Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/396685
BY LOU SOMOGYI F or the second year in a row, there is not a returning player on the Notre Dame women's basketball roster who knows anything less than what it is to finish the season in the Final Four. All signs point to keeping it that way in years to come. While playing in the shadow of a col- lege sports dynasty, Notre Dame will make another bid to thwart overwhelm- ing national title favorite Connecticut from a third straight crown and its 10th since 1995. Sporting News has the Fight- ing Irish ranked No. 2 in the preseason poll, while Lindy's has them No. 3. Despite graduating All-American guard Kayla McBride (No. 3 pick in the WNBA Draft), center Natalie Achonwa (No. 9 pick, and also the operations specialist at Notre Dame) and forward Ariel Braker (now an assistant coach at Wayne State), Notre Dame boasts six McDonald's All-Americans that will be guided by Hall of Fame head coach Muffet McGraw, now entering her 28th season with the program. The Irish have advanced to the Final Four each of the last four seasons, and the national championship game three times. They were eliminated the last two times by the UConn buzz saw, first in a de facto title game in the national semifi- nals in 2013 (83-65) and then last season (79-58) when the two unbeaten teams squared off in the final. Currently boasting a 52-game regular- season winning streak — not including winning the Big East championship in 2013 and the ACC championship in 2014 — the Irish were 37-1 last season and 107-7 the past three years. BUSINESS AS USUAL Reloading Irish shoot for fifth straight Final Four 2014-15 NOTRE DAME ROSTER No. Name Pos. Ht. Yr. 3 Whitney Holloway G 5-4 Sr. 11 Brianna Turner F 6-3 Fr. 12 Taya Reimer F 6-3 So. 14 Mychal Johnson G 5-8 Fr. 15 Lindsay Allen G 5-7 So. 21 Kristina Nelson F 6-3 So. 22 Madison Cable G 5-11 Sr. 23 Michaela Mabrey F 5-10 Jr. 24 Hannah Huffman G 5-9 Jr. 32 Jewell Loyd G 5-10 Jr. 33 Kathryn Westbeld F 6-2 Fr. 34 Markisha Wright F 6-2 Sr. 35 Diamond Thompson C 6-4 So.