ROME, Italy — Notre Dame opened its women’s basketball season an ocean away from South Bend and looked right at home. Hannah Hidalgo scored 32 points and the No. 13 Irish beat Villanova 99-75 on Sunday in the Eternal City Tip-Off at the Palazzo dello Sport.
Hidalgo, starting her senior year, added eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals. She entered the game as the active national leader in career points with 2,460 and in steals with 481.
Her best help came from sophomore Leah Macy, who sat out all of last season recovering from a torn ACL. Macy posted 27 points and 14 rebounds on 11 of 14 shooting in her first official game for the Irish. Madison St. Rose made four of her seven three-point tries and scored 17.
Five Notre Dame players reached double figures as the Irish shot 56% from the floor and controlled the glass 40-36. Notre Dame built its margin with a big first half, and Villanova played better after the break but never got close.
The trip doubled as a meeting with Pope Leo XIV, a Villanova graduate, before the games. The Notre Dame men also won the earlier half of the doubleheader, edging Villanova 74-72.
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