From the opening tip, when Devereaux Peters broke loose for a layup five seconds into the game and converted a three-point play, it was another dominant performance by No. 2 Notre Dame.

“The tip play was huge. We have been trying to do that all year and we finally got it. That got everyone excited. It set the tone and everyone had energy,” Peters said yesterday after the Irish routed Villanova 76-43 for their 16th straight victory.

Peters singlehandedly outscored Villanova 17-16 in the first half — the Irish led 44-16 — and finished with 19 points. Skylar Diggins led the Irish with 20 and Notre Dame had only nine turnovers, while forcing 20 against the outmatched Wildcats.

Notre Dame (19-1) improved to 7-0 in the Big East, and won its fourth straight game by at least 20 points.

Next up for the Irish is No. 9 Tennessee on Monday night.

Rachel Roberts scored 14 points to lead Villanova (12-7, 2-4).

Yesterday’s highlights

No. 4 Stanford 65, Washington 47 — Nnemkadi Ogwumike scored 17 points, her sister, Chiney, had 15 points and 11 rebounds and Stanford (17-1, 8-0 Pac-12) beat Washington (10-7, 2-5).

No. 7 Rutgers 72, South Florida 66 — April Sykes had 23 points and 10 rebounds, Khadijah Rushdan scored 16 points, and Rutgers (16-3, 5-1 Big East) beat South Florida (11-9, 3-3).

Monique Oliver scored 14 points for the Scarlet Knights.

No. 12 Wisconsin-Green Bay 80, Cleveland State 58 — Julie Wojta scored 12 points and Wisconsin-Green Bay set a school record by improving to 17-0 with a victory over Cleveland State.

Sarah Eichler, Lydia Bauer and Stephanie Sension also scored 12 apiece for the Phoenix (7-0 Horizon League). Honesty King led Cleveland State (8-10, 3-4) with 19 points.

Mount Union 76, Otterbein 50 — Kori Wiedt scored 17 points to lead Mount Union (16-1, 9-1 Ohio Athletic Conference) past Otterbein for its 19th straight home victory. Kristi Kotterman led Otterbein (13-4, 7-3) with 17 points.

Wayne State 74, Ohio Dominican 70 — Paige Sickmiller scored 20 points to lead Wayne State (10-8, 5-6 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) past Ohio Dominican (6-11, 2-9).