Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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48 NOV. 23, 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BY LOU SOMOGYI S imilar to the men's basket- ball program last year, one feels compelled to put signs reading "Construction Zone" around the Purcell Pavilion basket- ball court when the 2019-20 Notre Dame women's basketball program takes the floor. Following a 74-63 loss at home to longtime power Tennessee Nov. 11, No. 15-ranked Notre Dame dropped a 72-69 decision to No. 16 Michigan State three days later at home. It marked the first time the Fight- ing Irish juggernaut had lost back- to-back games since November 2010, when it fell at home in double over- time to No. 15 UCLA (86-83) and then was defeated on the road by No. 9 Kentucky (81-76) — although at the end of the season the Irish would be- gin a run of advancing to seven Final Fours in nine years. The consecutive defeats to the Vol- unteers and Spartans also were the first time the Irish lost consecutive games at home since January 2008, when they fell to DePaul and No. 1 Connecticut. The non-conference slate in the next month won't lighten up with four more ranked teams, including a road outing versus UConn. Only six healthy bodies who arrived in col- lege on basketball scholarships will be ready for those games. "We're moving forward, we're a work in progress, we know what we have to work on, we knew coming in what we have to work on," Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw summarized following the defeat to Tennessee. "It's going to be like this all year long. … It's not going to get any easier for this team. "We just need experience, and we're getting it every game. We're going to take our lumps early. De- fensively we did some good things. … We've just got to figure out how to convert it." Three days later, the defeat to Michigan State tested McGraw's pa- tience far more. Standout Fighting Irish freshman Sam Brunelle — who scored 11 of her team-high 19 points in the fourth quar- ter — missed a three-point jumper in the closing seconds that could have put the game into overtime. Described by head coach Muffet McGraw as the team's "lone bright spot" in the contest, Brunelle con- verted a trey seconds earlier to pull the Fighting Irish within 70-69, but two free throws by Michigan State's Tryn McCutcheon with 9.7 seconds remaining forced Notre Dame to try to convert from deep, where it was outscored 24-9. Compounding the shooting woes was an 18-of-31 effort from the foul line, whereas the Spartans were 14 of 16. After committing only 12 turn- overs in the loss to the Volunteers, Notre Dame had 18 versus the Spar- tans and surrendered 20 offensive rebounds while losing that overall battle 39-30. "Outside of [Brunelle], we just beat ourselves," a frustrated McGraw CONSTRUCTION ZONE Back-to-back home losses reinforce inevitable growing pains Freshman Sam Brunelle has played well — she ranks second on the team in scoring (15.3 points per game) and is the top rebounder (6.3 boards per contest) — but the Fighting Irish suffered back-to-back setbacks for the first time since November 2010. PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER NOTRE DAME LANDS FIFTH COMMITMENT IN NO. 3-RANKED CLASS In dire need of getting the roster scholarship count up, Notre Dame signed five prospects during the early signing period Nov. 13-20, a quintet that Dan Olsen of ESPN HoopGurlz ranked No. 3 in the 2020 recruiting cycle, behind Oregon and Connecticut, which also signed five apiece. Shortly before the start of the signing period, Notre Dame's top-rated prospect left on the board was lost when Iowa point guard Caitlin Clark selected the home-state Hawkeyes over the Fighting Irish and Iowa State. She is rated the nation's No. 4 overall prospect by ESPN HoopGurlz, and is ranked No. 7 by Prospects Nation. Head coach Muffet McGraw's staff did pick up a rare fifth commitment in this class when 6-2 forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim from St. Francis High in Marietta, Ga., was a late addition after taking an official visit to the Notre Dame campus earlier this fall. Although an under-the-radar recruit because she is neither in ESPN's or Prospects Nation's top 100, Abdur-Rahim comes from a strong basketball family with eight brothers and four sisters. One brother, Shareef, was an NBA All-Star while playing in the league from 1996-2008, and another, Amir, is the men's head coach at Kennesaw State. The other four had the following ratings by ESPN HoopGurlz: • No. 23 Madeline Westbeld, a 6-2 wing from Fairmont High in Kettering, Ohio. The younger sister of 2018 national champion Kathryn Westbeld also is ranked No. 27 by Prospects Nation. • No. 25 Allison Campbell, a 5-11 guard from Bellwood-Antis High in Altoona, Pa. She has led her school to consecutive 2A state titles, and is also ranked No. 21 nationally by Prospects Nation. • No. 32 Natalija Marshall, a 6-5 forward from Christ The King School in Queens, N.Y., which has pro- duced a plethora of college stars. She is also ranked No. 19 by Prospects Nation. • No. 44 Alasia Hayes, a 5-7 point guard from Riverdale High in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Interestingly, she is not in Prospect Nation's top 100. Look for more on the recruiting class in the next edition. — Lou Somogyi