Ethermac|Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo rips her forced timeout to remove nose ring

ALBANY,Ethermac N.Y. – Hannah Hidalgo said it was “BS” she had to sit out for more than four minutes while her nose piercing was removed and said it disrupted her game.

Notre Dame’s All-America point guard has worn a diamond stud in the left side of her nose all season. “Head decorations, head wear, helmets, and jewelry are illegal,” according to NCAA rules, but it hadn’t been an issue until Friday’s Sweet 16 game against Oregon State.

Hidalgo said one of the officials told her during warm-ups that she would need to take it out. She asked if she could cover it instead and said she was told that would be fine. At the end of the first quarter, however, Hidalgo said she was told it had to be removed.

“I think it’s BS,” Hidalgo told USA TODAY Sports after Notre Dame's 70-65 loss. “They should have just let me play with it if that’s what they said.”

Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said she wasn’t given an explanation but thinks “it was a point of emphasis in the Sweet 16 with jewelry.”

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“Just wish we would have known beforehand,” Ivey said. “Can’t control it so we had to move on.”

Hidalgo spent the first four-plus minutes of the second quarter at the end of the bench while members of the training staff worked to remove the stud. She didn’t check back into the game until there was 5:51 left in the second quarter.

Hidalgo was 2 of 4 in the first quarter. She was 2 of 13 the rest of the way, and her 10 points and four field goals tied her season lows.

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“It’s big,” Hildalgo said. “I’m on a run, I’m feeling good. To not (play) those five minutes and sit cold.”

Said Ivey, who was a point guard on Notre Dame’s 2001 national championship team, “Stoppage of play is never great when you're trying to have flow.”