Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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54 APRIL 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BY LOU SOMOGYI D uring its Selection Show for women's college basketball March 12, ESPN used some creative license to label Notre Dame's 2017-18 campaign as a "Mir- ACL-e Season." To them, you can't spell miracle without ACL, which sidelined four Notre Dame players — senior forward Brianna Turner, senior point guards Mychal Johnson and Lili Thomp- son, and freshman forward Mikayla Vaughn — before the turn of the New Year, and even as far back as last March for Turner. Nevertheless, for the seventh con- secutive season head coach Muffet Mc- Graw's Fighting Irish earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament on the strength of a 29-3 regular season, a fifth straight ACC regular-season title and the No. 1-rated strength of schedule. Also notable, Notre Dame defeated nine ranked opponents along the way — second most in the country. Seven of those ranked wins were away from home, which led the coun- try, and 15 total wins came versus teams among the top 50 in the RPI — which also paced the nation. To the Fighting Irish players, it wasn't anything miraculous but busi- ness as usual. The standards don't change even if the roster does. "For us, it wasn't about what we didn't have, it was about what we did have," said junior forward Jessica Shepard, who had to overcome her own ACL injury as a prep senior. "You look at our starting five, you look at the two subs who come off the bench, and it's a tough matchup for any team." Junior guard Arike Ogunbowale — named a second-team All-American by both USA Today and espnW — paced the Irish in scoring with a 20.2 average, followed by Shepard (15.0 and a team-high 7.9 rebounds per con- test), while junior Marina Mabrey and sophomore Jackie Young, who round out the backcourt, each averaged 14.2. Ogunbowale, Shepard and Mabrey earned All-ACC honors, and Young could have just as easily while also finishing second on the team in re- bounds per game (6.3) and assists (117). Senior forward Kathryn Westbeld was the glue figure with 7.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Coming off the bench are fifth-year senior Kristina Nelson and freshman Danielle Patterson, both in the front- court, to round out the seven scholar- ship players. That's the same amount Notre Dame had when it advanced to its initial Final Four in 1997. As a top-four seed, Notre Dame was slated to host the first two games in the 64-team NCAA Tournament Business As Usual Notre Dame earned the No. 1 seed in the Spokane Regional The Fighting Irish claimed a No. 1 seed for the seventh straight year and eighth time overall after post- ing a 29-3 record and their fifth straight ACC title during the regular season. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND 2017-18 NOTRE DAME WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Nov. 1 Indiana (Pa.)! W, 108-40 Nov. 11 Mount. St. Mary's W, 121-65 Nov. 14 at Western Kentucky W, 78-65 Nov. 19 at Oregon State W, 72-67 Nov. 24 vs. East Tennessee State# W, 77-46 Nov. 25 vs. South Florida# W, 76-66 Nov. 26 vs. South Carolina# W, 92-85 Nov. 29 at Michigan& W, 83-63 Dec. 3 at Connecticut% L, 80-71 Dec. 6 Michigan State W, 90-59 Dec. 9 Penn W, 66-54 Dec. 17 DePaul W, 91-82 Dec. 20 Marquette W, 91-85 (OT) Dec. 28 Syracuse W, 87-72 Dec. 31 at Wake Forest W, 96-73 Jan. 4 Miami* W, 83-76 Jan. 7 at Georgia Tech* W, 77-54 Jan. 11 at Louisville* L, 100-67 Jan. 14 Boston College* W, 89-60 Jan. 18 Tennessee W, 84-70 Jan. 21 Clemson* W, 90-37 Jan. 25 at Pittsburgh* W, 87-53 Jan. 28 at Florida State* W, 100-69 Feb. 1 North Carolina* W, 94-62 Feb. 4 at Duke* W, 72-54 Feb. 11 Georgia Tech* W, 85-69 Feb. 15 at Virginia* W, 83-69 Feb. 18 at Boston College* W, 89-55 Feb. 22 Virginia Tech* W, 89-59 Feb. 25 NC State* W, 86-67 Mar. 2 vs. Virginia^ W, 83-47 Mar. 3 vs. Florida State^ W, 90-80 Mar. 4 vs. Louisville^ L, 74-72 Mar. 16 vs. Cal State Northridge$ (ESPN2) 5 p.m. Mar. 18 vs. South Dakota State/Villanova TBD ! Exhibition; # Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla.; & ACC-Big Ten Challenge; % Jimmy V Women's Clas- sic; * ACC game; ^ ACC Tournament at Greensboro, N.C.; $ NCAA Tournament at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend