Blue and Gold Illustrated

Oct. 22, 2022

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 22, 2022 57 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL — and it's definitely not far-fetched. The 5-foot-11 Bransford averaged 21.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.3 steals per game as a senior at Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame High School. "Even though she's so young, she's so talented," Citron said. "I'm so excited to see what she does this season." A shade less than 12 points per game is a lofty yet attainable expectation for Bransford. For Ebo and Watson to combine for that — again — is attain- able. Those two players are in entirely different situations now. The Texas and Oregon rosters were loaded with post players that made playing time hard to come by. Notre Dame has nine scholar- ship players, and Ebo and Watson — both standing at 6-foot-4 — are the only can- didates to compete for serious playing time at the five. Former five-star Natalija Marshall has had too much of a history with injuries to be in that conversation. Watson was a five-star recruit and a McDonald's All-American in her own right. Citron said she has "an insane motor." The Linwood, N.J., native never got off the ground as a vital piece to the Oregon program. Being a potential starter out of the gates at Notre Dame could be the boost she needs to take off. "Me and Ebo and everyone else that came in, we're each going to bring our own style of game," Watson said. "We're going to do the things we can control. We're going to do the little things but also be the big presence that Notre Dam needs. Just play really hard for our teammates. "Obviously, our guard situation is pretty good. We want to be able to help by elevating our games." Elevation is what Ivey is looking for. Despite exactly half of last year's schol- arship players (five of 10) returning for this season, Ivey said the Notre Dame standard has not changed. It hangs over her head every day — literally. There are two national championship banners in the Purcell Pavilion rafters, and she was a part of the first one (2001) as a player and the second one (2018) as a coach. Players resonate with that no matter if they joined the program over the summer like Watson, Ebo, Brown and Bransford, or three summers ago like Westbeld. You don't sign on at Notre Dame out of high school or transfer in from an- other university without embracing expectations. But there is a difference between aspiring for them and actually reaching them. Ivey yearns for her group to accom- plish the latter. "I'm always pulling for more," Ivey said. "I'm always trying to push them be- yond what they think they can do. If they think we're there, we're not even close to being there. I know how hard it is. "That's what I'm trying to pull out of them by challenging them at all times to be their best." ✦ 2022-23 NOTRE DAME WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET) Oct. 31 Truman State# TBA Nov. 7 Northern Illinois TBA Nov. 12 vs. California+ (NBC) 4 p.m. Nov. 16 at Northwestern TBA Nov. 20 Ball State TBA Nov. 24 vs. American^ TBA Nov. 25/26 vs. Arizona State^ TBA Dec. 1 Maryland% TBA Nov. 4 Connecticut! TBA Dec. 8: Lafayette TBA Dec. 10 Merrimack TBA Dec. 18 at Virginia Tech* TBA Dec. 21 Western Michigan TBA Dec. 29 at Miami* TBA Jan. 1 Boston College* TBA Jan. 8 at North Carolina* TBA Jan. 12 Wake Forest* TBA Jan. 15 at Syracuse* TBA Jan. 19 at Clemson* TBA Jan. 22 Virginia* TBA Jan. 26 Florida State* TBA Jan 29 at North Carolina State* TBA Feb. 2 at Boston College* TBA Feb. 5 Duke* TBA Feb. 9 Pittsburgh* TBA Feb. 12 Syracuse* TBA Feb. 16 Louisville* TBA Feb. 19 at Pittsburgh* TBA Feb. 23 Georgia Tech* TBA Feb. 26 at Louisville* TBA March 1-5 ACC Tournament$ TBA # Exhibition; + Shamrock Classic in St. Louis; ^ Goombay Splash at Bimini, Bahamas; % ACC/Big Ten Challenge; ! Women's Jimmy V Classic; * ACC game; $ at Greensboro, N.C. 2022-23 NOTRE DAME WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ROSTER No. Name Pos. Ht. Cl. Hometown (High School) 0 Jenna Brown G 5-10 Gr. Atlanta (The Lovett School) 1 Dara Mabrey G 5-7 Gr. Belmar, N.J. (Manasquan) 2 Trinity Cha G 5-5 Jr. Irvine, Calif. (Crean Lutheran) 5 Olivia Miles G 5-10 So. Phillipsburg, N.J. (Blair Academy) 11 Sonia Citron G 6-1 So. Eastchester, N.Y. (The Ursuline School) 14 KK Bransford G 5-11 Fr. Cincinnati (Mount Notre Dame) 15 Natalija Marshall F 6-5 Jr. Queens, N.Y. (Christ the King) 20 Lauren Zwetzig G 5-9 Jr. Fort Collins, Colo. (Fossil Ridge) 21 Maddy Westbeld F 6-3 Jr. Kettering, Ohio (Fairmont) 22 Kylee Watson F 6-4 Jr. Linwood, N.J. (Mainland) 25 Sarah Cernugel G 5-4 Jr. Westmont, Ill. (Hinsdale Central) 33 Lauren Ebo C 6-4 Gr. Washington D.C. (Riverdale Baptist) Sophomore point guard Olivia Miles is one of four returning starters back to lead the Irish this season. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS

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