The Notre Dame women’s basketball season started on Monday, Nov. 8, 2023,the team has played four games already this season. They look strong to start the season, going  5-1, losing to only top ranked South Carolina. The game was played at Halle Georges Carpentier Arena in Paris. Some key players for Notre Dame are Hannah Hidalgo and Maddy Westbeld, who so far have stepped up big in the absence of Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron. The head coach for the team is Niele Ivey. Freshman Hannah Hidalgo has stepped up big in the absence of Miles and Citron. In her first six games at Notre Dame she is averaging 28.8 points a game and 7.3 steals. She has had to make up for the loss of Miles, who hurt her knee during the second quarter of last year’s Sweet Sixteen.  Miles has not returned to the floor yet and a designated return date has not been set, though the Irish believe Miles will return to the floor this season. Sonia Citron is also dealing with an injury she sustained during the win over Northwestern. Before the injury Citron was playing very well, averaging 20.3 points, 4 rebounds a game and shooting 60% from the floor. Junior Maddy Westbeld has also stepped up this year, averaging 13.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and shooting 49.2% from the floor. The Irish  have big games coming up including, when they head to Knoxville, TN on Nov. 29, to take on nineteenth-ranked Tennessee,   The game will be a top 20 matchup that could shake up the top 25 rankings the week after. On January 27 the Irish take on sixth-ranked UConn, who the Irish beat last year in a close game. This game will be  a real test for the team to see if they can continue to prevail until the end of the season. On Feb. 8, they played No.20 Louisville. Last year they played Louisville twice, beating them once and losing once. Only three days later on Feb. 11, they play No.13 Florida State. Last season they beat Florida State 70-47. Then only four days later they play No.10 NC State. All three of those games are going to be played back to back. The girls will have a great challenge they will have to endure in order to continue to stay ranked. On Feb. 29 the girls will play No.9 Virginia Tech, last time they played Virginia Tech was Dec. 18, 2022 and even though Virginia Tech was ranked higher the Irish  pulled through and won 63-52. Finally the last game of the season will be against No.20 Louisville on March 3. The girls have a few tough opponents to close the season and they will have to fight to continue to be ranked. The girls have lost in the Sweet 16 the last few years and hopefully they will be able to make it to the Elite Eight and win the championship this season.