Notre Dame star sophomore Hannah Hidalgo is off to a blazing start for the 2-0 Fighting Irish. The talented 19-year-old’s strong play backs up the plaudits she received last season from South Carolina coach Dawn Staley and UConn coach Geno Auriemma.

The Preseason All-American entered the 2024-25 campaign with lofty expectations after winning a host of awards during a terrific freshman season.

Hidalgo stuffed the box score in Notre Dame’s opening 105-61 win over Mercyhurst, scoring 19 points in 34 minutes to go along with nine rebounds and six steals.

The guard was even better in the Fighting Irish’s demolition over in-state rival Purdue. Hidalgo scored 28 points while adding seven rebounds and six more steals in the 102-58 victory.

Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley

Despite the hot start, Notre Dame remained sixth in the most recent AP Poll behind Staley’s South Carolina (ranked first) and Auriemma’s UConn (ranked second).

Hidalgo was an All-American last year after averaging 22.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 4.6 steals during a historic freshman season.

She earned the ACC Tournament MVP, ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and earned the Dawn Staley Award – given to the nation’s best guard.

Staley was effusive in her praise of Hidalgo when giving her the award at the end of the 2023-24 campaign. “The Dawn Staley Award goes to the player who demonstrates exceptional skills, leadership, and performance at the guard position,” she said.

“Hannah’s court vision, passing ability, ball-handling, and ability to create scoring opportunities for herself and her teammates combined with her relentless defense is unmatched.:

“She is the embodiment of a two-way force on the basketball court and the essence of what the award represents,” Staley continued. “In a season where there are several deserving candidates, Hannah has separated herself from the group.”

Staley wasn’t the only celebrated coach to shower Hidalgo in praise. Auriemma complimented the Notre Dame guard following her strong performance against UConn in January.

“When someone gets to the basket that often, there’s nothing we can do about it because that’s just a total breakdown,” the 11-time National Champion said. “I don’t care how good a guard is, and she’s terrific, but for someone to get to the basket that easily that means there’s a lot of things going wrong defensively.”

“To her credit, she kept getting there. She has a variety of ways to score. She’s obviously playing with a tremendous amount of confidence. It took a lot of guts to come in here and do what she did. She’s damn good, right? Yeah.”