Olivia Miles will start for Notre Dame in its second-round Women’s NCAA Tournament matchup against Michigan. The star guard injured her ankle late in the Fighting Irish’s opening-round win over Stephen F. Austin, but she tested the ankle in pregame warmups Sunday and will be good to go for Niele Ivey’s squad.
A minute into the fourth quarter of the Stephen F. Austin game, Miles fell to the floor after appearing to turn her left ankle. She stayed down for a bit while being attended to by the training staff, but eventually walked gingerly back to the locker room under her own power. The injury happened with 8:44 to play and the Irish up 82-43, which led to questions of why Notre Dame had their best players still playing in the fourth quarter with the game decided.
While Hannah Hidalgo and Sonia Citron had strong performances to lead the Irish to a 106-54 win, scoring 24 points each, Miles had just two points on 0 of 6 shooting. Miles did lead the team with eight assists, but it’s possible Ivey was trying to get her into a rhythm in the fourth knowing they’ll need her offense going forward if they’re going to contend for a national title. The senior, a top WNBA draft prospect, came into the tournament averaging 16.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game on 49.6/40.6/80.0 shooting splits.
Ivey spoke with reporters Saturday and said she expected Miles would “try and get on that floor” for Notre Dame’s second-round matchup with Michigan, and that ended up coming to fruition.
The Irish host the Wolverines at the Joyce Center at 1 p.m. ET, and the winner will head to the Sweet 16.
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