Hannah Hidalgo and team surprise HC Niele Ivey after special Notre Dame milestone: “This is a dream come true”

Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey reached a career milestone with a victory on Sunday. This prompted Hannah Hidalgo and the team to give her a surprise celebration.

The No. 3 Fighting Irish blew out the Virginia Cavaliers 95-54 at home, marking Ivey's 100th career victory as a coach, having started at her alma mater amid the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2020-21 season.

Knowing their coach made a big achievement in her young career, Hidalgo and the rest of the team had surprise confetti ready for her as she reflected on her milestone.

"This is a dream come true for me to be able to be your coach, but also to be able to coach at a university that I love with all my heart, and to see what you guys are doing here, carrying the legacy," Ivey said. "It means more than just the win.

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart, allowing me to be your coach, allowing me to coach you sometimes harder than other times, but you know that it's coming from a place of love. So, I just want to thank you and thank you for this, this moment, and giving us 100 wins."

Hannah Hidalgo passed Caitlin Clark, JuJu Watkins in midseason stat

Hannah Hidalgo has showcased herself as a top scorer for the No. 3 Fighting Irish, showing that she is capable of producing at the level of Iowa legend Caitlin Clark and USC Trojans star JuJu Watkins.

In her case, she exceeded both of them. Twelve games into her sophomore campaign, she has scored 310 points. This is more than the 303 points Clark had in the same timeframe, while Watkins put up 297 points during her ongoing sophomore season.

Hidalgo is averaging 26 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.1 steals, and 3.7 assists per game on 50.2% shooting, including 44.4% from beyond the arc. Her performances have allowed Notre Dame to score 89.3 ppg while beating opponents by 28.4 ppg.

Heading into 2025, Hannah Hidalgo and Notre Dame (11-2, 2-0 ACC) will prepare for their first game of the year at No. 17 North Carolina (13-2, 1-1) at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.