Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/462058
BY LOU SOMOGYI J unior Jewell Loyd has become the face of Notre Dame women's basketball, but the voice has be- come sophomore point guard Lindsay Allen. From the reticent and overshadowed freshman starting point guard on the 37-1 team last year, to the assertive, confident leader on this year's No. 4 Fighting Irish, the often underrated Allen has been mak- ing her points consistently with team- mates and coaches — while also tallying them with greater and consistent regular- ity on the hardwood. With three graduated seniors and con- sensus All-American Loyd in last sea- son's starting lineup, the freshman Allen was still far from the "fifth wheel" in the arsenal. She led the Atlantic Coast Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (plus-2.24 per game), set a Notre Dame freshman record in assists (150) and had 28 games with zero to two turnovers in the ultra efficient and productive attack. She also accepted that her job was to be seen (she started all 38 games) and not necessarily heard. "We knew she had it in her, but she just didn't bring it out as much as a fresh- man," head coach Muffet McGraw said of the former McDonald's All-Ameri- can's reluctance to say or direct too much. "Last year, I was much more passive because we had so many great scorers and leaders around me. My mindset was just to take care of the ball and be a distributor," Allen said. "This year the mindset is to be more aggressive." Her job as a distributor remains intact with her 123 assists, 41 more than any- one else on the squad. It's her leader- ship that can't be quantified with raw data. "Pretty much all the communication and all those duties that were assigned to Natalie Achonwa and Kaila McBride last year, she took that on," said Irish as- sistant coach Niele Ivey, the point guard for the 2001 national champs. "We prepared her for that this sum- mer, and she has taken it in stride. She knew she needed to be that vocal leader we were missing this year." Because there isn't a senior in the starting lineup and five of the top play- ers in the rotation are freshmen and sophomores, Allen's new role had to be assumed quickly. "I'm more comfortable with that, es- pecially with this team because we're so young," Allen said. "Anybody is wel- come to talk on the floor, in the huddle, but as a point guard it's just my role to talk about what I'm seeing, what the defense is doing and how I can counter that. THE VOICE Sophomore Lindsay Allen has become a crucial leader and third scorer