Notre Dame vs Stephen F. Austin women's basketball Predictions, Odds & Picks for March 21

Notre Dame vs Stephen F. Austin women's basketball Predictions, Odds & Picks for March 21 | College Basketball Season 2024-25

Images via Instagram pages of both teams

Notre Dame vs Stephen F. Austin is one of the first games of the women's March Madness tournament. The No. 3-ranked Fighting Irish (26-5) will take on the Ladyjacks (29-5) on Friday at 2 p.m. ET.

Notre Dame vs Stephen F. Austin prediction

Heading into this game, most experts, fans and sportsbooks agree that this will be a blowout in favor of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have a far more impressive team. Although they lost their last game against Duke in the ACC Tournament, the Fighting Irish have put together an impressive season. Their only recent defeats were to other high-ranked teams like Duke, NC State and Florida State.

Additionally, while Notre Dame fell to Duke in the ACC Tournament, the Fighting Irish defeated the Blue Devils earlier in the season, proving they can compete with the best teams in the nation. That has not been the case for Stephen F. Austin.

While the Ladyjacks have amassed an impressive record, they have not faced high-caliber competition this season. They won the Southland Tournament and have won 15 games in a row, but none of those wins were against ranked opponents.

There is a big difference in competition between the ACC and Southland. As a result, we are not making a bold prediction here. We predict that Notre Dame will dominantly defeat Stephen F. Austin in the first round of March Madness.

Prediction: Notre Dame 96, Stephen F. Austin 65

Notre Dame vs Stephen F. Austin odds

Moneyline: N/A (Notre Dame is such a big favorite that sportsbooks are not giving odds)
Spread: Notre Dame -31.5 points (-115), Stephen F. Austin +31.5 points (-105)
Total: 151.5 points (-110)

Notre Dame vs Stephen F. Austin head-to-head

This will be the second matchup between these teams. They played once in 2016, with Notre Dame narrowly winning 76-75. The clash between these two teams in the first round of March Madness on Friday is not expected to be nearly as close.