SOUTH BEND, Ind. – In the third quarter of a high-scoring matchup between No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 2 UConn, the Irish’s lead dwindled to 13 points after a run by the Huskies. Notre Dame needed a change of momentum – and Hannah Hidalgo delivered. As the clock expired, the Notre Dame sophomore knocked back a three-pointer — her sixth of the night — over the outstretched arms of a UConn defender. The shot rang out, the buzzer sounded and Purcell Pavilion erupted, control clearly back in Notre Dame’s favor.

Among those who jumped up were three legendary Notre Dame guards — Skylar Diggins-Smith, Arike Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey — who were sitting a few feet away on the sidelines. Six years ago in the Final Four, Ogunbowale hit a stunning triple against UConn in one of the most famous shots in women’s college basketball history. Now she was celebrating the dagger of another Irish icon in the making.

“When I hit that shot, I looked over at Ogunbowale and thought, ‘We’re in it too,'” Hidalgo said after Thursday’s 79-68 win.

The season is only five weeks old, but Hidalgo hopes she can lead Notre Dame to a national championship, just like Ogunbowale did in 2018. She also has a chance to achieve something that neither Ogunbowale, Diggins-Smith nor Jewell Loyd, who also played in Thursday’s game, achieved during their time in South Bend: national player of the year honors.

Thursday’s riveting 29-point performance, nearly equivalent to a triple-double, was another pivotal moment in Hidalgo’s growing prospects for Player of the Year honors. For the second time in 11 months, she was the best player on the field against UConn and established herself as a Husky fighter of historic proportions. On Thursday, she became the first player in the last 25 seasons to record multiple games against UConn with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, tying Sabrina Ionescu for the most such games against an AP top-10 opponent. Hidalgo achieved both figures before her 20th birthday.

UConn’s Paige Bueckers, the 2021 National Player of the Year and a contender again this season, scored a more than respectable 25 points on 11-for-20 shooting on Thursday. But Hidalgo was the one who made an impact in every phase of the game.

Their defensive presence helped Notre Dame keep UConn’s offense off balance. Her career-high six 3s was twice as many as she made at UConn. Her 10 boards — mind you, she’s 5-foot-10 — helped the Irish to a plus-8 edge on the glass. On countless possession attempts, she grabbed a defensive backboard, flew across the floor and found open teammates for a basket, scoring or assisting on a total of 48 of Notre Dame’s 79 points (61%).

A similar story happened three weeks ago in Los Angeles when the Irish defeated then-No. 3 U.S.C. 74-61. Hidalgo excelled on both ends with 24 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals, surpassing fellow preseason player JuJu Watkins, the other preseason Player of the Year favorite. Bueckers and Watkins meet on Dec. 21 in Hartford, but Hidalgo’s brilliance against the Trojans and Huskies arguably makes her the current front-runner.

Fans spent the offseason wondering how guards Hidalgo and Olivia Miles, who returned from a torn ACL in February 2023 that cost them all of last season, would work together in the backcourt. These concerns about their dynamic seem silly now, when both are so clearly reinforcing and creating possibilities for the other.

With Miles as the primary facilitator, Hidalgo is posting even better scoring numbers than last season. Her 25.0 points per game ranks second in the nation, and she shoots 46.2% from the field, including 42.6% from 3, while averaging 7.1 rebounds, 4.0 steals and 3.8 assists achieved per game.

Before tipoff on Thursday, Hidalgo was honored for reaching the 1,000-point milestone, which she achieved in a school-record 44 games. Then she went out and reached 200 career steals in her 45th career game, making her the fastest player in all of Division I to reach that mark in the last 25 seasons.

Hidalgo said her energy on the court, which she calls “that dog,” is different from her reserved personality off the court. But it’s that reciprocal tenacity – the competitive fire she shows with every stomp and scream, every fist clench and fist pump – that gives her the “it” factor.

Hannah Hidalgo is truly one of them

— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) December 13, 2024

“She has a pretty unique level of talent,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “But I think more important is the way she attacks everything she does. The way she attacks your defense, the way when she’s on defense she attacks your offense, and the way she leads her team in so many different ways.” I think , when you put all three of those things together, it’s a really, really difficult matchup for anyone.

“She does what she does, and I don’t know that there are a lot of strategies you can use.”

On Thursday, Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said she knew when she recruited Hidalgo from Merchantville, New Jersey, that she would be special — even if she was “shocked” at the time that Hidalgo came so quickly. Ivey said she realized how big Hidalgo would be during the team’s summer overseas tour.

“She always played with a chip on her shoulder. She always wears her heart on her sleeve, she has that passion and that energy and the love and joy of the game,” Ivey said. “She’s different in such a unique way, the way she plays, and she’s just kicked in, she’s growing and blooming. She’s one of the best in the country.”

So special that if she continues this path throughout ACC play, Hidalgo could become Notre Dame’s first national player of the year since Ruth Riley won the Naismith Award in 2001 – also the year the Irish won their first of three national titles fetched. And that’s a realistic ceiling for this Notre Dame team, Ivey’s most promising since he took over from Muffet McGraw in April 2020.

The Irish (8-2) still have two losses on their record and are tied for No. 1. 17 TCU and unranked Utah in the Cayman Islands on consecutive days through the end of November. But now, with their third top-five win, they have reaffirmed that they are real championship contenders, and not just because they have Hidalgo. Miles earned a potential WNBA draft lottery pick; Sonia Citron is another potential WNBA first-round candidate, and the frontcourt corps only gets stronger with the returns of injured Maddy Westbeld and Liza Karlen, who made her season debut on Thursday.

“Obviously they lost two games, so there’s probably no team that you can say is unbeatable,” Auriemma said. “And if you put Notre Dame against any other team in the country, I don’t think anyone would be surprised if they won that game.”

After Thursday’s game, Diggins-Smith hugged Hidalgo. During her time in South Bend, Diggins-Smith ushered in a golden era of Notre Dame basketball, leading the Irish to the first three of five straight Final Four appearances. Diggins-Smith’s South Bend career (2009-13) was also the last time the Irish had a three-game winning streak against the Huskies – until now.

“Great job,” Diggins-Smith told Hidalgo after the game. “Go ahead, okay? That’s how you play.”