over Marquette in overtime.
"We don't really talk about (3-point shooting)," McGraw said. "I feel like every shot is going in when we let it go. Our shot selection could probably be a little better and I think it has been better. We've worked on getting some inside touches and some inside-out 3s instead of just shooting it straight up, so that's really improved our shot selection."
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons have lost eight straight ACC openers. The last time that Wake Forest started league play with a win came when it beat Virginia Tech 66-63 on Jan. 7, 2010.
Deacon destroyer
Sunday's effort was the second 20-plus-point game for Ogunbowale against Wake Forest. She scored 17 points against the Demon Deacons as a freshman and had 22 points last season. She made 11-of-17 shots on Sunday while also totaling three assists and three steals.
Up next
Notre Dame plays host to Miami on Thursday, which beat No. 14 Duke 51-48 on Sunday for its sixth straight win.
Wake Forest tries to restart its winning streak on Thursday at Pittsburgh to start off a stretch of four games in 10 days.
NOTRE DAME (13-1): Jessica Shepard 3-6 2-2 8, Kathryn Westbeld 2-5 6-7 10, Marina Mabrey 8-11 2-2 22, Arike Ogunbowale 11-17 2-5 25, Jackie Young 3-10 3-4 9, Maureen Butler 0-0 0-0 0, Kristina Nelson 4-5 5-5 13, Danielle Patterson 0-3 0-0 0, Kaitlin Cole 2-2 0-0 5, Lili Thompson 1-2 2-2 4, Totals 34-61 22-27 96.
WAKE FOREST (8-6): Elisa Penna 8-13 4-5 24, Ona Udoh 1-1 0-0 2, Amber Campbell 8-12 2-2 18, Alex Sharp 1-7 2-2 4, Ariel Stephenson 0-6 1-2 1, Raegyn Branch 3-5 1-2 7, Ivana Raca 1-2 0-2 2, Destini Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Tyra Whitehead 3-9 2-3 8, Gina Conti 2-9 1-2 5, Kortni Simmons 1-3 0-0 2, Totals 28-67 13-20 73.
Notre Dame 28 22 20 26 —96
Wake Forest 12 19 22 20 —73
3-Point Goals--Notre Dame 6-12 (Mabrey 4-6, Ogunbowale 1-4, Young 0-1, Cole 1-1), Wake Forest 4-15 (Penna 4-5, Campbell 0-1, Sharp 0-2, Stephenson 0-4, Branch 0-1, Conti 0-2). Assists--Notre Dame 21 (Young 6), Wake Forest 13 (Campbell 3). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--Notre Dame 44 (Westbeld 8), Wake Forest 28 (Sharp 12). Total Fouls--Notre Dame 14, Wake Forest 19. A--731.