Sophomore guard Michaela Mabrey has made 57 three-pointers this year, tying for 10th-most in one season in school history and most since 2005-06 (58 by Megan Duffy).

#2 Irish Shipping Up To Boston College Thursday Night

Feb. 12, 2014

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2013-14 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 24

#2/2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (23-0 / 10-0 ACC) vs. Boston College Eagles (12-13 / 3-8 ACC)

DATE: Feb. 13, 2014
TIME: 7:00 p.m. ET
AT: Chestnut Hill, Mass. – Conte Forum (8,606)
SERIES: ND leads 13-5
1ST MTG: BC 59-55 (12/30/83)
LAST MTG: ND 95-53 (1/9/14)
TV: bceagles.com ($) (live)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1)/WatchND (live) (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
LIVE STATS:
TWITTER: @ndwbbsid
TICKETS: (617) 552-4622

Storylines

  • Notre Dame plays the first of its two repeat ACC opponents this season, with a second matchup against Duke slated for Feb. 23 at Purcell Pavilion.
  • The Fighting Irish have tied the best start to a season in program history (2000-01).

No. 2 Fighting Irish Shipping Up To Boston College Thursday Night
After making regular visits to New England during its 18-year BIG EAST Conference membership, No. 2 Notre Dame will head to the Northeast for the first time this season, as the Fighting Irish travel to Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Thursday for a 7 p.m. (ET) ACC contest against Boston College at Conte Forum. The BC web site (bceagles.com) will stream the game on a subscription basis, while the Notre Dame Radio Network broadcast can be heard live and free of charge on the official Fighting Irish athletics multimedia platform, WatchND.

Notre Dame (23-0, 10-0) held its annual Pink Zone (Play4Kay) game on Sunday and came away with a 101-64 win over Syracuse at Purcell Pavilion. The Fighting Irish posted a .610 field goal percentage in the first half en route to their school-record fourth 100-point game this year.

Sophomore guard Jewell Loyd fueled Notre Dame’s potent offense with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Senior guard Kayla McBride and sophomore guard Michaela Mabrey each added 18 points, the latter on a career-high 6-of-14 three-pointers.

Rankings

  • Notre Dame is No. 2 in this week’s Associated Press poll and is No. 2 in this week’s WBCA/USA Today poll.
  • Boston College is not ranked.

Quick Hitters

  • At 23-0, Notre Dame has matched the best start to a season in program history, duplicating the debut of the 2000-01 club.
  • The current Fighting Irish 23-game winning streak is tied for second-longest in program history beyond only last year’s 30-game run.
  • Notre Dame has won a school-record 46 consecutive regular season games and 23 consecutive home games, dating back to Dec. 5, 2012 (a 73-61 loss to No. 3 Baylor). The 23-game home winning streak is third-longest in school history and tied for the third-longest active run in NCAA Division I.
  • The Fighting Irish have won a school-record 32 consecutive regular season road games (39 of their last 44, as well as 23 in a row overall, tied for the fifth-longest streak in NCAA Division I history) since a 94-81 loss at top-ranked Baylor on Nov. 20, 2011, in the Preseason WNIT championship game.
  • Now in its inaugural season in the ACC, Notre Dame has won 30 consecutive conference games, as well as 21 consecutive league road games. The Fighting Irish last lost a regular season conference game on Feb. 12, 2012 (65-63 at home vs. West Virginia), and dropped a regular season league contest on the road on Feb. 28, 2011 (70-69 at No. 12/11 DePaul), both in BIG EAST play.
  • Since the start of the 2011-12 season, Notre Dame is 33-5 (.868) against ranked opponents (13-2 on the road).
  • Notre Dame stands at No. 2 in the AP and WBCA/USA Today polls, the third consecutive season that the Fighting Irish have earned the second position in both surveys.
  • Notre Dame leads the nation in field goal percentage (.518) and three-point percentage (.436), among seven NCAA statistical categories that the Fighting Irish rank in the top eight (not including won-loss percentage, for which they are one of two remaining teams in the nation without a loss).
  • Notre Dame has appeared in the AP poll for 131 consecutive weeks (including the past 61 weeks in the AP Top 10), extending a program record that dates back to the 2007-08 preseason poll, and ranking sixth in the nation among active AP poll appearances. What’s more, every current Fighting Irish player has competed for a ranked Notre Dame squad during her career, with the vast majority of that time (81 of 92 weeks) spent in the AP Top 10.
  • Senior forwards Natalie Achonwa and Ariel Braker, and senior guard Kayla McBride have helped Notre Dame to a 124-14 (.899) record in their careers, putting them on pace to challenge last year’s senior class of Skylar Diggins and Kaila Turner, who helped Notre Dame to 130 wins in their careers.
  • Of the 14 losses suffered by the current Fighting Irish senior class, eight were decided by single digits (and three others by 10-13 points).
  • Notre Dame aims to continue its remarkable success at Purcell Pavilion, with the Fighting Irish owning a 396-90 (.815) all-time record in 37 seasons at the facility, including a 73-5 (.936) record since the arena was renovated prior to the 2009-10 season.
  • Notre Dame ranks fourth in this week’s NCAA attendance rankings (8,595 fans per game), and is the only school in the country to fill its arena to better than 90 percent capacity, something the Fighting Irish have done each season since 2009-10.
  • With a 106-72 victory over Central Michigan on Dec. 22, the Fighting Irish became the 27th NCAA Division I women’s basketball program to record 800 all-time wins.
  • With 649 victories in her 27 seasons at Notre Dame, head coach Muffet McGraw ranks second on the Fighting Irish athletics all-time coaching wins list (across all sports), trailing only men’s/women’s fencing coach Michael DeCicco (774-80 from 1962-95).
  • With 737 career wins, McGraw needs two victories to move into the top 10 on the NCAA Division I career list. She currently is tied for 11th in close proximity with two former ACC coaches — Virginia’s Debbie Ryan (739) and the late North Carolina State coach Kay Yow (737).
  • McGraw will reach a remarkable career milestone on Feb. 27, when she is slated to coach her 1,000th game as Notre Dame plays host to North Carolina in its regular season home finale at Purcell Pavilion.

The Notre Dame-Boston College Series
Notre Dame and Boston College will meet for the second time this season and the 19th time in series history, with the Fighting Irish holding a 13-5 edge all-time against the Eagles. Notre Dame also has won the past three games and 10 of the past 12 in the series with BC.

The series is even (4-4) when the scene shifts to Chestnut Hill, although the Fighting Irish have won three of their last four visits to The Heights.

The Last Time Notre Dame And Boston College Met
No. 2 Notre Dame scored the first seven points of the game, stretched the lead to double figures in less than 10 minutes and by halftime its lead was bigger than Boston College’s most lopsided loss of the season. The Fighting Irish continued to pull away in the second half with its bench posting 55 points in a 95-53 victory on Jan. 9 at Purcell Pavilion.

Kayla McBride led Notre Dame with 20 points and eight rebounds, Michaela Mabrey had 18, Taya Reimer 15 and Jewell Loyd had 14 to pace the balanced scoring attack. Mabrey, who came in 0-for-12 shooting in the previous two games, shot 6-of-9 as the Fighting Irish made 62 percent for the game.

Notre Dame dominated inside in the first half, outscoring the Eagles 30-8 in the paint, then made 6-of-8 three-pointers in the second half.

Kristen Doherty led BC with 13 points, Katie Zenevitch had 11 points and seven rebounds and Lauren Engeln had 10.

The Last Time Notre Dame And Boston College Met At Conte Forum
Becca Bruszewski scored 18 points to lead six players in double figures and No. 15 Notre Dame shot 65 percent from the field to cruise to a 102-54 win over Boston College on Nov. 23, 2008, at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Erica Solomon added 15 points for Notre Dame, while Brittany Mallory had 14 and Lindsay Schrader 13. Ashley Barlow and Erica Williamson each finished with 10.

Carolyn Swords led the Eagles with 16 points and seven rebounds.

Notre Dame led 49-25 at halftime and never had its lead fall below 20 points in the second half.

The Fighting Irish used an 8-0 run early in the contest to open their first double-digit lead of the game (20-10) on Bruszewski’s jumper. They closed the first half by outscoring the Eagles, 15-3, over the final 4:13. Mallory scored five points and Williamson had a pair of baskets in the run as Notre Dame used a tight defense on the perimeter that led to a number of turnovers and easy transition baskets.

The Fighting Irish shot 59 percent in the opening 20 minutes. BC committed 17 of its 28 turnovers in opening half.

Other Notre Dame-Boston College Series Tidbits

  • As former members of the BIG EAST Conference, Notre Dame and Boston College have met regularly in league play during the past two decades, with the Fighting Irish owning an 11-3 edge against the Eagles in conference games.
  • This marks the fourth time Notre Dame and Boston College have played a home-and-home series in conference play, having also done so in BIG EAST action during the 1996-97, 1998-99 and 2004-05 seasons (the Fighting Irish swept two of those three, while the teams split in 1998-99, each successfully defending their home court).
  • In their last seven matchups, the Fighting Irish have held BC to less than 60 points six times and winning each time. The only exception was the Eagles’ 78-61 win in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Championship.
  • The 102-54 Notre Dame win in the teams’ last game in Chestnut Hill was the largest margin of victory in the series, and the largest by a visiting team in Conte Forum history.
  • Fighting Irish athletic trainer Anne Marquez is a native of Framingham, Mass.
  • Maureen Leahy, the sister of former Fighting Irish forward (and 2001 national championship team member) Meaghan Leahy, played at BC from 2000-01 through 2003-04.

One Tough Stretch
Notre Dame is in the midst of one of the most challenging schedule stretches in the program’s 37-year history, playing eight of its final 13 games against teams that are ranked or receiving votes, all during the closing six weeks of the regular season (five of those eight coming on the road).

With its 88-67 win at third-ranked Duke on Feb. 2, Notre Dame earned its third road win over a top-10 opponent this season, something the Fighting Irish had never done in a single regular season campaign during the program’s 37-year history (Notre Dame has numerous postseason road wins over top-10 foes).

What made the Duke win even more remarkable is that it was the third consecutive road game against a top-10 opponent for the Fighting Irish, following ESPN2 Big Monday visits to No. 11/10 Tennessee (86-70 win) and No. 8/6 Maryland (87-83 win) on Jan. 20 and 27, respectively.

Before its recent run, Notre Dame had never even played top-10 teams in three consecutive road games during the same regular season, let alone defeated all three and done so in such a short period of time (13 days).

In fact, prior to last year, the Fighting Irish had not defeated two top-10 teams on the road in the same regular season before they earned victories at No. 1 Connecticut (73-72) and No. 9 Tennessee (77-67) — and those wins came more than three weeks apart.

Getting The Jump
At 23-0, Notre Dame has equaled the best start in the program’s 37-year history. The only time the Fighting Irish opened with a similar record to this season was in 2000-01, when they also reeled off a (then) school-record 23 consecutive wins en route to a 34-2 final record and the program’s first national championship.

Streak Stats
Notre Dame’s current 23-game winning streak is the third-longest success string in program history, and it’s the second consecutive season the Fighting Irish have posted a winning streak of 23 games or longer.

Notre Dame also has strung together 14 double-digit winning streaks in the program’s 37-year history, with 12 of those coming during the tenure of Hall of Fame head coach Muffet McGraw (1987-88 to present).

Dating back to the start of last season, the Fighting Irish are 58-2 (.967) and have won 46 consecutive regular season games. In that span, their lone losses have come against a pair of third-ranked teams — Baylor (73-61 on Dec. 5, 2012, at Purcell Pavilion) and Connecticut (83-65 on April 7, 2013, in the NCAA Women’s Final Four national semifinals at New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, La.).

In addition, Notre Dame currently owns the nation’s longest winning streak against unranked opponents (in the Associated Press poll), having earned 45 consecutive victories since a last-second 65-63 home loss to West Virginia on Feb. 12, 2012 (research for this note provided by STATS via the AP).

Road Warriors
Notre Dame has won a school-record 32 consecutive regular season road games (and 39 of its last 44, and 23 in a row overall), including the Feb. 6 victory at Florida State. The Fighting Irish last tasted defeat on the road in the regular season on Nov. 20, 2011, a 94-81 setback at No. 1 Baylor in the Preseason WNIT championship game.

Notre Dame’s current 23-game road winning streak also is the longest active run in the nation, more than doubling the next-closest pursuer (10 by Duke, as of Monday), as well as tying Louisiana Tech for the fifth-longest in NCAA Division I history.

The highlight of this current run came on Jan. 5, 2013, when Notre Dame edged No. 1 Connecticut, 73-72, in Storrs, Conn., earning its fourth all-time win over a top-ranked opponent and first-ever victory on the road.

The Fighting Irish also have won a school-record 21 consecutive conference road games, with their last loss coming as part of the BIG EAST Conference on Feb. 28, 2011 (a last-second 70-69 loss at No. 12/11 DePaul).

The Comforts Of Home
Notre Dame has won 23 consecutive home games since a 73-61 loss to third-ranked Baylor on Dec. 5, 2012, at Purcell Pavilion. As of Monday, the Fighting Irish are tied with Dayton for the nation’s third-longest active home winning streak, with this run also the third-longest in school history (longest since a 25-game stretch from Feb. 1, 2003-Nov. 22, 2004).

What’s more, Notre Dame has won its last 15 conference home games since a 65-63 loss to West Virginia on Feb. 12, 2012, when both the Fighting Irish and Mountaineers were members of the BIG EAST Conference.

Peaking When It Counts
When the regular season enters its stretch run in the month of February, Notre Dame historically seems to raise its level of play. Since 1995-96, the Fighting Irish are 109-28 (.796) in February games (including an active 14-game winning streak), as well as a 60-6 (.909) mark at home.

In the 27-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-88 to present), the Fighting Irish are 157-43 (.785) in the month of February, including an 82-12 (.872) home record. In that time, Notre Dame has never posted a losing record in February, and only once did the Fighting Irish end the month at .500 (4-4 in 1988-89, McGraw’s second year in South Bend).

That’s Some Sharp Shooting
Notre Dame currently is setting the pace nationally with a .518 field goal percentage, highlighted by 15 games this season in which the Fighting Irish have shot better than 50 percent, including six games where they topped 60 percent from the field.

In addition, Notre Dame had a remarkable three-game stretch from Dec. 7-22 when it connected at better than a 55-percent clip in each contest. It was the first time the Fighting Irish had three consecutive 55-percent outings since Nov. 20-29, 1997, when they did so in victories over North Carolina State (.565), Bowling Green (.558) and Ohio University (.567).

Notre Dame’s sharpshooting brigade has been led by senior forward/tri-captain Natalie Achonwa, who is second in the ACC (fifth in the nation) with a .600 field goal percentage, along with a .629 mark in conference play (also second in the ACC).

Achonwa has been very efficient from the field in her last five games, connecting at a .718 clip (28-of-39), including a 10-of-12 effort on Feb. 6 at Florida State, en route to a game-high 24 points.

Sophomore guard Jewell Loyd (.527) has moved into 12th in the ACC in field goal percentage, thanks in part to her own recent hot streak that has seen Loyd shoot .598 (55-of-92) during her last seven outings, notably going 9-of-11 for a game-high 23 points in Sunday’s win over Syracuse.

Seven other Notre Dame players are shooting better than 50 percent from the field this season, led by freshman forward Kristina Nelson (.568), junior forward Markisha Wright (.563) and freshman guard Lindsay Allen (.544), but none has made the minimum number of shots (three per game) to qualify for ACC ranking.

Life In The 60s
Not only has Notre Dame shot better than 60 percent from the field in six games this season, but the Fighting Irish have put up similar sizzling shooting numbers in single halves this year.

In fact, Notre Dame has posted a field goal percentage of .600 or better in 15 of its 46 halves, equating to a 60-percent performance approximately one out of every three periods of basketball it plays, with the distribution almost even (seven times in the first half, eight times in the second half).

The Fighting Irish also have shot better than 60 percent in both halves of a game twice this season (UNC Wilmington and Pittsburgh), along with a season-high single-half percentage of .710 in the second period against Central Michigan, a rate just missed the top 10 on the school’s all-time chart.

A pair of marks that did make it into one of the program’s top 10 lists were Notre Dame’s first-half shooting percentages at Michigan (.688) and Maryland (.667), which now rank as the sixth- and eighth-best figures during the opening 20 minutes in school history.

Dialing Long Distance
Although not usually a primary part of the Notre Dame arsenal, the Fighting Irish have found the three-point shot much to their liking this season. Notre Dame leads the nation with a .436 three-point percentage, with four different players connecting at 40 percent or better from beyond the arc (and a fifth at .388).

Senior guard Kayla McBride leads the way for the Fighting Irish with a .455 three-point percentage that ranks third in the ACC, while sophomore guard Michaela Mabrey also stands among the top five in the conference, ranking fourth at a .434 three-point rate.

During ACC play, Mabrey leads the conference with a .510 three-point percentage, while sophomore guard Jewell Loyd (.480) has come on lately to rank third in the loop, and McBride also is appearing in the top 10 (9th – .407).

In addition, Mabrey is ninth in the ACC with 2.1 three-pointers per game, a mark she bolstered on Sunday against Syracuse with a career-high (and Purcell Pavilion record-tying) six triples. It was one of seven times this season Mabrey has canned at least three treys in a game, and the third time this year a Notre Dame player has made five three-pointers in a contest (Mabrey went 5-for-6 against Boston College on Jan. 9, while junior guard Madison Cable posted a 5-for-6 effort against UCLA on Dec. 7).

In fact, Cable (.450) would be fourth in the ACC in three-point percentage, but she is shy of the minimum 1.0 3FG/game to qualify for ranking. Freshman guard Lindsay Allen (.481) and Loyd (.388) also don’t meet the minimum standard for the overall ACC rankings despite their efficiency from distance (Loyd is just three made 3FG shy of qualification).

As a team, the Fighting Irish have connected on 10 three-pointers in a game three times this season (UCLA, Tennessee and Syracuse), their highest production outside the arc in nearly four years, dating back to a similar 10-triple performance on Jan. 30, 2010, at Syracuse.

What’s more, Notre Dame’s .750 three-point mark (9-of-12) on Jan. 16 at Pittsburgh was its best performance from long range (with a minimum of five attempts) in more than five years, stretching back to Nov. 23, 2008, against Boston College at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass., when the Fighting Irish made 7-of-8 three-pointers (.875) in a 102-54 win.

A Helping Hand
The Fighting Irish enter this week’s action ranked second in assists at 21.8 per game (Connecticut is first at 22.5).

Notre Dame also has dished out at least 20 helpers in 15 games thus far, plus 19 assists in four other outings (along with a season-high 31 dimes against UCLA on Dec. 7), with the Fighting Irish piling up assists on 64.9 percent of their made field goals this year (501 of 772).

Notre Dame also ranks sixth in the nation (and tops in the ACC) in assist/turnover ratio (1.43), led by two players who rank among the top 10 in the ACC in that category — freshman guard Lindsay Allen (6th – 1.93) and senior guard/tri-captain Kayla McBride (9th – 1.72).

Visiting Century City
Notre Dame has scored at least 100 points in a school-record four games this season (with three other games of 95-99 points), topping last year’s mark of three triple-digit outings.

The Fighting Irish have piled up nine 100-point games in the past three seasons (and eight other games of 95-99 points), a remarkable offensive explosion considering Notre Dame had 13 triple-digit games in the first 34 years of the program’s existence (and just four in the 12 seasons prior to its current run).

Spreading The Wealth
Notre Dame has had at least four players score in double figures in 18 games this year, going 18-0 in those contests. Since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Fighting Irish are 93-5 (.949) when they have four or more players reach double digits in the scoring column, including wins in 63 of their last 64 such outings (the lone loss coming in last year’s NCAA Women’s Final Four national semifinal against Connecticut).

Nearly In A Class By Themselves
For the third consecutive season, a Notre Dame senior class is threatening to re-set the bar in terms of career wins by one group. The current class of tri-captains Natalie Achonwa, Ariel Braker and Kayla McBride is second all-time with 124 wins (124-14, .899), behind only the seniors from 2012-13.

Last year, led by its two-player senior class of Skylar Diggins and Kaila Turner, Notre Dame posted the best four-year record (130-20, .867) in school history, topping the win total (117) compiled by the previous year’s seniors (Brittany Mallory, Fraderica Miller, Natalie Novosel and Devereaux Peters).

Prior to the 2011-12 season, the highest four-year win total by a senior class was 109, set by the Class of 2001 that included (among others) consensus national player of the year and 13-year WNBA veteran Ruth Riley and current Fighting Irish assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Niele Ivey.

Notre Dame’s 1,000-Point Scorers
Senior tri-captains Kayla McBride and Natalie Achonwa will spend their final season at Notre Dame steadily climbing the program’s all-time scoring list, after both entered the Fighting Irish 1,000-Point Club last year.

McBride currently is seventh in program history with 1,598 career points, passing both Trena Keys (1,589 from 1982-86) and Karen Robinson (1,590 from 1987-91) with her 18 points against Syracuse on Sunday. McBride also is one of just 11 players ever to score 1,500 points under the Golden Dome.

Meanwhile, Achonwa stands 18th in Notre Dame history with 1,338 points, moving two steps up the ladder with 24 points at Florida State on Feb. 6, passing both Margaret Nowlin (1,312 from 1988-92) and former All-America teammate/current WNBA champion Devereaux Peters (1,319 from 2007-12).

Coming Up Aces
Senior forward/tri-captain Natalie Achonwa (nicknamed “Ace”) also is making her way up Notre Dame’s career charts in both rebounds and double-doubles. She currently ranks sixth on the rebounding list (871) and is tied for seventh on the double-doubles chart (25), moving up one spot on the rebounding rundown with her nine boards at No. 3 Duke on Feb. 2.

Achonwa continues to remain among the top 10 in school history with a .553 career field goal percentage (tied for sixth in program annals) and 132 games played (tied for fifth all-time at Notre Dame with current Fighting Irish assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Niele Ivey; tied for third among active NCAA players).

Crown Jewell
Sophomore guard Jewell Loyd has continued her development as one of the top young talents in the country this season, building on last year’s selection as the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) National Freshman of the Year.

The Lincolnwood, Ill., product currently ranks 10th in the ACC in scoring (17.7 ppg.) and steals (1.8 spg.), while sporting career-high marks in scoring, rebounding (6.0 rpg.), assists (2.6 apg.), steals and field goal percentage (.527). She also has seven 20-point games thus far (including a career-high 31 points at No. 8/6 Maryland on Jan. 27) after scoring 20 points twice during her rookie campaign.

What’s more, Loyd has two 30-point games to her credit this season, having also dropped in an even 30 against Central Michigan on Dec. 22 at Purcell Pavilion. Loyd is one of just three ACC players this season (along with Wake Forest’s Chelsea Douglas and Georgia Tech’s Tyaunna Marshall) to post multiple 30-point games, and she is the first Fighting Irish player to have two 30-point games in the same season since 1999-2000, when Ruth Riley did so against Liberty (32) and Miami (36).

Perhaps giving a preview of things to come, Loyd stormed out of the gates this season, piling up 63 points in Notre Dame’s first three games, wins over UNC Wilmington (19 points), No. 19/18 Michigan State (22 points) and Valparaiso (22 points).

Loyd’s opening-week point production was the highest for a Fighting Irish player in the first three contests of a season since 1998-99, when Danielle Green had 66 combined points in wins against No. 6 UCLA at home (23 points), at Butler (23) and No. 6/4 Duke at home (20).

The Model Of Consistency
Sophomore guard Jewell Loyd has scored in double figures in 28 consecutive games, dating back to March 11, 2013, when she had eight points in Notre Dame’s 83-59 BIG EAST Championship semifinal win over No. 16/15 Louisville at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.

Loyd’s 28-game double-digit scoring streak is the second-longest in school history, surpassing Natalie Novosel’s 27-game run from March 8, 2011-Jan. 21, 2012. In fact, Loyd has scored in double figures in 46 of her 58 career games (and 10 of those 12 single-digit games saw her within one basket of double figures).

Katryna Gaither has staked an ironclad claim to the school record with a remarkable 76-game double-figure scoring streak from 1994-97.

Youthful Leader
Freshman Lindsay Allen got the call from head coach Muffet McGraw to start at point guard in Notre Dame’s season opener against UNC Wilmington on Nov. 9 at Purcell Pavilion. Allen finished with 11 points in her debut game, including the team’s first five points of the season.

It was the first time a Fighting Irish rookie point guard started the season opener since Nov. 26, 1994, when Mollie Peirick cracked the lineup and played 38 minutes (two points, five rebounds, three assists) in a 65-60 overtime loss at No. 25 Seton Hall.

Allen has not disappointed in her debut campaign, averaging 7.2 points and 3.9 assists per game (the latter tying for ninth in the ACC). She also is sixth in the ACC with a team-best 1.94 assist/turnover ratio, and is second on the team with 1.22 steals per game.

At her current pace, Allen (89 assists) is in position to become only the fifth Notre Dame freshman to dish out 100 assists in her rookie season, and just the second in the past 20 years (Skylar Diggins had 112 assists in 2009-10). Mary Gavin holds the Fighting Irish freshman assist record with 116 in 1984-85.

What’s more, Allen’s 3.9 apg. average is the best for a Notre Dame freshman since 1994-95 (Peirick – 3.9 apg.) and makes Allen a candidate to be just the second Notre Dame freshman ever to average 4.0 apg. as a rookie (Gavin logged 4.5 apg. in that 1984-85 season).

Leading a winning lineup is not an unfamiliar feeling for Allen, who is a combined 50-1 in her last 51 games as a starting point guard. Last year as a senior at St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C., she guided her squad to a 27-1 record and the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) title — the highest level of play in the District of Columbia, which does not have a state tournament.

The Second Platoon
Another reason for Notre Dame’s success this season has been the performance of its reserves, who are averaging more than 28 points per game and have outscored the opponent’s bench by close to a 2-to-1 margin (28.2 ppg. to 16.0 ppg.).

The Fighting Irish second unit has outscored its opposite number in 17 games this season, including a season-high 55 points on Jan. 9 against Boston College, outscoring the entire BC roster by two points (not to mention the Notre Dame starters by 15).

Sophomore guard Michaela Mabrey (9.7 ppg.), freshman forward Taya Reimer (8.5 ppg.) and junior guard Madison Cable (5.8 ppg.) head up the strong Fighting Irish bench contingent, which has seen at least one reserve score in double figures in 18 games this season (total of 21 double-figure outings).

Call Her Mabrey
Certainly a leading candidate as one of the nation’s most improved players would have to be Notre Dame sophomore guard Michaela Mabrey. The Belmar, N.J., resident has emerged as a key reserve for the Fighting Irish, averaging 9.7 points and 2.7 assists per game along with a very solid 1.80 assist/turnover ratio, after logging 3.0 ppg. and 1.3 apg. with a 1.06 A/TO mark last year.

Mabrey also has proven to be a dynamic three-point threat for Notre Dame, ranking fourth in the ACC with a .434 three-point percentage (tops in the league with a .510 mark in ACC play) and placing ninth in the conference with 2.1 three-pointers made per game (thanks in part to making at least three triples in seven games this year, including a career-high 6-of-14 vs. Syracuse on Feb. 9).

What’s more, Mabrey already has scored in double figures 12 times this year (including a career-high 19 points in the season opener against UNC Wilmington) after doing so three times in 30 games last season.

Next Game: Georgia Tech (Senior Night)
Notre Dame plays three of its next four ACC games at home, beginning at 7 p.m. (ET) Monday when Georgia Tech makes its first-ever visit to Purcell Pavilion. The game will be televised live on the ACC-Regional Sports Networks (RSN), with fans encouraged to visit the ACC web site (theacc.com) for the latest rundown of affiliates in their area. ESPN3 and the WatchESPN mobile app also will carry the game, although it may be blacked out in some areas.

Prior to Monday’s game, Notre Dame will hold a brief ceremony to honor its five departing seniors — forwards Natalie Achonwa and Ariel Braker, guard Kayla McBride and student managers Megan Golden and Kelly Harmon — with fans asked to be in their seats by 6:30 p.m. (ET) in order to watch the ceremony.

— Chris Masters, Associate Athletic Media Relations Director