NOTRE DAME, Ind. — It was a day of dual honors for the University of Notre Dame women’s basketball program on Monday, as two Fighting Irish guards earned awards for their on-court success.
For the second time this season, graduate student Madison Cable (Mt. Lebanon, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) was chosen as the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week, garnering the honor following a vote by the ACC’s Blue Ribbon, which is comprised of the ACC’s 15 head coaches, local and national media members and the women’s basketball media relations directors for each school. Cable is the third two-time recipient of the ACC Player of the Week award this season.
Meanwhile, junior guard/captain Lindsay Allen (Mitchellville, Md./St. John’s College) was among 10 players named final candidates for the 2016 Nancy Lieberman Award, which is presented annually to the nation’s top point guard. Allen now has been named a final candidate for the honor in each of her three seasons, and was one of five finalists for last year’s award as she looks to follow in the footsteps of previous winners including former Notre Dame All-American and two-time Lieberman Award recipient Skylar Diggins (’13).
Cable averaged 18.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game with a double-double and a 50-40-90 shooting week (51.4 field-goal percentage, 42.9 three-point percentage, 92.3 free-throw percentage) in leading Notre Dame to three ACC wins, including two comeback victories on the road.
Cable began with a game-high 18 points (including 3-of-7 3-pointers), seven rebounds and game-high/season-best five steals in a Big Monday 68-61 win at Duke on Feb. 1. Five of her points came in a one-minute span late in the fourth quarter, when her 3-pointer gave the Fighting Irish the lead for good at the 3:59 mark, followed by a steal and score that boosted the Notre Dame lead to six points.
Cable then tied her career high with 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting and a season-best 7-of-7 free throws in an 82-46 win over North Carolina State on Feb. 4 at Purcell Pavilion. Her game-high 25 points came in just 27 minutes of action.
Cable closed the week with her third double-double of the season (fourth of her career) with 13 points and a team-high 12 rebounds in Sunday’s matinee 66-61 win at No. 13 Louisville. Cable tallied 11 points and eight rebounds in the second half, including two free throws that put Notre Dame in front for good with 3:07 to play in the game, followed by a clutch 3-pointer with two minutes to play that gave the Fighting Irish a two-possession lead.
For the season, Cable ranks third in the nation and leads the ACC in three-point percentage (.468), while ranking sixth in the conference in free-throw percentage (.800), seventh in three-pointers per game (2.2), 13th in field-goal percentage (.513), 14th in scoring (13.9 points per game) and 14th in steals (1.8 steals per game).
Allen, who has started a school-record 101 consecutive games to begin her career, also ranks among the national and conference leaders, setting the pace in the ACC in both assists (5.5 assists per game) and assist/turnover ratio (2.43). In fact, she is one of just 12 players in the country to rank among the top 30 in both categories, as of Monday afternoon.
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