SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – Reserve guard Arike Ogunbowale scored 16 points Thursday night to help No. 2 Notre Dame run its winning streak to 20 games with a 71-52 victory over Clemson.
Brianna Turner added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Irish, who improved to 15-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and clinched a share of the regular season crown, as well as the No. 1 seed in next week’s ACC tournament.
Notre Dame (27-1 overall) will try to clinch the ACC title outright in its regular season finale at home on Saturday against Boston College.
Clemson (4-24, 0-15) has lost 30 straight ACC games dating to last season. Aliyah Collier tied a career high with 18 points and added nine rebounds to lead the Tigers.
Micheal Mabrey added 11 points for Notre Dame, which is now 53-1 in ACC play, including the postseason, since joining the league in 2013.
Clemson struggled to open the second half, hitting just one of its first 13 shots, leading to a 16-2 Irish run that pushed their lead to 28 points with 2:12 left in the third quarter.
Turner scored 12 points in the first half as Notre Dame lobbed it into the paint early and often. When the Irish weren’t turning the ball over (11 turnovers in the first half), they hardly missed, shooting 65 percent from the field and a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line.
Ogunbowale’s 3-pointer to open the second quarter capped a 9-0 Notre Dame run that got the lead into double digits, and the Irish took a 15-point advantage into halftime.
TIP-INS
Clemson: The Tigers have not won an ACC game since their first conference game last season, a 63-54 victory over Virginia Tech on Jan. 2, 2015. … Junior Paige Mosley is the only upperclassman on the Clemson roster. … The Tigers brought just eight players to South Bend.
Notre Dame: Starting forward Kathryn Westbeld sat out with an ankle injury suffered late in Notre Dame’s 73-66 win at No. 12 Florida State on Sunday. … Notre Dame has won 20 straight games for a fifth consecutive season.
UP NEXT
Clemson hosts North Carolina State on Sunday.
Notre Dame hosts Boston College on Saturday.