Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME ✦ GIMME FIVE Junior All‑American guard Jewell Loyd stunned the Notre Dame com‑ munity this month with the decision to turn pro rather than return for her senior year, when the Irish were pro‑ jected to close the gap on the Con‑ necticut dynasty and again challenge for the national title. After this year's regular season, fol‑ lowed by repeating the ACC champi‑ onship, Loyd averaged 20.5 points per game — which at the time was a single‑season school record. How‑ ever, Loyd shot only 29.2 percent (28 of 96) from the floor in the last five NCAA Tournament games, and often forced ill‑advised shots. She had con‑ verted 47.1 percent from the field prior to the slump. Overall, Loyd's 772 points this sea‑ son were the second most in the pro‑ gram's 38‑year history — four behind forward Katryna Gaither's 776 during Notre Dame's first Final Four cam‑ paign in 1996‑97. Here are the top five single‑season scoring averages for the Irish wom‑ en's basketball program: Name (Year) Scoring Avg. 1. Katryna Gaither (1996‑97) 20.4 2. Beth Morgan (1995‑96) 20.2 3. Jewell Loyd (2014‑15) 19.79 4. Katryna Gaither (1995‑96) 19.77 5. Trena Keys (1985‑86) 19.6 NOTRE DAME TO HOST BALL STATE IN 2018 Notre Dame and Ball State University have agreed to meet in football for the first time, at Notre Dame Stadium on Sept. 8, 2018. The one‑game meeting with the in‑state Cardinals, located in Muncie, Ind., will mark the second consecutive season the Fighting Irish will play a Mid‑American Conference foe. On Sept. 30, 2017, they will host Miami (Ohio), currently coached by 2010‑13 Notre Dame assistant Chuck Martin. The first time the Irish played a MAC member when it was an actual member of the conference was Western Michigan in 2010. Notre Dame also will play current MAC member Massachusetts on Sept. 26, 2015, but this will be the final season for the Minutemen in the league. Ball State has had or has Notre Dame ties in its administration. Bill Scholl was the Cardinals' director of athletics from 2012‑14, after serving 23 years at Notre Dame, and is now director of athletics/vice president at Marquette University. Brian Hardin, the football media relations director at Notre Dame from 2006‑13, is deputy athletics director at Ball State. Notre Dame has its full schedules completed through 2016, and Ball State is the 10th opponent for the Irish in 2018. That means two more regular‑season games need to be added. The other dates for 2018, including the five required Atlantic Coast Conference opponents, are: Sept. 8 Ball State Nov. 3 at Northwestern Sept. 22 Syracuse Nov. 10 Florida State Oct. 13 at Virginia Tech Nov. 17 at Wake Forest Oct. 20 Pitt Nov. 24 at USC Oct. 27 vs. Navy (site TBA) TBA Stanford In other scheduling news, the San Diego Bowl Game Association, which puts together the Holiday and Poinsettia Bowls, reportedly is trying to host a Notre Dame‑Navy game in either 2016 or 2018 at Qualcomm Stadium. Navy is the "host" team in even‑numbered years, and in recent years that game has been played in Landover, Md.; Baltimore; Dublin, Ireland; East Rutherford, N.J.; Philadelphia; and Orlando, Fla. The United States Navy has a huge presence in San Diego, and the Midshipmen have played in the Poinsettia Bowl (held in San Diego) four times since 2005. Notre Dame has never played in San Diego. One concern for the Irish might be taking two long West Coast trips during the season. However, the last time Notre Dame did that it didn't turn out so bad. During its 3‑9 season in 2007, two of the wins were in California, 20‑6 versus UCLA in Pasadena's Rose Bowl and 21‑14 at Stanford in the finale. MOVING? Let our customer service department know your new address! CALL US 1-800-421-7751