Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/616353
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL A rehabilitation program was set in place for Turner, and reportedly a po- tential return for the Dec. 21 game at St. Joseph's, McGraw's alma mater, is the target. Then on Dec. 12, McGraw revealed prior to the game at TCU that junior forward Taya Reimer, one of the team captains, would not return the rest of the 2015-16 season for "personal rea- sons." Shortly thereafter, Notre Dame's athletics communications associate di- rector Chris Masters tweeted out that "Taya remains a student-athlete in good standing and on scholarship at Notre Dame." Whether Reimer opts to return to Notre Dame as solely a student for the second semester in January, or transfer elsewhere, is the next question to be answered in the coming weeks. Hampered significantly by an Achil- les injury she incurred as a member of Team USA during this summer 's Pan-Am Games, Reimer was unable to practice much of the preseason and averaged only 18.6 minutes in the five games she appeared in (one start) prior to the contest with the Horned Frogs. Three nights earlier in a 95-90 shoot- out win against No. 18 DePaul, Reimer played 16 minutes and contributed four points and three rebounds. Afterwards, McGraw indicated that the goal was to get Reimer "about four minutes a quar- ter" (women's basketball now features four 10-minute quarters) while she tries to rest and recuperate from her injury. However, Reimer did not make the trip to TCU, just like she didn't travel with the Irish to No. 1 UConn a week earlier. Last January, Reimer temporarily left the team a first time for "personal rea- sons." She returned a week later and played the rest of the season, finishing the campaign by averaging 10.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game for an Irish team that lost to UConn 63-53 in the national title game. Consequently, much of the onus inside has fallen on 6-2 sophomore Kathryn Westbeld, who has started all 10 games. At TCU, Westbeld scored 12 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out four assists, and now has virtually the identical averages — 10.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game — that Reimer did last season. EXCELLENCE REMAINS Amidst all the setbacks, the 9-1 Fighting Irish still entered their Dec. 21 game at St. Joseph's ranked No. 3 in the country while defeating three ranked teams in a span of four games. • In Freeport, Bahamas, over Thanks- giving weekend, Notre Dame defeated rising power UCLA 92-84 in overtime to capture the Junkanoo Jam. • Versus No. 10 Ohio State at home Dec. 2, Notre Dame rallied in the clos- ing minute to win 75-72. Despite the absence of their top two inside play- ers, Notre Dame finished with a 45-34 rebounding advantage, highlighted by a 19-8 advantage on the offensive glass — seven of them by senior Hannah Huffman in her second career start. She had nine caroms overall. "That was the difference in the game," said Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff, an assistant for Irish