Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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WOMEN'S BASKEBALL the Irish have assembled a top‑five harvest, thanks also to the work of as‑ sistant coach/recruiting coordinator Niele Ivey, associate coach Beth Cun‑ ningham and associate coach Carol Owens. All-Star Girls Report and Prospects Nation both have the group as the No. 3 class nationally, and it is listed No. 4 by Blue Star Basketball and No. 5 by espnW HoopGurlz/Dan Ol- son Collegiate Girls Basketball Report. "Kids see us on TV, and it looks like a fun place to play," said McGraw, whose team is ranked No. 3 in this year's first Associated Press poll. "Our style is really up‑tempo, and they like that. The chemistry on our team is tre‑ mendous, and I think that really helps us too." Especially gratifying to McGraw is even with six McDonald's All‑Amer‑ icans on the current roster (including all five starters), ego problems have not infiltrated the program. "The girls want to fit in, they're such team players, they're so unself‑ ish … usually they defer to the upper‑ classmen," she said. "We really have to work a little bit harder to try to get them to make an impact immediately. "That's something we work on as soon as they get here." THE SIGNEES Marina Mabrey • 5‑11 guard Belmar, N.J. (Manasquan High School) National Rankings: No. 7 in class of 2015 by Pros- pects Nation, No. 8 by Blue Star Basketball, No. 11 by All-Star Girls Report and No. 26 (five-star player) by espnW HoopGurlz/Dan Olson Collegiate Girls Basketball Report. Statistics: In 79 high school games through three years, she averaged 21.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.8 2015 NOTRE DAME SIGNEES Name Pos. Ht. Hometown (High School) Marina Mabrey G 5-11 Belmar, N.J. (Manasquan) Arike Ogunbowale G 5-9 Milwaukee (Divine Savior Holy Angels) Ali Patberg G 5-10 Columbus, Ind. (Columbus North) Ali Patberg, a 5‑10 point guard from Columbus, Ind., is tabbed as the No. 14 overall recruit nation‑ ally by espnW HoopGurlz. PHOTO COURTESY COLUMBUS REPUBLIC