Notre Dame and Purdue dominate in openers

#1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 93, #16 Robert Morris Colonials 42

MVP: Michaela Mabrey scored 11 of her 16 points in the first half as Notre Dame wasted no time jumping on the Colonials. Notre Dame carried a 50-16 advantage into the halftime locker room.

Efficiency is name of the game... Notre Dame couldn't really miss today as they shot 57 percent from the field, and 55 from three-point range. However, if you want to knock anything the Fighting Irish did today, knock the free throw percentage. They shot just 70 percent. If this was a close contest, that could have been the difference in a win and a loss. However, not today.

It was over when... Ariel Braker sank the jumper to put the Fighting Irish up 9-4 with 16:48 to go in the first half. That sparked a monster run of 28-6. That run was over the span of 10:40 of the half. It put the Irish up 37-10 and was the dagger in the Colonials' hearts

#4 Purdue Boilermakers 84, #13 Akron Zips 55

MVP: Whitney Bays had 20 points and 13 rebounds... off the bench for the Boilermakers who thumped the snot out of the Akron Zips. She did all this in just 24 minutes of game action, too. She also added in four assists and two steals to top off her afternoon.

Balance is key... Four Boilermakers scored in double figures. Two more decided to score at least seven points. It was just the right amount of balance that kept the Zips off balance and confused throughout the entire game. This type of balance could give Oklahoma State Cowgirls a run for their money.

It was over when... They tossed the opening tip. Even the 1 vs. 16-seeded games had a bit of challenge. Not here. Purdue dropped a 20-2 opening game run on the Zip and never looked like this would be a viable contest. Purdue led by as many as 31 in the contest.