Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Diggins is the only player in Notre Dame basketball history, male or female, to register 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 500 assists and 300 steals in their career, and one of only six NCAA Division I women's basketball players since 1999-2000 to reach those impressive marks. photo by joe raymond when the hometown superstar decides to cast her lot elsewhere. Land her, and the impact can reverberate for years. The date Nov. 19, 2008 became a defining, pivotal moment in the program's history when Diggins indeed selected the hometown Irish over Stanford and Penn State. Upon Diggins' arrival the following season, McGraw could appreciate once again what the significant difference was between liking to win or hating to lose. The Notre Dame program liked to win — but Diggins abhorred the mere thought of losing. The attitude she infused became a program-changer. As a freshman, she let the seniors lead while the Irish posted their best record (29-6) in eight years before losing in overtime to Oklahoma in the Sweet 16. She paced the team in scoring with a 13.8 average as a freshman, but it was in the closing stages of her sophomore year that Diggins' full impact began to be felt. "She's the fiercest competitor I've ever seen," McGraw reflected prior to this year's Final Four, the third straight by the Irish. "Driven, hates to lose — hates to lose in a [practice] drill. If she does it wrong, she wants to do it again. I've never seen anybody like her. "She believes in holding people accountable, and that's a great trait for a team to have, to be accountable for