A hot-shooting and improving Cal women's basketball team improved its chances of reaching the NCAA tournament on Thursday by beating Notre Dame 80-69 at Haas Pavilion. That enabled Cal to overcome its 19 turnovers and Notre Dame's 15-3 on the offensive boards to beat Notre Dame for the first time ever after five defeats. She went head to head with Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo, a first-team All-America selection last season, and Sheppard more than held her own. Notre Dame quickly got the deficit to three points and trailed by just 64-61 with 4:50 to go. Notre Dame had 14 more field-goal attempts than Cal in the first half thanks to the Irish’s 9-1 advantage on the offensive boards.