SOUTH BEND, Ind. --
Notre Dame started off with a bang and never looked back Sunday.
The Irish women, top seed in the Raleigh NCAA regional, rolled to a 74-43 first round victory over Liberty at Purcell Arena and faces Cal at home in a Tuesday second round match.
The Irish scored on their first four trips down the court for an 11-0 start, led 20-8 less than six minutes into the game and opened a 44-19 advantage by halftime behind a Kayla McBride's 13 first half points.
McBride closed with 15 points, Natalie Novosel had 12 and Devereaux Peters added 10 for the Irishwho had been idle since a 63-54 loss to Connecticut on March 6 in the Big East championship game.
Devon Brown paced the Flames (24-9) with 16 points, Danika Dale had 12 and Avery Warley added a game-high 10 rebounds. Liberty emerged out of the Big South conference with an 81-73 title victory earlier this month over High Point.
The brisk early pace slowed in the second half as he Irish cycled reserves onto the court yet the lead never slipped below 24 points.
Notre Dame paid particular attention to rebounding in practice this past week and the work paid off as they had a 38-29 edge on the boards, outscored Liberty 44-14 in the paint and had a 27-8 advantage off turnovers.
Notre Dame is now 3-0 against Liberty. Until Sunday, the most recent meeting was an 85-68 triumph in Richmond, Va. in the 1999 Wachovia Women's Basketball Invitational title game.
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