In what has been a good season for the NC State women’s basketball team, tonight was not a night to remember, as it fell 82-46 to the No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Indiana.

Junior guard Miah Spencer led the Wolfpack (16-7 7-3 ACC) in scoring with 13 points, being joined in double figures by junior guard Dominique Wilson with 11. Graduate student guard Madison Cable led the Irish (22-1 10-0 ACC) with 25 points, having a dominant night, especially in the first half. Sophomore forward Brianna Turner also put in a solid performance, putting up 14.

The Pack was outrebounded 38-28 as it struggled off the boards tonight. The team did not shoot the ball well, connecting on only 33.3 percent of its attempts from the field. NC State also struggled defensively, allowing Notre Dame to hit on 52.6 percent of its shots.

Notre Dame quickly took over, 15-4 lead with a little over three minutes left in the quarter. However, State ended the quarter on an 8-4 run on the strength of a layup and two free throws by Wilson and two jumpers by junior forward Jennifer Mathurin to cut the Irish lead to 19-12. Cable dominated the opening quarter for the Irish, grabbing 11 of their 19 points.

Notre Dame came out firing in the second quarter, outscoring State 14-7 over the quarter’s first five minutes. The Wolfpack defense struggled to contain Notre Dame’s high octane offense, giving up a lot of open shots. Junior guard Miah Spencer had all of the Wolfpack’s seven points during the first five minutes of the quarter.

A 3-pointer by freshman guard Arike Ogunbowale gave Notre Dame a 14-point lead at the end of the run, putting the Irish up 33-19 with 5:17 left in the first half. Cable’s hot hand continued in the second, as she hit a three with 4:24 left in the quarter to put the Irish up by 15, their largest lead of the first half. State and Notre Dame then traded jump shots to keep the Irish lead at 15, and Spencer sank two free throws to end the quarter and cut the Irish lead to 38-25 heading to halftime. Spencer led the Wolfpack in first half points with nine, and Cable doubled her up with a whopping 18 to lead the Irish.

Notre Dame blew the doors off in the third quarter, outscoring the Wolfpack 29-7. Two free throws by Sophomore forward Kathryn Westbeld gave Notre Dame its largest lead of the game at 19 points, putting the Irish up 49-27 just a little under two minutes into the quarter.

The game completely got away from the Wolfpack after the third quarter’s halfway mark, as it was outscored 13-2 at that point. A layup and free throw by Cable at the 1:53 mark pushed State’s deficit to 28. The Irish grabbed the quarter’s final five points for a 67-35 lead going into the fourth.

With the game all but over heading into the fourth, Notre Dame seemed content to pile on its lead and the Wolfpack seemed like it could not get to the bus soon enough. The Pack was outscored 6-2 over the quarter’s first five minutes, facing a 36-point deficit going into the final few minutes of the game. Both teams seemed content to salt it away down the stretch, and the final score ended up 82-46.

The Wolfpack will get a few days off before it heads to Winston-Salem to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Sunday.