Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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40 SUMMER 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA N otre Dame women's basketball needed an early offseason distrac- tion — a positive distraction, that is. Not a negative one. The Fighting Irish got it in the form of a WNBA preseason game featuring three Notre Dame alumnae held at Purcell Pavilion May 2. Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings went head-to-head against Jackie Young and Jewell Loyd of the Las Vegas Aces on the floor where all of them created so many fond memories, cementing themselves as legends of a legendary program. The Aces won, 112-78, and the Notre Dame duo combined for 38 points. Ogunbowale scored 5. But even at something as wholesome and heartwarmingly nostalgic as their reunion was, it was also accompanied by a sour look into the current state of the program they left behind. It isn't nearly as yearned for and celebrated as it was when Loyd, Ogunbowale and Young were taking Notre Dame to a national championship. Between them, they played in four title games. Former Irish and current TCU point guard Olivia Miles and rising Notre Dame junior Hannah Hidalgo were seen contentiously conversing in the opening of one of the Joyce Center's arena tun- nels before the game. What was said will remain between them (and rising Notre Dame senior guard Cassandre Prosper and a policeman who came in to break the interaction up, but that's neither here nor there). What matters is that Miles and Hi- dalgo were on the cover of Slam Maga- zine and made up the starting backcourt duo for the No. 1 team in the country just a few months ago. Now, after an- other Sweet 16 exit for the Irish in a year that screamed Final Four for so long, Miles is ending her college career in Fort Worth, Texas, and who knows what players Hidalgo is finishing hers with in South Bend over the next two years. Prosper is one of just a handful of teammates Hidalgo can currently call her own. Four scholarship players (Miles, graduate student center Kylee Watson, junior guard Emma Risch and sophomore center Kate Koval) from the 2024-25 Notre Dame roster left via the transfer portal. Three (Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld and Liatu King) were selected in the WNBA Draft. Two (Liza Karlen and Sarah Cernugel) exhausted their collegiate eligibility. The Irish only signed one fresh- man (forward Leah Macy) from the class of 2025 and took in just three transfer portal players (Wake For- est forward Malaya Cowles, Kan- sas State forward Gisela Sanchez and Duke guard Vanessa de Jesus). That adds up to Hidalgo plus half a dozen others who are set to join her in South Bend this summer as it stands in early May. Seven scholarship players. Listening to head coach Niele Ivey on a late-April episode of the "Wake Up The Echoes" podcast, though, you'd never guess the situation to be so dire. She made it sound the opposite. "It's a blank canvas, and I'm really ex- cited to be able to create a masterpiece for next season," Ivey said. "Just having new pieces, new additions. The players that we're bringing in right now, they're so motivated. … They want to win. They want to be a part of something special, and they know that's something we're going to build." Assistant coach Carlos Knox was equally optimistic on the same podcast episode. "Being in the foxhole with our staff, the people that we work with every day, it's fun coming up with the solu- tions and what you need to do," he said. "When you talk about the future for us, I feel like we have excellent leadership and once everything settles down we'll be in a space where we're ready to com- pete and continue this thing. "We have the resources. We have the support. We have the Notre Dame brand. And we have an excellent leader in Niele Ivey." The Irish are currently in a spot where you can look at the falling out between Miles and Hidalgo and speculate, scoff and scorn, or listen to Ivey and Knox and support, sympathize and stay strong. Both sides are bound to have backers. ✦ One May Night In South Bend Sheds Light On Past, Present And Future WOMEN'S B A S K E T B A L L With a roster in transition, the Fighting Irish will build their 2025-26 team around rising junior point guard Hannah Hidalgo. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Notre Dame Adds Three Players From Transfer Portal In April The number of players who jumped ship from Notre Dame in April was almost met with the same exact number coming in. The Fighting Irish signed three portal players after bidding farewell to four. Wake Forest forward Malaya Cowles, Kansas State forward Gisela Sanchez and Duke guard Vanessa de Jesus will all play for Notre Dame in 2025-26 as graduate transfers. Cowles averaged 8.8 points and 5.1 rebounds in 28 games in 2024-25, 16 of which she started, this past season. Those averages were both career-high totals. Sanchez played in 27 games without any starts for the Wildcats. She averaged 15.4 minutes of time on the floor and put up 4.2 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. A four-year staple of the Duke program even if not ever a superstar, de Jesus played in 102 games for the Blue Devils with 18 starts. In 16.4 minutes of playing time across her career so far, she's averaged 4.4 points, 2.0 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game. — Tyler Horka