ND Women's BB '14

[BGIF]

Johnson pass stolen for ND's 20th turnover.

 

[BGIF]

WOW!

NCS's Barrett, a senior with a knee injury, was put in with under a minute to play on Senior Day and Muffet pulled back the defense letting Barrett make an unopposed trey for a feel good memory.

 

[Booslum31]

WOW!

NCS's Barrett, a senior with a knee injury, was put in with under a minute to play on Senior Day and Muffet pulled back the defense letting Barrett make an unopposed trey for a feel good memory.

That's some good stuff right there...Thanks BGIF

 

[BGIF]

Final ND 67 NCS 60

Final ND 67 NCS 60

ND
STAT TOTAL
Points 67
Field Goals 27-50, 54.0%
Free Throws 7-9, 77.8%
3-Pointers 6-16, 37.5%
Off. Rebounds 7
Def. Rebounds 29
Total Rebounds 36
Assists 16
Steals 9
Blocks 3
P. Fouls 16
T. Fouls 0
Turnovers 21

NCS
STAT TOTAL
Points 60
Field Goals 23-60, 38.3%
Free Throws 10-14, 71.4%
3-Pointers 4-20, 20.0%
Off. Rebounds 11
Def. Rebounds 16
Total Rebounds 27
Assists 6
Steals 9
Blocks 1
P. Fouls 13
T. Fouls 0
Turnovers

 

[Redbar]

WOW!

NCS's Barrett, a senior with a knee injury, was put in with under a minute to play on Senior Day and Muffet pulled back the defense letting Barrett make an unopposed trey for a feel good memory.

There is no one in the world that I would prefer at Notre Dame, and if my daughter were a basketball player, there is no one that I would rather coach and lead her!

 

[BGIF]

Ind Stats

Ind Stats

ND

ON COURT          PTS REB AST PF
Jewell Loyd	16	5	1	3
Taya Reimer	10	5	2	1
Lindsay Allen	8	5	6	3
WhitHolloway	0	0	0	0
Mychal Johnson	0	0	0	1
BENCH             PTS REB AST PF
Madison Cable	12	2	2	3
Brianna Turner	8	5	1	3
Kat Westbeld	7	4	2	1
Mich Mabrey	4	4	1	0
Hanna Huffman	2	0	1	0
Kristina Nelson	0	0	0	0
Mark Wright	0	0	0	1

NCS

ON COURT     PTS REB AST PF
Ashley Williams	0	1	1	0
Chelsea Nelson	3	2	1	3
Dom Wilson	15	5	1	1
Jen Mathurin	3	4	2	2
Kaley Moser	0	0	0	0
BENCH          PTS REB AST PF
Len'N Brown	16	2	1	2
Miah Spencer	12	2	0	0
Akela Maize	8	5	0	3
Krystal Barrett	3	0	0	0
C Schuhmacher	0	3	0	2

 

[BGIF]

Yesterday #3 Baylor lost to unranked ISU, their second consectutive loss.

Today #8 UL lost by 16 to unranked UVA and #12 A&M trailing by 17 with 0:42 to play will lose to unranked LSU.

 

[BGIF]

ND had 21 turnovers but only 4 were by bench players.

Allen 5
Loyd 4
Mabrey 4
Turner 3
Reimer 1

Johnson 3
Westbeld 1

 

[BGIF]

ND had only 3 blocks. None by the BIGs.

Huffman 2
Mabrey 1

 

[Old Man Mike]

Missed the game --- working at readying my new house to move into in [maybe] two weeks.

Sounds like "typical us". WAY too many turnovers [or we'd have won by thirty], and needing some offensive explosions [one by my favorite girl Madison] to keep NCS stiff-armed away.

I'm wistful about one emerging player --- Hanna Huffman. She's the sort of lunch bucket warrior that every team needs. Now we've just got to get her a consistent shot.

Somehow we roll on.

 

[Irish#1]

Missed the game --- working at readying my new house to move into in [maybe] two weeks.

Sounds like "typical us". WAY too many turnovers [or we'd have won by thirty], and needing some offensive explosions [one by my favorite girl Madison] to keep NCS stiff-armed away.

I'm wistful about one emerging player --- Hanna Huffman. She's the sort of lunch bucket warrior that every team needs. Now we've just got to get her a consistent shot.

Somehow we roll on.

Just keep winning.

 

[Irish#1]

Columbus North 27-1 beat #1 & #2 teams in 4A to get to the state championship game. They're led by ND commit Ali Patberg. Patberg poured in 39 against #2 Lawrence North to advance to the championship game.

From The Indy Star
"The Bulldogs are led by 5-10 senior Ali Patberg, a Notre Dame recruit and McDonald’s All-American selection. Patberg is averaging 25.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 6.1 assists and is considered one of the front runners for IndyStar Miss Basketball."

 

[BGIF]

#4 Irish Clinch Outright ACC Title, 67-60 at N.C. State - UND.COM - University of Notre Dame Official Athletic Site

It Was Over When: Senior guard Madison Cable buried the last of three three-pointers in a 79-second span, giving Notre Dame a 52-39 lead with 11:11 remaining. The Fighting Irish would stretch the margin to as many as 17 points with less than six minutes to play before North Carolina State trimmed the lead late after the outcome largely had been decided.

Game Ball Goes To: Cable, who ignited Notre Dame's 15-3 second-half run with her trio of triples and finished with 12 points on four of five shooting from beyond the arc. For good measure, the Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, native drew her team-leading 16th charge of the season on the Wolfpack's ensuing possession 18 seconds after her final three-pointer.

Unsung Hero: On a day when play got a bit ragged at both ends, junior guard Hannah Huffman provided a stabilizing influence for Notre Dame, playing 10 quality minutes and collecting two points, an assist and a career-high two blocked shots. Huffman also contributed solid defense in the second half on N.C. State's Dominique Wilson, holding her to five points on two of six shooting after Wilson had 10 points on four of seven shooting in the first half

 

[BGIF]

ND #2 AP and Coaches Polls

ND #2 AP and Coaches Polls

2015 Women's College Basketball Rankings and Polls for Week 17 - ESPN

AP POLL
RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Connecticut (35) 28-1 875
2 Notre Dame 28-2 832
3 S. Carolina 27-2 796
4 Maryland 27-2 774
5 Tennessee 25-4 722
6 Baylor 26-3 687
7 Florida St 27-3 673
8 Oregon St 26-3 622
9 Arizona St 26-4 577
10 Louisville 24-5 540
11 Mississippi St 26-5 508
12 Kentucky 21-8 500
13 Princeton 27-0 458
14 Iowa 23-6 381
15 N. Carolina 23-7 358
16 Duke 20-9 351
17 Chatnooga 26-3 290
18 TexA&M 22-8 261
19 Stanford 21-9 218
20 FGCU 27-2 177
21 G Washington 26-3 145
22 Syracuse 21-8 115
23 Rutgers 21-8 107
24 Northwestern 22-7 99
25 Seton Hall 26-4 69
Others receiving votes: CAL 64, USF 43, OSU 24, Green Bay 19, DePaul 17, JMU 17, Dayton 13, WKU 10, OU9, ISU 8, LSU 4, Nebraska 4, Wichita St 4, Quinnipiac 2, UTX 1, UW1

COACHES POLL
RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Connecticut (32) 29-1 800
2 Notre Dame 28-2 764
3 Maryland 27-2 724
4 S. Carolina 27-2 713
5 Tennessee 25-4 673
6 Florida St 27-3 626
7 Baylor 27-3 610
8 Arizona St 26-4 550
9 Oregon St 26-3 545
10 Louisville 24-5 481
11 Kentucky 21-8 449
12 N. Carolina 23-7 409
13 Miss St 26-5 391
14 Princeton 27-0 388
15 Iowa 23-6 384
16 Duke 20-9 298
17 TexA&M 22-8 277
18 Chatnooga 26-3 225
19 G Wash 26-3 172
20 Stanford 21-9 164
21 FGCU 27-2 159
22 Rutgers 21-8 130
23 Seton Hall 26-4 117
24 Syracuse 21-8 55
25 Nebraska 20-9 53
Others receiving votes: NW 47, USF 44, JMU 30, Texas 26, DePaul 19, Ohio State 19, WKU 18, OU14, CAL10, St. John's 6, Ark-LR 5, UW4, Quinnipiac 1

 

[BGIF]

Loyd and Turner First Team All-ACC

Loyd and Turner First Team All-ACC

Two Notre Dame Women's Basketball Players Earn All-ACC Honors - UND.COM - University of Notre Dame Official Athletic Site

Fighting Irish junior guard Jewell Loyd (Lincolnwood, Ill./Niles West) and freshman forward Brianna Turner (Pearland, Texas/Manvel) earned spots on the 10-player All-ACC First Team. Notre Dame and North Carolina were the only conference schools with two All-ACC selections this season, while Turner was the lone freshman named to the All-ACC First Team, the first Fighting Irish rookie to cop all-conference honors since Loyd was an honorable mention choice in 2013 (and the first to make one of the top two league teams since Skylar Diggins was a second-team all-BIG EAST Conference pick in 2010).

 

[BGIF]

Loyd ACC POY: Turner ACC FOY

Loyd ACC POY: Turner ACC FOY

Loyd Named ACC Player of the Year, Turner Is ACC Freshman of the Year - UND.COM - University of Notre Dame Official Athletic Site

Loyd was named the 2015 ACC Player of the Year and Turner was chosen as the 2015 ACC Freshman of the Year, the conference announced Wednesday morning. It's only the second time in program history (both in the past three seasons) the Fighting Irish have swept the conference's top player and freshman awards in the same year -- in 2013, Skylar Diggins garnered BIG EAST Conference Player of the Year accolades, while Loyd was tapped as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year.

Loyd is one of the leading candidates for every major national player-of-the-year honor, including the Naismith Trophy (for which she also was named a semifinalist on Tuesday), Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Wade Trophy, John R. Wooden Award and Dawn Staley Award, and she was a unanimous choice as the espnW Midseason Player of the Year.

Loyd has started all 30 games this season, averaging career highs of 20.7 points and 3.2 assists per game, plus 5.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game with two double-doubles. She also leads the ACC with 17 20-point games this season (tied for third-most in school history), while her school-record four 30-point games also set the ACC standard.

A consensus preseason first-team All-America pick, Loyd ranks among the top 15 in the ACC in four statistical categories -- scoring (1st - also 20th in nation), free-throw percentage (4th - career-best .836), assists (11th) and assist/turnover ratio (11th - career-high 1.35). In conference play, she finished fourth in the ACC in scoring (19.0 ppg.) and free-throw percentage (.829), as well as 10th in assist/turnover ratio (1.16), 11th in assists (3.1 apg.) and 15th in steals (1.6 spg.).

Loyd, who ranks ninth on Notre Dame's single-season scoring list with 621 points and has scored in double figures in 72 of her last 73 games, has been at her best when the stakes have been highest, averaging 26.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.9 steals in nine games against Top 25 teams this season. In those nine contests, she has scored at least 20 points eight times, including three 30-point outings -- a career-high and school record-tying 41 points at No. 25 DePaul on Dec. 10; 34 points vs. No. 5/6 Tennessee on Jan. 19 at Purcell Pavilion, and 31 points against No. 3 Connecticut on Dec. 6, also at Purcell Pavilion.

Turner has started 26 of the 27 games she has played this season, missing three games in mid-December with a separated shoulder and coming off the bench for a Feb. 26 Senior Night win over Pittsburgh at Purcell Pavilion. She is averaging 14.2 points per game and leads the team with 7.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game, plus a .681 field-goal percentage. She also has six double-doubles this season (fifth all-time among Notre Dame freshmen) and six 20-point games to her credit.

Turner has been a fixture among the national and ACC statistical leaders all season, currently leading the country in field-goal percentage and ranking 22nd in blocked shots. Should it hold up, her field-goal percentage would be second-highest in school history and best ever by a freshman (Riley shot .683 from the field in 1998-99), while her 72 blocked shots are seventh on the Notre Dame single-season list and second-most by a Fighting Irish freshman (Shari Matvey had 94 blocks in 1979-80).

On the conference level, Turner ranks in the top 12 in the ACC in four categories -- field-goal percentage (1st), blocks (3rd), rebounding (10th) and scoring (12th). In fact, no other ACC freshman currently ranks in the top 12 in more than two of those categories, while only one ACC player (Duke's Elizabeth Williams) joins Turner in appearing in the top 12 of the ACC rankings in all four categories.

In addition, Turner's six double-doubles rank second among ACC freshmen and 10th among all ACC players, while her six 20-point games are third among ACC rookies and 10th among all ACC players.

In conference play, Turner led the ACC in field-goal percentage (.686) and ranked second in blocks (2.9 bpg.), while also finishing seventh in rebounding (8.6 rpg.) and 16th in scoring (14.4 ppg.).

Like Loyd, Turner has been exceptional when the lights have shone brightest this season. In six full games against ranked opponents (not counting her injury-shortened four-minute stretch against No. 15/10 Maryland on Dec. 3, plus ensuing missed games against No. 3 Connecticut and No. 25 DePaul), Turner is averaging 16.8 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.7 blocks per game with two double-doubles and a staggering .709 field-goal percentage.

 

[BGIF]

Jewell Loyd Named espnW National Player of the Year - UND.COM - University of Notre Dame Official Athletic Site

March 13, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - For nearly four decades, the University of Notre Dame women's basketball team has been built around two key tenets -- consistency and excellence. While the Fighting Irish have reaped the rewards of team success from those cornerstones, they also are garnering individual honors that mirror those goals.

Junior guard Jewell Loyd (Lincolnwood, Ill./Niles West) is the current personification of Notre Dame's consistency and excellence, and her dedication was rewarded Friday when she was chosen as the 2014-15 espnW National Player of the Year by that outlet's panel of women's college basketball experts.

Loyd is the first Fighting Irish player to earn a national player-of-the-year award (not limited to a position or class year) since Ruth Riley in 2001. That season, Riley was chosen as the Associated Press National Player of the Year, Naismith Trophy recipient and Sports Illustrated National Player of the Year.

"In-season performance trumped preseason hype," espnW columnist Michelle Smith wrote. "The junior shooting guard came up big in the biggest games and led the Irish to another ACC title in one of the most competitive conferences in the country."

"I'm really at a loss for words," Loyd said. "I'm grateful to the espnW panel that chose me for this award, my teammates and coaches, who do all they can to push me and challenge me every day, and my family and friends, who are the rock and the foundation that give me the strength and the support to help me reach my goals."

"What a fitting and deserved award for an outstanding player and an even better person," said Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame's Karen and Kevin Keyes Family Head Women's Basketball Coach. "We've said since day one that we thought she was the best player in the country and she has certainly proven throughout the course of the entire season. She's done anything and everything we've asked of her, she makes everyone around her better, and she's a leader on and off the court. We couldn't be happier or prouder for Jewell, and we know there's still more to come from her."

Loyd is one of the leading candidates for every major national player-of-the-year honor, including the Naismith Trophy, Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Wade Trophy, John R. Wooden Award and Dawn Staley Award, and she also was a unanimous choice as the espnW Midseason Player of the Year.

Loyd previously was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and was a first-team all-ACC selection by both the Blue Ribbon Panel and conference coaches while earning All-ACC Defensive Team plaudits from the latter group.

This season, Loyd was a four-time ACC Player of the Week, tying Jacqueline Batteast's 2004-05 program record for conference player-of-the-week selections in one year (Batteast did so while playing in BIG EAST), while being the first ACC player to pull off that feat since 2011-12, when Maryland's Alyssa Thomas was a four-time honoree.

Loyd has started all 33 games this season, averaging career highs of 20.5 points and 3.1 assists per game, plus 5.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game with two double-doubles. She also leads the ACC with 18 20-point games this season (tied for second-most in school history), while her school-record four 30-point games also set the ACC standard.

A consensus preseason first-team All-America pick, Loyd ranks among the top 15 in the ACC in four statistical categories -- scoring (1st - also 21st in nation), free-throw percentage (6th - career-best .825), assist/turnover ratio (11th - career-high 1.23) and assists (13th). In conference play, she finished fourth in the ACC in scoring (19.0 ppg.) and free-throw percentage (.829), as well as 10th in assist/turnover ratio (1.16), 11th in assists (3.1 apg.) and 15th in steals (1.6 spg.).

Loyd, who ranks fourth on Notre Dame's single-season scoring list with 676 points and has scored in double figures in 75 of her last 76 games (32 of 33 this season), has been at her best when the stakes have been highest, averaging 24.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals in 11 games against Top 25 teams this season. In those 11 contests, she has scored at least 20 points nine times, including three 30-point outings -- career-high and school record-tying 41 points at No. 25 DePaul on Dec. 10, 34 points vs. No. 5/6 Tennessee on Jan. 19 at Purcell Pavilion, and 31 points against No. 3 Connecticut on Dec. 6, also at Purcell Pavilion.

On Sunday, Loyd became the second Notre Dame player in program history to earn two conference tournament MVP awards, joining Krissi Davis who received the Midwestern Collegiate Conference/Horizon League Tournament MVP honors in 1989 and 1991. Loyd averaged 18.3 points and 7.7 rebounds in last weekend's three-game run to the ACC tournament title, highlighted by a game-high 21 points and eight rebounds in the semifinal win over No. 16 Duke on March 7, and a game-best 18 points and seven rebounds in Sunday's victory over No. 7/6 Florida State in the ACC championship game.

 

[BGIF]

Notre Dame Earns 20th Consecutive NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Berth - UND.COM - University of Notre Dame Official Athletic Site

Fighting Irish are No. 1 seed in Oklahoma City Region, will play host to 16th-seeded Montana in first round at 7:30 p.m. (ET) Friday at Purcell Pavilion.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- For the 20th consecutive season, and the 22nd time in school history, Notre Dame has earned a berth in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship, having received the Atlantic Coast Conference's automatic berth into this year's field by winning its second consecutive ACC Championship title last week. The Fighting Irish are the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Championship's Oklahoma City Region -- the fourth consecutive year and fifth time in program history they have earned a top seed -- and will play host to 16th-seeded Montana (the Big Sky Conference champion) at 7:30 p.m. (ET) Friday at Purcell Pavilion.

The game will be televised by ESPN2 as part of that network's "whiparound coverage," while viewers in the South Bend market, as well as those watching on the WatchESPN app, will see the game in its entirety. However, the majority of ESPN viewers nationwide will be shuttled between all four games in that time slot, including the Notre Dame-Montana contest. All Fighting Irish games also can be heard live on the radio in the Michiana area on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1), as well as worldwide on the Internet through the official Notre Dame athletics multimedia platform, WatchND (watchnd.tv), with veteran broadcaster Bob Nagle on the call.

...

"We expected to be in (the) Oklahoma City (Region)," said Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame's Karen and Kevin Keyes Family Head Women's Basketball Coach. "The tournament selection committee knew they needed South Carolina in Greensboro to have a great crowd there. We're excited where we are, just to be able to play at home. We've got a really tough pod, probably the toughest 16-seed in the country with a team like Montana with 21 NCAA appearances, they're no stranger to the tournament.

"I think it's critical for us to be at home," McGraw added. "It eases everybody's mind. There's that comfort feeling, you're in your own locker room, you're in your own bed at night, and you've got your fans. That's the biggest thing for us -- the fans."

"I don't think it mattered where we went," junior guard/tri-captain Michaela Mabrey said. "We're just really excited. We projected going there (the Oklahoma City Region) first, so that's all the thoughts we had in our head. Our bracket looks tough and it doesn't matter where you go, everybody is going to be tough."

"We're definitely excited," junior guard Jewell Loyd said. "We have an opportunity to do some great things and we have a young team who's excited to play and that makes it even more enjoyable, so we're just looking forward to the opportunity."

Notre Dame (31-2, 15-1 ACC) was ranked No. 2 in Monday's final Associated Press poll of the season and No. 2 in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA)/USA Today poll (final poll to be released after the NCAA tournament). The Fighting Irish earned their fourth consecutive outright regular-season conference title (and second in as many seasons as an ACC member) by one game over runner-up Florida State and three games over third-place finisher Louisville, and posted a 10-1 record against ranked opponents, including six wins against top-10 teams (No. 5/6 Tennessee, No. 7/6 Florida State, No. 8/7 Louisville, No. 10/11 Duke, No. 12/10 North Carolina and No. 15/10 Maryland).

What's more, Notre Dame registered nearly half of its wins (14) against teams that qualified for this year's NCAA Championship -- each of the aforementioned top-10 squads, plus a regular-season win over Florida State (before the Seminoles cracked the Top 25) and an ACC tournament semifinal win over Duke (with the Blue Devils ranked 16th at the time), along with fellow ACC members Miami, Pittsburgh and Syracuse, and non-conference foes Chattanooga, DePaul and Quinnipiac. Notre Dame also defeated five programs that won either their conference regular-season or tournament title -- Chattanooga (Southern regular-season/tournament champion), DePaul (BIG EAST co-regular-season/tournament champion), Maryland (Big Ten regular-season/tournament champion), Quinnipiac (Metro Atlantic Athletic regular-season/tournament champion) and Tennessee (SEC regular-season co-champion).

For the eighth consecutive season, Notre Dame had multiple players earned all-conference recognition -- Loyd (Lincolnwood, Ill./Niles West) was named the ACC Player of the Year and was a first-team all-ACC pick, while freshman forward Brianna Turner (Pearland, Texas/Manvel) was chosen as the ACC Freshman of the Year and also joined Loyd on the All-ACC First Team. Both Loyd and Turner earned additional recognition on the All-ACC Defensive Team, while Turner was further tapped for the All-ACC Freshman Team.

Notre Dame is 46-20 (.697) all-time in 21 previous NCAA Championship appearances (all under McGraw), having won the 2001 national championship and advancing to the NCAA Women's Final Four on six occasions, including each of the past four seasons, highlighted by berths in the 2011, 2012 and 2014 NCAA national championship games. The Fighting Irish also have won 17 of their last 19 NCAA first-round games, and have advanced to the Sweet 16 (regional semifinals) 12 times in the past 18 seasons. In addition, Notre Dame's current streak of 20 consecutive NCAA tournament berths is the sixth-longest in the nation (and eighth all-time), while its .697 winning percentage is seventh-best in tournament history.

Notre Dame has garnered a No. 1 seed for the fifth time in its NCAA Championship history, with a combined 20-3 (.870) record as a top seed in the tournament. In 2001, the Fighting Irish won all six games as a No. 1 seed en route to the national title at St. Louis' Scottrade Center. In 2012, Notre Dame reached the NCAA national championship game before falling to Baylor, 80-61, at the Pepsi Center in Denver. In 2013, the Fighting Irish won four games in a row to claim the Norfolk Regional title before bowing to Connecticut, 83-65 in the NCAA Women's Final Four national semifinals at New Orleans Arena. Last season, Notre Dame again advanced to the NCAA national championship game before losing to Connecticut, 79-58 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

A perennial power out of the Big Sky Conference, Montana (24-8, 14-4 BSC) is making its 21st NCAA Championship appearance, returning to the tournament after a one-year absence. The Lady Griz come into this weekend's NCAA first-round contest at Notre Dame having won seven of their last eight games, and 22 of their last 26, with only a road loss to conference foe and in-state rival Montana State (65-57 on March 7) in the regular-season finale marring their resume down the stretch.

Montana won the Big Sky Conference regular-season title by one game over Sacramento State, then claimed the conference tournament championship on their home floor at Dahlberg Arena, defeating Idaho State (69-67), Eastern Washington (55-51) and Northern Colorado (60-49) to earn the BSC's automatic berth into the NCAA Championship.

The Lady Griz reached the 20-win mark for the 30th time in 37 seasons under Big Sky Coach of the Year Robin Selvig, who ranks eighth in NCAA Division I history (and fifth among active Division I coaches) with 845 career wins. Montana is led by redshirt senior point guard Kellie Rubel, the newly-crowned Co-Big Sky Most Valuable Player. A two-time first-team all-Big Sky selection, Rubel (14.0 ppg., 5.7 rpg., 4.3 apg.) collected two of her three double-doubles this season in UM's run to the Big Sky Tournament title, including 14 points and 11 rebounds in the championship game against Northern Colorado, to earn tournament MVP honors.

Montana also gains support from a trio of honorable mention all-Big Sky choices in junior guard McCalle Feller (11.0 ppg., team-high 67 three-pointers), sophomore forward Kayleigh Valley (11.5 ppg., 4.8 rpg.) and senior forward Maggie Rickman (9.6 ppg., team-high 6.8 rpg.). Redshirt senior forward Carly Selvig, the reigning Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year (and niece of head coach Robin Selvig), patrols the paint for the Lady Griz, averaging 2.6 blocks per game while ranking second on the team at 6.1 rebounds per game.

Notre Dame will be facing Montana for the second time in series history on Friday night. The Lady Griz edged the Fighting Irish, 50-48, on Dec. 31, 1986, in the consolation game of the Seattle Times Classic in Seattle, Washington. That contest was played one season prior to McGraw assuming the head coaching reins at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame and Montana had one common opponent this season -- Wake Forest. The Fighting Irish defeated their fellow ACC member Demon Deacons, 92-63 on Feb. 1 at Purcell Pavilion. Meanwhile, the Lady Griz dropped a 73-60 decision to Wake Forest back on Nov. 29 in the final round of the Cancun Challenge in Riviera Maya, Mexico.

 

[BGIF]

IRISH EXTRA: Jewell's Drive - UND.COM - University of Notre Dame Official Athletic Site

...

Loyd, who is looking to lead coach Muffet McGraw's Fighting Irish to a fifth consecutive Final Four, has used her toughness to forge an exceptional season. She averages 20.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals a game.

Loyd is at her best against the best. In 11 games against top-25 teams this season, Loyd averages 24.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals. She scored a school record-tying 41 points at No. 25 DePaul, 34 points against No. 5 Tennessee and 31 points against then-No. 3 Connecticut.

"I think that's the way you judge a great player, by how she performs in the big moments," McGraw said. "Jewell has played great in the big games. I think she is somebody who rises to the occasion. Whenever we needed a basket in the Duke game, she scored 10 straight points down the stretch.

"Jewell is always the one who takes the big shot and makes it. She also makes other big plays. It's not just about scoring with her. She's a great defender. She's had some huge offensive rebounds in different games. She's elevated her game, and she's elevated the whole team."

Loyd has elevated the Irish to a 31-2 record. The Irish captured the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament championships (both for the second straight year).

...

 

[BGIF]

Loyd's 18 points against Montana give her 694 for the season, good for third on ND's all-time list.

She needs 3 points to put her in second place ahead of Beth Morgan Cunningham.

83 points over the rest of the tournament would surpass Katryna Gaither's school-record of 776 points.

 

[BGIF]

IRISH EXTRA: Westbeld Not a Rookie Any More - UND.COM - University of Notre Dame Official Athletic Site

Freshman forward delivered with eight points, 10 rebounds, four steals in NCAA tournament debut.

Westbeld, a 6-foot-2 post, entered NCAA play averaging 7.2 points and 4.3 rebounds a game. She continued a hot streak with her three-of-three shooting against Montana. Westbeld is shooting 14 of 21 in her last five games (67 percent). In the previous three games, she was three of 12 shooting (25 percent).