Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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gins had to nurture. She brought out the best in her teammates while directing the squad on the court. This year's team has benefited from last season's school-record 30-game winning streak. It is a more veteran and deeper team, especially with sophomore Michaela Mabrey, junior Madison Cable and freshman Taya Reimer (last year's McDonald's Player of the Year) coming off the bench with confidence, consis- tency and production. The roles are also well defined for two other starters, freshman point guard Lindsay Allen and senior forward Ariel Braker. Allen led the team in assists (84), while Braker handled the unglamor- ous grunt work on the boards, setting screens, etc. A pre-med major, Allen needs to con- tinue to be an ideal prescription for the squad once postseason action arrives. "She's really coachable, she's steady, she knows who to get the ball to her teammates … her pace is always good," McGraw said. "We threw a lot at her, and she's handled it really well, prob- ably better than I anticipated. She's surrounded by veteran players, which makes it so much easier for her." The balance remains, led by Loyd's 17.7 points per game and McBride's 17.0, with Achonwa at 14.2. Achonwa's 7.8 rebounds per game pace the team, but especially notable is how guards Loyd and McBride are hauling in 6.0 and 5.6 boards per game to trigger the fast break. That has enabled the Irish to lead the nation in field goal percentage (.518) and three-point percentage (.436) while ranking second in assists (21.8 per game), behind only UConn. "[McBride and Loyd] are the reason we have been playing so well this year, because they're very hard to guard," McGraw said. "And when they rebound and put it on the floor and go, our attack in transition is so much better and so much harder to guard. "When we're rebounding, that's really what makes us better. We're throwing the ball ahead a little more than we did last year." RESERVE STRENGTH The Irish bench by itself could be a Freshman point guard Lindsay Allen dished out a team-best 84 assists in Notre Dame's first 23 contests. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND