Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/388723
ND SPORTS BY LOU SOMOGYI Y ou know you're one of the elite women's basketball programs in the country when you just graduated the WNBA's No. 3 (Kayla McBride) and No. 9 (Natalie Achonwa) overall picks last spring — yet still have six McDon- ald's All-Americans on your 2014-15 roster. That pipeline of consis- tent excellence continued Sept. 16 when Notre Dame secured its first verbal commitment in the 2016 recruiting cycle from 6-2 junior forward Erin Boley of Hodgenville, Ky. A day earlier, Boley had received an in-home visit from Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw and assistant Niele Ivey. That was the follow-up to Boley's unofficial visit to Notre Dame's opening football game versus Rice on Labor Day weekend. Ranked as the No. 7 overall player nationally in the junior class by All-Star Girls Report and No. 9 by ESPNHoopGurlz, Boley selected the Irish over the Connecticut dynasty, in-state powers Kentucky and Lou- isville, and perennial Final Four con- tenders Stanford and Tennessee. Notre Dame has been on its own marvelous Final Four run by advanc- ing there each of the past four seasons, including the championship game in 2011, 2012 and 2014, and posting a siz- zling 72-3 record the last two seasons, including 58 straight regu- lar-season and conference tournament victories. In her sophomore sea- son last year, Boley was named the Kentucky Ga- torade Player of the Year while leading Elizabeth- town High to a 32-5 record and a spot in the state title game by averaging 20.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 2.1 steals per game. She shot 54.5 percent from the floor, 43.9 percent (43 of 98) from three-point land and 84.6 percent from the foul line. As a freshman for a 23-8 team, Boley averaged 17.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. She also carries a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. Boley is the first player in McGraw's 2016 class. The 2015 class, which is scheduled to sign during the early signing period in November, is com- prised of guards Ali Patberg and Ma- rina Mabrey. The 5-9 Patberg from Columbus, Women's Basketball Lands 2016 Top-10 Recruit Erin Boley Boley was named the Kentucky G a t o r a d e P l a y e r o f t h e Year last year after leading Elizabethtown High to a 32-5 record and a spot in the state title game by averaging 20.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 2.1 steals per game. PHOTO COURTESY THE BOLEY FAMILY