City of Basketball Love

Missy Dougherty (@Missyingyou)
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EAST FALLS — The one-year age difference allowed sisters Katie and Lizzie Halligan to share several memories on the hardwood together when they were younger in CYO action.

Before the two suited up together at Notre Dame, Katie remembers their mom pushing for the girls’ team to be part of the ever-popular Friday night games in Saints Simon and Jude gym when Katie was in eighth grade and Lizzie was in seventh.

Lizzie recalls her favorite memory from that same year as that same squad won the CYO region championship before advancing to the Elite Eight.  

“It was an awesome environment – a game of a lifetime,” Lizzie said.

Katie is in her senior season with the Irish so her time on the court with junior Lizzie is winding down. Before it ends, the Halligan sisters are looking forward to more shared memories to come in Notre Dame uniforms this season, memories like Sunday’s 47-29 victory over reigning Public League Champion Imhotep Charter in the first game of the Nancy Dougherty Memorial Bracket of the Blue Star Invitational at Jefferson University.

“Covid shortened my freshman year,” Lizzie said. “And then I lost my sophomore year to injury (torn ACL) so this is the first year I have really been able to be on the court with Katie at Notre Dame.”

A balanced scoring effort saw many players step up as three players reached double figures for the Irish. Lizzie Halligan tallied a game-high 11 while Katie Halligan and senior guard Annie Greek chipped in with 10 apiece. 

Notre Dame went 15-for-17 from the charity stripe as a team over the course of the contest. Katie Halligan earned Game MVP honors for the Irish (7-7).

It’s a nice luxury for Notre Dame head coach Lauren Power to finally have both Katie and Lizzie Halligan in the lineup as the Irish look to round into form.

“I can’t say enough about the Halligan sisters and what they bring to the table,” Power said.

Katie brings so many intangibles when it comes to rebounding and leading the girls in the huddle. She is a calming presence – mature beyond her years.”

“Lizzie is a dynamic leader. She is so multidimensional in terms of being able to play any position and is willing to do that to help the team.”

“It’s a joy to be a part of seeing them interact with each other.”

Sunday’s early morning start time wasn’t a hurdle for the Irish as Notre Dame raced out to an 18-11 lead over the opening eight minutes as Katie Halligan tallied six first-quarter points.  

Notre Dame’s defense was also ready to go from the start holding Imhotep to just 15 first-half points.

“I was happy with our first half defense,” Power said, “ I thought it was tremendous in holding them to just 15 points. We wanted to have patience with no shot clock and the lead in the second half.”

Imhotep looked to speed the Irish up in the third quarter as it went on a run of its own to cut the Notre Dame lead to 10 after three, 37-27.

“We started to figure it out in the fourth,” Power said.

The slower pace on offense led to a fourth quarter that saw Notre Dame outscore Imhotep 10-to-2 (including a 6-for-6 effort from the free throw lines) as it closed out its seventh victory of the season.

“As the game went on we started to play more slowly,” Lizzie said, “run through our offense and our different sets.”

Without reigning Inter-Ac MVP Maeve McErlane, who is now at DePaul. The Irish are relying on a balanced attack this season — as highlighted by Sunday’s scoring totals.

“The beauty of our team is on any given day anyone can step up,” Power said.

The Halligans are two likely candidates to step on any given night. Katie is a four-year varsity starter, while Lizzie is stepping into a larger role after her return from injury.

“Lizzie brings a lot of energy,” Katie said. “She creates a lot of opportunities for the team off of her defense. It's fun to see a play start with Lizzie and end with me or start with me and end with Lizzie.”

Lizzie notes that Katie has taught her the art of rebounding and a lot of leadership skills.

“I love when we run out in transition together and it leads to good offensive flow,” Lizzie said. “And when we screen and roll with each other and then point to each other.”

Don’t be fooled by the Irish’s 6-7 record. As they showed on Sunday — and earlier this week when they hung with current Inter-Ac leader Penn Charter —  this Notre Dame group is tough. The Irish challenged themselves with several of the top local prep and Catholic schools and traveled for stiff competition early in the season.

They hope the early challenges continue to pay off as the Halligans hope to keep their final season going as long as possible.

“We talk a lot about composure and we are starting to get there,” Katie said. “We are learning.”

“We’ve played a lot of good teams,” Lizzie said. ‘We have hung right there with them and we know we just have to clean up some lapses to get where we want to be.”

By Quarter

Imhotep:         11  |  4  |  12  |      2    ||  29

Notre Dame:  18  |  11  |   8   |   10   ||  47

Scoring

Imhotep: Geiger 8, Cooper 7, Stevens 6, Gaymon 3, Mann 3, Ebo 2

Notre Dame: L. Halligan 11, Greek 10, K. Halligan 10, Knox 8, Kelly 5, Pegg 3