It is that time of year when college basketball programs fatten themselves up on inferior competition, which makes for a lot of games that can be safely ignored. But wait, before you skim over the box score from Notre Dame's 85–58 victory over Akron on Wednesday night, take a look at what Hannah Hidalgo did.
Are you ready to receive information that could potentially cause psychic damage? Hidalgo finished the game with 44 points, nine rebounds, and 16 steals. Sixteen steals! Against Division-I college basketball players! In just 28 minutes of floor time!
Anyone who is familiar with the intensity that Hidalgo brings to her performances will not be totally shocked that she managed to rip the ball away from her overmatched opponents 16 times. Hidalgo plays a particularly spiteful and redlined brand of basketball—it's likely that she is very angry about witches every time she steps on the court—so if anyone was ever going to attempt to put up a stat line like this in an early-season game, it was going to be her. Hidalgo found herself facing an 0-2 Mid-American squad that lost by double digits to South Alabama, and did what bullies do.
The highlights are gruesome. I am comfortable proclaiming that no D-I game in history has featured this many instances of one player just taking the ball from an opponent and then streaking down the court for a layup. Her last two steals of the night, which came in the fourth quarter while her team was up by more than 20 points, evoked a predator toying with its prey:
Hidalgo's night gave her the program scoring record and the D-I steals record. Those are two nice prizes to claim before the real season starts—Notre Dame's next two games are against Michigan and USC—but I can't help but feel a little bad for the Akron players who had to be fed to one of college basketball's nuttiest players. I hope someone takes them all out for a nice meal tonight.
