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When she’s watching film, Felisha Legette-Jack doesn’t look at players’ names. She looks at their numbers. It helps her make sure she doesn’t fall in love with her opponent.

Cassandre Prosper, the senior Notre Dame guard who’s averaging a career-high 14.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game? Ah, yes, of course, No. 8. Iyana Moore, the Vanderbilt transfer averaging 12.0 points per game? That would be No. 23. How about Gisela Sanchez, the backup center who’s hitting triples at a 50% clip? Just No. 30, nothing else.

The thing that Legette-Jack won’t say, though, is that certain players are good enough to bypass that treatment entirely. Certain players are so incomparable, so transcendent, that they’ll get full name treatment from Syracuse’s head coach, because they’re just that good.

Olivia Miles is one of them. The senior guard is currently amid her best career season at TCU, but when these two squads faced off last year, the two-time All-American was dropping 20 points on the Orange in a 93-62 blowout win.

Hannah Hidalgo is another. Legette-Jack admitted it on Wednesday, how smitten she is with the Fighting Irish point guard, and the work ethic she displays on both ends of the ball. She dropped 24 points the last time these two squads played, and 23 the matchup before that.

It’s unfortunate for the Orange that, unlike Miles, Hidalgo is still at Notre Dame. It’s also unfortunate for Syracuse (21-7, 11-6 Atlantic Coast) that she was still doing Hidalgo things Thursday, leading the Fighting Irish (19-9, 11-6 ACC) to a 72-62 victory over SU. The loss dropped the Orange to 1-6 in Quad 1 games, guaranteeing they’ll only have one Quad 1 win — Virginia — under their belt before postseason play.

“(There’s) nobody on that team that’s like Olivia Miles,” Legette-Jack said at her Wednesday media availability. “But nobody in the country is like Hidalgo, either.”

The point guard finished with 27 points, seven assists and seven steals on the night, and she found her first bucket almost immediately — of course, thanks to a steal. She entered Saturday leading the nation with 5.6 steals per game, and she had four in the first quarter alone.

“She’s relentless. She doesn’t stop,” Legette-Jack said of Hidalgo Wednesday. “She chases balls from one corner to the next, and she doesn’t get tired.”

Early on, Uche Izoje was matching the Notre Dame star, trying everything she could to keep the Orange in the game. After Izoje’s first collegiate game, a 74-50 win over Stony Brook, Legette-Jack compared the center to similar freshman phenoms such as Paige Bueckers and Hidalgo.

It seemed outlandish at the time, but as the two went back-and-forth trading buckets, the comparison didn’t seem too detached from reality anymore. The lead went to whichever one was hot at any given time.

Hidalgo closed the first frame on a heater, and Notre Dame, in turn, exited it with a fresh 19-16 lead. But neither side was close to establishing dominance.

At the end of a whirlwind first half that featured 12 lead changes, the Fighting Irish took a 37-32 lead into the locker room. Just as she did in the first quarter, Hidalgo closed the second frame with a layup to pad Notre Dame’s lead.

It may have taken them a half to do so, but once the third quarter rolled around, the Fighting Irish seemed ready to take over the game. Layups from Prosper, Hidalgo and Cowles went unanswered — save for a Phelia free throw — giving ND the game’s first double-digit lead.

By the time Izoje hit SU’s first second-half bucket to cut the deficit to 43-35, it had been three-and-a-half minutes of relative silence from the Orange.

Yet, Syracuse had every opportunity to put itself back in the game, especially with ND answering that aforementioned drought by embarking on its own personal four-minute dry spell. In the final two minutes of the third quarter, Izoje cut the deficit to one with a four-point flurry. Then, Phelia came through with a midrange to give SU its first lead of the second half.

“She showed some signs that she could be a WNBA Draft pick,” Legette-Jack said postgame, referring to Phelia’s performance. “I think that she showed those signs defensively, offensively and in her poise down the stretch.”

But it was still anyone’s game to win. That’s where the issue lies. Because if it’s anyone’s game to win, that means it’s Hidalgo’s game to win, and she doesn’t like losing.

When Sophie Burrows scored a layup with three minutes left in the game, Hidalgo promptly found her way to the rim, hitting a layup and barking at SU’s backcourt. When Phelia answered with a triple to make it a six-point game, it was Hidalgo, back at it again, fighting through contact to answer with an and-1. When SU got the ball back, now down 68-59, it was Hidalgo forcing a travel from the Orange, making the call before the official even recognized it.

Because No. 3 is one hell of a player. Legette-Jack couldn’t even deny it.

The first question of Legette-Jack’s postgame media scrum asked her what she saw from Hidalgo on Thursday. She didn’t even wait for the reporter to finish the question before delivering her answer.

“She’s special,” Legette-Jack said postgame. “She’s one of the best players in the conference.”

The next question was a follow-up about Hidalgo’s defensive performance. Legette-Jack dispatched it with a similarly curt, five-word response.

“Defensively, she stole the ball,” Legette-Jack said.

There was nothing else for her to say. Watch the game. Hidalgo’s play spoke for itself.

Published on February 26, 2026 at 9:07 pm
Contact Mauricio: mjpalmar@syr.edu | @mpalmarDO