Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/651219
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL year for at least three reasons: junior All‑American guard Jewell Loyd's early exodus to the pros, starting for‑ ward Taya Reimer's departure in De‑ cember (she will transfer to another school at the end of the spring semes‑ ter) and freshman point guard Ali Pat‑ berg's season‑ending knee surgery in October. "This is not our best team in the last five years, so for us to be where we are right now, we've overachieved to get here," said McGraw, who earned the ACC Coach of the Year award from both the media and her peers. "… We've exceeded my expectations — which is hard to do. We have found different ways to win games. "They don't care who gets the credit; they just want to win." For McGraw, the crucial turning point occurred in mid‑December when sophomore post player Brianna Turner, who had missed six straight games and was contemplating season‑ ending shoulder surgery, opted to re‑ turn and play with a shoulder harness. "When she said she's coming back, everybody just exploded," McGraw said of the ACC coaches' league MVP. After running the ACC table with a 16‑0 regular‑season league record, Notre Dame then became the first pro‑ gram in the conference to win three consecutive ACC Tournament cham‑ pionships since North Carolina from Three-Point Play 1. Hannah's Rise — In the same way that Madison Cable was the "sixth starter" last season, senior Hannah Huffman has taken on that role for the Irish in the past month. In the three ACC Tournament games she played 23, 22 and 25 minutes off the bench — and was on the floor in the tighter moments the last two contests. She is not the shooter or scorer Cable is, but the Irish have plenty of others who excel in that capacity. Huffman's defense, rebounding (19 in the three-game tournament), hustle, ability to handle the ball in the backcourt, and play and defend most anyone at any position, have made her a valued utility figure. 2. Balanced Perspective — Seven Notre Dame players average anywhere from 7.0 to sophomore post Brianna Turner's team-high 14.3 points per game. The others were fifth-year senior wing Cable (13.7), freshman guards Arike Ogunbowale (11.7) and Marina Mabrey (10.6), junior point guard Lindsay Allen (8.9), sophomore forward Kathryn Westbeld (8.0) and senior captain Michaela Mabrey (7.0). Allen was the only in the group not to lead the team in scoring at least once, but she manifested the team's selfless play collectively with her facilitating the offense and leading the ACC in assists (5.7 per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.4). It is the same Allen who had 28- and 23-point outputs last year in NCAA Tournament wins versus Stanford and Baylor, respectively, but sacrifices for the team's greater good. 3. Coaches' Choice: Brianna Turner — While Louisville's Myisha Hines-Allen was named the MVP of the ACC by the Blue Ribbon staff, the 15 league coaches selected Turner for the award. Although Turner leads the team in scoring (14.3 points per game) and rebounding (7.0 boards per contest), it's her league-high 3.1 blocked shots per game — and numerous others she alters — that have the more profound impact. — Lou Somogyi