#4 Irish Host Wake Forest Sunday In Pink Zone Game

Jan. 31, 2015

Full Game Notes Package in PDF Format

2014-15 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 23

#4/4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (20-2 / 7-1 ACC) vs. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (10-12 / 1-7 ACC)

DATE: Feb. 1, 2015
TIME: 1:00 p.m. ET
AT: Notre Dame, Ind. – Purcell Pavilion (9,149)
SERIES: ND leads 2-0
1ST MTG: ND 92-69 (11/27/10)
LAST MTG: ND 86-61 (2/20/14)
TV: ACC-Regional Sports Networks/ESPN3-WatchESPN (live) (Tom Werme, p-b-p / Debbie Antonelli, color)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1)/WatchND (live) (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
LIVE STATS:
TWITTER: @NDsidMasters/@ndwbb

Storylines

• Notre Dame will hold its seventh annual Pink Zone game on Sunday, with the Fighting Irish having raised nearly $750,000 in the fight against breast cancer through the Pink Zone initiative during the past six seasons.
• Notre Dame is 5-2 when playing on Super Bowl Sunday, including last year’s 88-67 win at Duke.

No. 4 Fighting Irish Host Wake Forest Sunday In Pink Zone Game
As No. 4 Notre Dame continues to battle in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Fighting Irish will take time to remember the larger struggle against cancer, as Notre Dame plays its seventh annual Pink Zone game at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday against Wake Forest at Purcell Pavilion. The game, which will be televised live on the ACC-Regional Sports Networks package, is the centerpiece of Notre Dame’s yearly efforts to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness as part of a nationwide initiative, known in some areas as Play4Kay.

The Fighting Irish (20-2, 7-1) made the turn in ACC play Thursday with a 74-50 win at Virginia Tech. For its second consecutive outing, Notre Dame used a huge first-half run to take control, outscoring the Hokies, 33-9 during the final 12 minutes of the period to put the game on ice.

Freshman forward Kathryn Westbeld came off the bench to score a game- and career-high 17 points, while junior guard Jewell Loyd added 16 points to aid the Fighting Irish cause.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is No. 4 in this week’s Associated Press poll and is No. 4 in this week’s WBCA/USA Today poll.
• Wake Forest is not ranked.

Quick Hitters

• Notre Dame is ranked No. 4 in this week’s Associated Press poll, its 78th consecutive week in the AP Top 10 and 72nd of the past 78 weeks in the AP Top 5.
• Notre Dame has appeared in the AP poll for 148 consecutive weeks, 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 top-10 Notre Dame squad during her career, never ranking lower than seventh in that time (2011-12 to present).
• Notre Dame is ranked No. 4 in this week’s Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA)/USA Today poll, after previously spending two weeks (Nov. 25 and Dec. 2) as the nation’s No. 1 team. It was the first time the Fighting Irish had been the top-ranked team in either major national poll since April 1, 2001, when they were No. 1 in the coaches’ poll following a 68-66 win over Purdue that secured the program’s first NCAA national championship.
• Notre Dame ranks among the top 20 in eight NCAA statistical categories (as of Saturday), including four top-10 rankings — field-goal percentage (2nd – .501), scoring offense (3rd – 84.8 ppg.), scoring margin (5th – +23.8 ppg.) and assists (6th – 19.0 apg.). The Fighting Irish also rank 11th in three-point percentage (.380), 15th in both assist/turnover ratio (1.26) and rebounding margin (+9.1 rpg.), and 18th in free-throw percentage (.753), plus seventh in the non-statistical measure of win-loss percentage (.905).
• Notre Dame aims to continue its remarkable success at Purcell Pavilion, with the Fighting Irish owning a 412-91 (.819) all-time record in 38 seasons at the facility, including a 89-6 (.937) record since the arena was renovated prior to the 2009-10 season.
• The Fighting Irish tied the NCAA Division I record for the longest road winning streak (30 games) before the run ended Jan. 8 with a 78-63 loss at Miami.
• Senior guards Madison Cable and Whitney Holloway, and senior forward Markisha Wright have helped Notre Dame to a 127-9 (.934) record in their careers, putting them on pace to challenge last year’s senior class of Natalie Achonwa, Ariel Braker and Kayla McBride, who helped Notre Dame to 138 wins during their four seasons.
• Since arriving at Notre Dame in 2011-12, Cable, Holloway and Wright have paced Notre Dame to two NCAA national championship games and three NCAA Women’s Final Fours (plus three conference regular-season titles and two league tournament crowns), as well as a 47-7 record against ranked teams (19-7 against AP Top 10).
• Of the nine losses suffered by the current Fighting Irish senior class, four were decided by 13 points or less.
• With 683 victories in her 28 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 771 career wins, McGraw ranks 10th in NCAA Division I coaching history. She also is one of two active ACC coaches in the top 10 along with North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell (second with 952 as of Saturday).

Other Notre Dame Notables

• Notre Dame is among the nation’s winningest programs during the past six seasons (2009-10 to present), ranking second with 187 victories.
• Notre Dame has ranked among the top 20 in the nation in average attendance annually since 2000-01 (including top-five rankings the past five years). The Fighting Irish rank fourth in the nation (as of Saturday), averaging 8,859 fans per game at home this season, and have drawn at least 5,000 fans to 220 of their last 222 home games (with an active streak of 63 consecutive contests with 8,000 fans), logging 45 Purcell Pavilion sellouts, including 39 since the start of the 2009-10 campaign and four this season.
• The Fighting Irish have become a regular fixture in the WNBA Draft in recent years, as 12 Notre Dame players have been selected in the past 14 seasons. Kayla McBride and Natalie Achonwa were the most recent Fighting Irish players to be chosen, with McBride going to the San Antonio Stars in the first round (third overall selection) and Achonwa six picks later (No. 9 overall) to the Indiana Fever in the 2014 WNBA Draft. It marked the third consecutive year Notre Dame had a player selected No. 3 overall (Devereaux Peters went third to Minnesota in 2012 and Skylar Diggins was chosen in that same spot by Tulsa in 2013), making the Fighting Irish the second program with lottery choices in three consecutive seasons.
• Diggins was a 2014 All-WNBA First Team selection and the league’s Most Improved Player, in addition to earning the starting nod for the West at the 2014 WNBA All-Star Game. Meanwhile, McBride was chosen for the 2014 WNBA All-Rookie Team, the second Fighting Irish alumna in as many years to be selected for the squad (Diggins was picked for 2013 all-rookie honors).
• Peters earned her first WNBA Championship in 2013 with the Lynx (and fifth by a Notre Dame alumna), who defeated the Atlanta Dream (and former Fighting Irish All-American Ruth Riley) in the WNBA Finals. Riley previously had won a pair of crowns with the Detroit Shock (2003 Finals MVP, 2006), while Coquese Washington toiled for the 2000 Houston Comets and Jacqueline Batteast was Riley’s teammate on the 2006 title-winning squad in Detroit.
• For the eighth year in a row, the Fighting Irish posted a perfect 100 Graduation Success Rate (GSR) score, according to figures released by the NCAA in October. Notre Dame was one of only four schools in the previous seven years to record a perfect GSR score and play for a national championship in the same season (and the only program to do it more than once, pulling off that feat in 2011, 2012 and 2014).

The Notre Dame-Wake Forest Series
Notre Dame and Wake Forest will square off for the third time on Sunday afternoon, with the Fighting Irish winning both prior matchups (a non-conference game at Purcell Pavilion during the 2010-11 season, and the first ACC contest between the schools last year).

The Last Time Notre Dame and Wake Forest Met
Jewell Loyd had 29 points and 10 rebounds and two other players finished in double figures as No. 2 Notre Dame shook off a poor shooting night to ease past Wake Forest, 86-61 on Feb. 20, 2014, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Kayla McBride added 19 points and Taya Reimer had 10 for the Irish, who overcame their shooting woes with inside play and defense.

Notre Dame shot just 39.4 percent (28 of 71), its second-worst game of the season to date. It was the first time the Fighting Irish had been under 40 percent since beating then-No. 10 Penn State on Dec. 4.

However, the Fighting Irish forced Wake Forest into 22 turnovers, held the Demon Deacons to 35.7 percent shooting (20 of 56) and outrebounded them 49-39.

The turnovers led to a 30-12 advantage for the Fighting Irish in points, and 20 offensive rebounds gave them an 18-11 scoring advantage in second-chance points.

Notre Dame also made 27 of 31 from the free-throw line, 15 of 17 coming in the second half as the Fighting Irish built on their 51-39 halftime lead.

Wake Forest shot just 22 percent from the field (six of 27) in the second half after hitting 48.3 percent (14 of 29) in the first half.

That allowed the Fighting Irish to expand their 12-point halftime lead. They went ahead by 20 points for the first time, 70-50, on Loyd’s two free throws with 7:39 left, and scored the game’s final 10 points for the final margin.

Dearica Hamby had 26 points and Jill Brunori added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Wake Forest, which made just five of 16 three-pointers and went 16 of 29 from the foul line.

The Last Time Notre Dame and Wake Forest Met At Purcell Pavilion
Natalie Novosel scored a (then) career-high 23 points and No. 18/16 Notre Dame handed Wake Forest its first loss of the 2010-11 season, 92-69 on Nov. 27, 2010, in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Classic at Purcell Pavilion.

Novosel scored 15 of her points in the first half, when she was eight of eight from the free-throw line. Four other players scored in double figures for the Fighting Irish, including Erica Solomon with 14 points, Devereaux Peters with 12, and Natalie Achonwa and Skylar Diggins with 11 each.

Lindsy Wright led Wake Forest with 14 points while Secily Ray added 13.

After breaking out to a 45-28 halftime edge, the Fighting Irish quickly built a 26-point lead in the second half and coasted from there, opening up a 77-45 lead midway through the half.

Other Notre Dame-Wake Forest Series Tidbits

• In its 2010 game against Wake Forest, Notre Dame set school and arena records (the latter still standing, the former now second all-time) for free throws made, going 37 of 43 from the stripe. The 43 attempts also rank among the top five in school and arena history, with the only higher mark in the past 14 seasons coming on Dec. 30, 2011, when the Fighting Irish went 43 of 52 from the gift line in a 128-42 win at Mercer.
• Notre Dame is 23-2 (.920) all-time against North Carolina schools (including an active 13-game winning streak), with a 7-0 record at home inside Purcell Pavilion.
• In its 38-year history, Notre Dame has had just two North Carolina natives on its all-time roster — Raleigh product Mary Joan Forbes (1980-81) and Charlotte resident Erica Williamson (2006-10).
• Prior to his current appointment, Wake Forest president Dr. Nathan O. Hatch spent 30 years (1975-2005) in various roles at Notre Dame, including time on the faculty in the University’s history department (1975-89), and later serving in administrative capacities as associate dean and acting dean of the College of Arts and Letters (1983-89), vice president for graduate studies and research (1989-96), and University provost (1996-2005).
• Wake Forest director of track & field/cross country John Millar spent 19 seasons on the coaching staff at Notre Dame from 1990-91 through 2009-10, helping the Fighting Irish track & cross country programs to a combined 22 BIG EAST Conference titles during his tenure.
• Before coming to Notre Dame in 2006, Fighting Irish director of football media relations Michael Bertsch spent three years (2003-06) on the media relations staff at Wake Forest, working closely with the Demon Deacons’ men’s soccer and baseball programs, while also serving as secondary media contact for football and men’s basketball and chief editor of both the football game program and men’s basketball yearbook.

In The (Pink) Zone
On Sunday, Notre Dame will play host to its seventh annual Pink Zone game (known nationally as Play4Kay), with the driving focus being to raise funds for breast cancer research. The Fighting Irish players will wear special white uniforms with pink and navy blue trim, as well as pink sneakers, while the Notre Dame coaching staff also will be outfitted in various pink items.

The Fighting Irish are 5-1 in Pink Zone games and have raised nearly $750,000 in donations during those five seasons, including better than $100,000 last year (among the most in the nation by a Division I program).

At 10 a.m. (ET) Sunday, Notre Dame will hold a brunch in Club Naimoli at Purcell Pavilion to recognize members of the College of Science who are on the front lines in the fight to find a cure for cancer (the keynote speaker is Lynn Larkin Flanagan (’75), who herself is a breast cancer survivor and a women’s health advocate in San Diego), while there will be a gameday silent auction in the Monogram Room at Purcell Pavilion, featuring numerous Notre Dame women’s basketball items including memorabilia from the program’s recent NCAA Women’s Final Four appearances.

In addition, on Friday and Saturday, Notre Dame women’s basketball and the College of Science held a pair of 24-hour Spin-A-Thon fund-raisers at the Rockne Memorial on campus, as well as at the Knollwood Country Club in Granger, Indiana. These events feature participants riding stationary bikes for a set period of a time in a relay format with a pledged donation commitment from sponsors for each rider.

What’s more, Notre Dame will have a stationary bike located courtside (near Gate 10 behind the Fighting Irish bench at the southwest corner of the arena). A handful of riders will spin for a set period on the special Pink Zone bike, with a pledged commitment from sponsors.

Once again this year, all funds raised by Notre Dame during its Pink Zone campaign will be divided between a local recipient (the Foundation of St. Joseph Regional Medical Center) and a national charity (the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, who will be represented at Sunday’s game by a member of its Board of Directors, the color analyst for the ACC-Regional Sports Networks TV broadcast, Debbie Antonelli).

Doing Some Networking
Sunday’s game is the third of four appearances for Notre Dame on the ACC-Regional Sports Networks (RSN) television package this season. The Fighting Irish, who are 5-0 on the conference’s syndicated TV package since joining the ACC last year, already earned wins at No. 21/22 Syracuse (85-74 on Jan. 4) and No. 12/10 North Carolina (89-79 on Jan. 15) while playing on the ACC-RSN airwaves, with one more appearance set for Feb. 19, when Notre Dame visits Georgia Tech.

Fans wishing to tune in and watch Sunday’s ACC-RSN broadcast of the Notre Dame-Wake Forest game are asked to CLICK HERE for the latest rundown of affiliates that will carry the game (including Comcast Channel 101 in South Bend). In addition, ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app will stream the game live (subject to blackout in certain areas).

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 114-28 (.803) in February games (including an active 19-game winning streak), as well as a 63-6 (.913) mark at home. In the 28-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-88 to present), the Fighting Irish are 162-43 (.790) in the month of February, including a 85-12 (.876) 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).

Loyd, Turner Sweep Weekly ACC Honors During the first 10 weeks of the 2014-15 ACC season, junior guard Jewell Loyd and freshman forward Brianna Turner took turns earning weekly accolades from the conference, with one garnering either ACC Player or Freshman of the Week honors in seven of those 10 weeks.

On Monday, Loyd and Turner synchronized their awards, with Loyd receiving her third ACC Player of the Week honor this season (fourth of her career), and Turner tying the program record with her sixth ACC Freshman of the Week citation this season. Both honors were chosen by the conference’s Blue Ribbon Panel that 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.

This marks the second consecutive week Notre Dame has swept the ACC Player and Freshman of the Week honors, with Turner copping both accolades last week (the sixth freshman in conference history to pull off that feat and second in as many seasons, following North Carolina’s Diamond DeShields). Monday’s twin citations represents the first time two different Fighting Irish players have garnered conference player and freshman honors in the same week since Feb. 25, 2002, when Alicia Ratay was chosen as BIG EAST Conference Player of the Week, while Katy Flecky took home the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week award.

Loyd is the sixth Notre Dame player to be named a three-time conference player-of-the-week honoree in one season, and the first since Skylar Diggins collected three awards during the 2012-13 season while the Fighting Irish were members of the BIG EAST. The only Notre Dame player with more conference player-of-the-week certificates in one season than Loyd, Diggins (also 2011-12) and fellow three-time recipients Katryna Gaither (1996-97), Niele Ivey (1998-99) and Ruth Riley (1998-99 and 2000-01) is Jacqueline Batteast, who was a four-time BIG EAST Player of the Week in 2004-05.

Meanwhile, Turner has collected more than half of the conference’s 11 Freshman of the Week awards this season, with no other player earning that distinction more than once (and no school doing so more than twice) in the 2014-15 campaign. She is the 12th ACC rookie to earn six Freshman of the Week honors in one season, and the first since North Carolina’s Xylina McDaniel took six awards in 2012-13.

In addition, Turner is the third Notre Dame player in program history to earn a school-record six conference freshman-of-the-week accolades in one season, and the first since Batteast copped six BIG EAST weekly rookie awards in 2001-02 — Ratay also collected six BIG EAST freshman accolades in 1999-2000.

Loyd is one of the leading candidates for every major national player of the year honor, including the Wade Trophy, Wooden Award and Naismith Trophy, and a unanimous choice as the espnW Midseason Player of the Year that also was announced Monday.

Loyd set the pace in all three Notre Dame wins last week, averaging 26.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game with a .617 field-goal percentage and .364 three-point percentage as the Fighting Irish led virtually wire-to-wire in all three victories, including a route-going effort in a win over No. 5/6 Tennessee.

Turner earned her latest weekly ACC honor after averaging 14.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game with a double-double and a .680 field-goal percentage last week.

Conference Conquests
Notre Dame’s 78-63 loss at Miami on Jan. 8 ended a school-record 38 consecutive regular season conference games, dating back to the end of its BIG EAST Conference membership and through the first two seasons of its affiliation with the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Prior to the Miami loss, the Fighting Irish last dropped a conference regular season game on Feb. 12, 2012, falling 65-63 to then-BIG EAST foe West Virginia at Purcell Pavilion (on two free throws by WVU’s Brooke Hampton with 4.6 seconds left).

Notre Dame’s recent streak erased the prior school-record 33-game run from Feb. 25, 1989-Feb. 14, 1991 — that streak took place during the program’s dominant seven-year tenure as part of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now known as the Horizon League).

Despite the loss at Miami, and when factoring in postseason tournament results (league and NCAA), the Fighting Irish have won 53 of their last 56 games against conference opponents (and 21 in a row at home). Notre Dame’s other two losses to a league foe in the past three seasons both came at the hands of Connecticut in the 2012 BIG EAST Championship title game (63-54 in Hartford, Connecticut) and the 2013 NCAA Women’s Final Four national semifinals (83-65 in New Orleans, Louisiana).

Road Warriors
With Notre Dame’s 78-63 loss at Miami on Jan. 8, the Fighting Irish saw their NCAA Division I record-tying 30-game road winning streak snapped. It was an amazing string of success in hostile territory, a streak that lasted exactly three years (Jan. 4, 2012-Jan. 4, 2015) and ended with the Fighting Irish tied with Connecticut for the NCAA Division I all-time mark in that category.

Prior to the setback at Miami, the Fighting Irish last tasted defeat on the road on March 6, 2012, falling at No. 4 Connecticut, 63-54 in the BIG EAST Conference Championship final at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut.

In addition, the Miami loss was the first for the Fighting Irish in a regular season road game since Nov. 20, 2011, a 94-81 defeat at No. 1 Baylor in the Preseason WNIT championship game.

Notre Dame also had its streak of a school-record 25 consecutive conference road wins snapped at Miami, with the last Fighting Irish road loss in league play coming as part of the BIG EAST Conference on Feb. 28, 2011 (a last-second 70-69 loss at No. 12/11 DePaul).

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

Even with the Jan. 8 loss at Miami, Notre Dame still has won 42 of its last 43 (and 49 of its last 55) regular season road games.

More Streak Stats
Dating back to the start of the 2012-13 season, Notre Dame has posted a 92-5 (.948) record. In that three-year span, four of the five Fighting Irish losses have come against top-three teams — No. 3 Baylor (73-61 on Dec. 5, 2012, at Purcell Pavilion), No. 3 Connecticut (83-65 on April 7, 2013, in the NCAA Women’s Final Four national semifinals at New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana), No. 1 Connecticut (79-58 on April 8, 2014, in the NCAA Women’s Final Four national championship game at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee) and No. 3 Connecticut (76-58 on Dec. 6, 2014, in the Jimmy V Classic at Purcell Pavilion).

The other loss came Jan. 8 with a 78-63 setback at Miami. That defeat ended Notre Dame’s 61-game winning streak against unranked opponents (in the Associated Press poll), the second-longest active run in the nation. The Fighting Irish last fell to an unranked team on Feb. 12, 2012, suffering a last-second 65-63 home loss to West Virginia (research for this note provided by STATS via the AP).

Poise Under Pressure
Notre Dame hasn’t had to deal with many close games in recent seasons, but when faced with such a challenge, the Fighting Irish have risen to the occasion.

Notre Dame has won its last 15 games decided by single digits and/or in overtime, including all three close games this season. The Fighting Irish last dropped a single-digit decision on March 6, 2012, falling 63-54 at No. 4 Connecticut in the BIG EAST Conference Tournament championship game at Hartford, Connecticut.

Don’t Call It A Comeback
Twice in less than two weeks last month, Notre Dame has rallied from a double-digit deficit to earn a victory.

On Jan. 2, the Fighting Irish trailed Florida State, 20-8 with 7:41 left in the first half before charging back to win, 74-68 at Purcell Pavilion.

On Jan. 15, Notre Dame fell behind at No. 12/10 North Carolina, 34-23 with 5:28 to go in the first half, but the Fighting Irish rallied to register an 89-79 victory in Chapel Hill.

Even in its second loss of the season on Jan. 8 at Miami, Notre Dame showed remarkable character, erasing nearly all of a 22-point second-half deficit (45-23 with 17:00 to play) and getting within 55-49 with eight minutes left before UM held on for the win.

Visiting Century City
Notre Dame has scored at least 100 points four times this season (and posted 97 points in another), already challenging last year’s school-record mark of five triple-digit outings, erasing the 2012-13 standard of three such contests.

The Fighting Irish have piled up 12 100-point games since the start of the 2011-12 season (and nine 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.

This season marked the first time the Fighting Irish opened with three 100-point games in their first six contests. In fact, prior to 2012-13, Notre Dame had never had more than two triple-digit outings in an entire season, something it has now done for a third consecutive campaign.

Crown Jewell
Junior guard Jewell Loyd leads the ACC and ranks 14th in the nation in scoring (as of Saturday), thanks in part to one of the most explosive individual scoring seasons in Notre Dame women’s basketball history.

• Loyd has scored 470 points in her first 22 games this season (21.4 points per game), matching the quickest run to a “quad century” in program annals (like Loyd, Katryna Gaither scored her 400th point in her 19th game during the 1996-97 season, a 65-49 win at home over Pittsburgh on Jan. 18, 1997).
• Loyd is the first Fighting Irish women’s basketball player to register eight 20-point games in her first 10 outings of a season, surpassing Gaither (who had seven 20-point games in first 10 contests of 1996-97).
• Loyd currently leads the ACC with 13 20-point games this season, and she has 28 career 20-point games, good for eighth in Fighting Irish history.
• Loyd is the first Notre Dame women’s basketball player to register back-to-back 30-point games and for good measure, she did it against a pair of ranked opponents in No. 3 UConn (31 points) and No. 25 DePaul (school record-tying 41 points). Current Fighting Irish associate coach Beth (Morgan) Cunningham had two 30-point games in three days on Dec. 1 and 3, 1995, in close losses to No. 12/13 Penn State (32) and No. RV/22 Texas A&M (34) at the Kona Women’s Basketball Classic in Kona, Hawaii, although there was a game between those two (Cunningham scored 23 points in a win over Washington).
• For the second consecutive year, Loyd has tied the program record with three 30-point games in one season, most recently dropping in 34 points against No. 5/6 Tennessee on Jan. 19 at Purcell Pavilion. It was the third-highest single-game point total by a Notre Dame player in arena history, and most since Feb. 22, 2000, when Ruth Riley scored 36 points against Miami.
• Loyd’s six career 30-point games tie the school record set by Gaither from 1993-97.
• Loyd is eighth in school history with 1,607 career points, moving up two rungs on the Notre Dame career scoring list on Jan. 24 with a game-high 17 points at Clemson, passing both Trena Keys (1,589 points from 1982-86) and Karen Robinson (1,590 points from 1987-91).
• Loyd scored her 1,500th career point in her 90th career game on Jan. 11, 2015, vs. Boston College at Purcell Pavilion. Loyd is the second-quickest player to score to 1,500 points in program history, trailing only Cunningham, who scored her 1,500th point at Notre Dame in her 80th career game on Feb. 21, 1996, at home against Miami.

The Model Of Consistency
Junior guard Jewell Loyd scored eight points in Notre Dame’s 89-79 win at No. 12/10 North Carolina on Jan. 15, ending Loyd’s streak of scoring in double figures at 60 consecutive games. This remarkable run dated 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, Connecticut.

Loyd’s 60-game double-digit scoring streak was the second-longest in school history, topped only by Katryna Gaither’s 76-game string from 1994-97.

In less than three seasons at Notre Dame, Loyd has scored in double figures in 82 of her 95 career games — and 11 of those 13 single-digit games saw her within one basket of double figures.

Turner Throwing A Block Party
Freshman forward Brianna Turner has recorded 40 blocked shots in her last 11 games (3.6 bpg.), all since returning from a shoulder injury that sidelined her for the better part of the four previous games.

Following her return on Dec. 21 against Saint Joseph’s (Pa.), the Pearland, Texas, native has logged at least five blocks in six games, including a career-high seven rejections at No. 21/22 Syracuse on Jan. 4 and at No. 12/10 North Carolina on Jan. 15.

Turner’s 22 blocks from Dec. 21-Jan. 4 were the most by a Notre Dame player in a four-game span since Nov. 21-Dec. 2, 1998, when Ruth Riley had 22 blocks against No. 6/4 Duke, No. 25/23 Illinois, San Francisco and Toledo.

As of Saturday, Turner ranks third in the ACC and 21st in the nation at 2.7 blocks per game, while her 51 total blocks already rank fourth in school history among Fighting Irish freshmen (current Notre Dame sophomore forward Taya Reimer logged 52 blocks last year, third-most in program annals).

In addition, Turner is on pace for the second-best blocked shot average by a freshman in program history, and best since 1979-80, when Shari Matvey averaged 3.1 blocks per game.

Youth Movement
Notre Dame continues to make impressive strides this season, considering the Fighting Irish came into the campaign looking to replace three senior starters who accounted for close to 40 percent of the team’s scoring, rebounding and assists last season.

This year, Notre Dame hasn’t featured a senior in its most common starting lineup, and four of the team’s top five scorers and three of its top four rebounders are underclassmen (freshmen or sophomores), the lone exception in both cases being the ACC’s leading scorer, junior guard Jewell Loyd.

Leading the Fighting Irish youth movement is freshman forward Brianna Turner. A six-time ACC Freshman of the Week and two-time United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) National Freshman of the Week, Turner ranks among the top 11 in the ACC in points, rebounds, blocks and field-goal percentage (leading the nation in the latter category), the only conference rookie to rank in the top 11 in the league in those four categories — in fact, no other ACC freshman ranks in the top 11 in more than two of those areas.

Nearly In A Class By Themselves
For the fourth consecutive season, a Notre Dame senior class is threatening to set the bar in terms of career wins by one group. The current class of tri-captains Whitney Holloway and Markisha Wright, plus Madison Cable, stands third all-time with 127 wins (127-9, .934), trailing only the seniors from 2012-13 and 2013-14.

Last year, Notre Dame’s three-player senior class of Natalie Achonwa, Ariel Braker and Kayla McBride posted the best four-year record (138-15, .902) in school history, topping the win total (130) compiled by the previous year’s seniors (Skylar Diggins and Kaila Turner).

The year before Diggins and Turner departed, Notre Dame’s Class of 2012 (Brittany Mallory, Fraderica Miller, Natalie Novosel and Devereaux Peters) rang up 117 wins to set the early benchmark in this current era of Fighting Irish women’s basketball success.

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 capped their careers with the program’s first NCAA national championship and included (among others) consensus national player of the year and 13-year WNBA veteran Ruth Riley, as well as current Fighting Irish assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Niele Ivey.

Game #22 Recap: Virginia Tech
Kathryn Westbeld scored a career-high 17 points in leading fourth-ranked Notre Dame to a 74-50 victory over Virginia Tech on Thursday night at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Virginia.

The freshman forward was averaging 8.6 points per game before scoring 11 in the first half as Notre Dame (20-2, 7-1 ACC) jumped out to a 43-17 lead.

The Fighting Irish, tied with Florida State and Louisville atop the ACC standings, won their sixth straight game and beat the Hokies for the third consecutive time.

Westbeld was eight of 14 from the floor and Notre Dame shot 50 percent (28 of 56). She went five of six from the floor in the first half, as the Fighting Irish led by as many as 28 points.

She got help from Jewell Loyd, who was leading the ACC in scoring at 21.6 points per game. She added 16 points for the Fighting Irish, including 14 in the first half. Loyd went five of nine from the field, making both three-point attempts, and scored in double figures for the 21st time this season.

Notre Dame – which has no seniors in its starting lineup – trailed by a basket early in the game but used a 21-3 run to grab the lead and never trailed again. Loyd scored 10 points during the spurt.

The Fighting Irish statistically dominated the first 20 minutes en route to a 26-point halftime lead. They shot 57.1 percent (16 of 28) in the first half, including 55.6 percent from beyond the three-point arc (five of nine). They also outrebounded the Hokies 22-10.

Hannah Young led Virginia Tech (10-11, 1-7), which outscored Notre Dame 33-31 in the second half, with 13 points. Rachel Camp, the Hokies’ leading scorer at 15 points per game coming in, had just six and fouled out with 8:21 remaining.

Virginia Tech shot only 35.8 percent from the floor (19 of 53) in losing for the seventh time in eight games.

Beyond The Box Score: Virginia Tech

• Notre Dame recorded its 20th win of the season, the 21st time in the past 22 seasons the Fighting Irish have reached that mark, as well as the 25th time in the 28-year tenure of head coach Muffet McGraw.
• Notre Dame makes the turn in ACC play with a 7-1 record, the sixth consecutive season the Fighting Irish have reached the midpoint of the conference season with 0-1 losses in league action.
• The Fighting Irish move to 7-1 all-time against Virginia Tech (2-1 in Blacksburg) and have won the past three series games with the Hokies (the past two by nearly identical scores, following last year’s 74-48 win at Purcell Pavilion).
• Notre Dame is 12-8 (.600) all-time against Virginia schools, having won its last six games against the Commonwealth.
• The Fighting Irish are 4-5 on the road all-time against Virginia schools and have won their last three.
• Notre Dame has won the last five games it has played in the Commonwealth, adding in victories over Kansas and Duke in the 2013 NCAA Norfolk Regional semifinals and final in Norfolk, Virginia.
• Westbeld is the second Notre Dame freshman this year to score a career-high 17 points on her birthday (Mychal Johnson posted that total for the Fighting Irish in an 88-53 win over Chattanooga on Nov. 21 at Purcell Pavilion).
• Westbeld’s 17 points matched Johnson’s total against Chattanooga for the most by a Fighting Irish player off the bench this season.
• Westbeld is the fifth different Notre Dame player to lead the team in scoring this year.
• Allen dished out at least five assists for the ninth consecutive game and 14th time this season.

Polling Station
Notre Dame is ranked No. 4 in this week’s Associated Press preseason poll, its 78th consecutive week in the top 10 of the media balloting (72 of those in the top five), dating back to the middle of the 2010-11 season and marking 148 consecutive weeks in the AP poll.

The Fighting Irish reached a milestone on Nov. 26, 2012, with their 100th consecutive AP poll appearance. It extended the program record that started with the AP preseason poll in 2007-08 (the old record was 59 consecutive weeks from 1998-2001), and it made the Fighting Irish one of seven teams in the nation with an active streak of 100 consecutive AP poll appearances.

What’s more, every current Notre Dame player has competed for a top-10 Fighting Irish squad throughout her career (71 consecutive weeks for the current senior class), spending the vast majority (65) of those appearances in the AP Top 5 (and never lower than seventh).

Notre Dame was No. 3 in the preseason AP poll, representing the 15th time in 16 years (starting with the 1999-2000 campaign) that Notre Dame has appeared in the preseason AP poll, something only five schools in the nation have done — Connecticut, Duke and Tennessee have shown up in all 16 during that span, while Stanford joins the Fighting Irish with 15 preseason AP poll berths.

Notre Dame has been ranked in the AP poll for 287 weeks during the program’s 38-year history, with every one of those appearances coming in the Muffet McGraw era (since 1987-88). McGraw is eighth among all active NCAA Division I head coaches for weeks in the AP poll, and 16th all-time in that category.

Meanwhile, the Fighting Irish are No. 4 in this week’s WBCA/USA Today coaches’ poll, after spending two weeks earlier this season as the nation’s No. 1 team (Nov. 25 and Dec. 2). It was the first time Notre Dame stood atop the rankings since April 1, 2001, following the program’s first NCAA national championship. The Fighting Irish were the first ACC team to be ranked No. 1 in either major national poll since March 12, 2007, when Duke was in that position prior to the NCAA Championship.

Notre Dame has been ranked in the coaches’ poll for 150 of the past 151 weeks (and 114 in a row), falling just outside the Top 25 in the final poll of the 2008-09 season. Nevertheless, the Fighting Irish have appeared in the coaches’ poll for a total of 282 weeks during their history (all coming during McGraw’s tenure).

This marks the seventh consecutive season Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 10 of the WBCA/USA Today poll, as well as 13 of the past 17 campaigns (1998-99 to present).

More Polling Data
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw is one of 33 people in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history who have both played for and coached a team that has appeared in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Besides her 287 AP poll appearances while coaching at Notre Dame, McGraw was the starting point guard at Saint Joseph’s (Pa.) as a senior in 1977, helping the Hawks to No. 3 in the nation.

Of the 33 people on this list, 18 currently are NCAA Division I head coaches (see accompanying chart), with McGraw and Baylor’s Kim Mulkey the only active skippers to play for and coach a team in the AP poll, and coach that team to a national title (McGraw in 2001, Mulkey in 2005 and 2012).

Half And Half
During the past 15 seasons, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Fighting Irish are 330-19 (.946) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 258 of their last 271 such contests (.952).

What’s more, in the past six seasons (2009-10 to present), Notre Dame is 167-2 (.988) when leading at the half, with the only losses coming on April 5, 2011, in the NCAA national championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (Notre Dame led Texas A&M, 35-33 at intermission before falling 76-70), and Feb. 12, 2012, against West Virginia (Fighting Irish led 33-30 at the break before the visiting Mountaineers rallied to win in the closing seconds, 65-63).

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense…
During the past 20 seasons, Notre Dame has discovered that a solid defensive effort can almost certainly guarantee a victory. In fact, since the beginning of the 1995-96 season, the Fighting Irish have an amazing 303-15 (.953) record when they hold their opponents below 60 points in a game, including a 11-0 record this season.

…But Sometimes You Have To Score If You Want To Win
Not resting solely on its defensive laurels, Notre Dame also seemingly has found the magic mark when it comes to outscoring its opponents. During the past 20 seasons (since 1995-96), the Fighting Irish are 228-6 (.974) when they score at least 80 points in a game. The only blemishes on that record are three overtime losses to Texas A&M (88-84) and Michigan State (87-83) in 1995 and UCLA (86-83 in double OT) in 2010, as well as a 106-81 loss to Connecticut in 1998, an 81-80 loss to DePaul in 2008, and a 94-81 setback at Baylor in 2011.

In the past six years (2009-10 to present), Notre Dame is 105-2 (.981) when topping the 80-point mark, including an active 72-game winning streak since a 94-81 loss at No. 1 Baylor on Nov. 20, 2011, in the Preseason WNIT title game.

Now That’s A Home Court Advantage
One of the hallmarks of Notre Dame’s success has been its stellar play at home. In fact, the Fighting Irish have been virtually untouchable at home in recent years, winning 263 of their last 293 games (.898), all but one game/win at the 9,149-seat Purcell Pavilion, including winning streaks of 51, 34, 25 and 20 games in that span.

Since Purcell Pavilion was renovated prior to the 2009-10 season, Notre Dame is 89-6 (.937) — including wins in 65 of its last 68 games — and three of the six Fighting Irish losses in their refurbished facility have come by three points or fewer (two in overtime).

Notre Dame also has a 207-30 (.873) record in regular season conference play at the former Joyce Center, sporting a program-record 31-game league winning streak at home before it ended with a 48-45 loss to BIG EAST foe Villanova in the ’02 home finale.

The Fighting Irish have been especially strong when it comes to non-league home games, winning 126 of their last 136 out-of-conference home contests (.926), dating back to the 1994-95 season. Five of the 10 losses in that span came at the hands of Big Ten opponents (four by 12 points or less) — Wisconsin in 1996 (81-69), Purdue in 2003 (71-54), Michigan State in 2004 (82-73 OT), Indiana in 2006 (54-51) and Minnesota in 2009 (79-71) — with the other defeats coming to Tennessee in 2005 (62-51) and 2008 (87-63), UCLA in 2010 (86-83 in 2OT), Baylor in 2012 (73-61) and Connecticut in 2014 (76-58). The Purdue loss snapped a 33-game non-conference home winning streak that began after the UW setback.

Since its inaugural season in 1977-78, Notre Dame has played all but one of its games at the former Joyce Center, posting a 412-91 (.819) record at the venerable facility, including a school-record 17 wins in both 2011-12 and 2013-14.

One Of Nation’s Toughest Cities To Play In
According to a study released by the University of Utah Athletic Media Relations Office, Notre Dame and Purcell Pavilion are among the toughest places in the nation to play. In fact, Notre Dame is one of just 11 programs in the nation to own a winning percentage of .800 or better in its home city.

Fighting Irish Are Hottest Ticket In Town
The past five seasons have seen an unprecedented surge in fan support for Notre Dame women’s basketball, as the Fighting Irish set new program records for the highest year-end NCAA attendance ranking (fourth in 2009-10 and 2013-14), highest average attendance (8,979 fans per game in 2012-13) and most sellouts in a single season (11 in 2012-13). And, as the old saying goes — “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

For the sixth consecutive year, Notre Dame fans all but exhausted the program’s season ticket packages (approximately 7,500) and have snapped up single-game ducats at a rate that helped the Fighting Irish post four sellouts (Dec. 6 vs. Connecticut; Jan. 2 vs. Florida State; Jan. 11 vs. Boston College; Jan. 19 vs. Tennessee), while several other home games are rapidly approaching sellout status.

As of Saturday, Notre Dame ranks fourth in the nation in attendance, averaging 8,859 fans per game. That equates to 96.83 percent of Purcell Pavilion’s capacity, the highest such percentage of any team in the country (DePaul is second at 93.46 percent).

Oh Captain, My Captain
Senior guard Whitney Holloway, senior forward Markisha Wright and junior guard Michaela Mabrey are serving as Notre Dame’s team captains for the 2014-15 season. All three players received the captain’s honor for the first time in their respective careers following a preseason vote by their teammates.

This is the seventh time in 11 seasons the Fighting Irish have had a trio of captains, as well as the second year in a row (Natalie Achonwa, Ariel Braker and Kayla McBride filled the captaincy trio last season).

Achonwa Named To 2015 ACC Women’s Basketball Legends Class
Natalie Achonwa (’14), one of the cornerstones of the most successful four-year run in Notre Dame women’s basketball history and a tri-captain on last year’s Fighting Irish squad that earned the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament championships with a combined 19-0 record, has been named to the 11th annual class of ACC Women’s Basketball Legends, the conference office announced Tuesday.

Achonwa (pronounced uh-CHAWN-wuh) and the rest of the 2015 ACC Legends Class (which includes 14 former student-athletes and one former head coach who represent five decades of women’s basketball) will be honored at the annual ACC Women’s Basketball Legends Brunch at 10 a.m. (ET) March 7 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The group then will be introduced to the crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum at halftime of the first ACC Tournament semifinal that afternoon.

The ACC Women’s Basketball Legends program honors both players and coaches from each of the ACC’s 15 schools who have contributed to the conference’s rich tradition. The full list of this year’s ACC Women’s Basketball Legends can be found on the conference’s official web site, theacc.com.

Tickets to the ACC Women’s Basketball Legends Brunch are priced at $35 each and can be purchased by calling (336) 369-4673 — quantities are limited.

A two-time All-America forward, Achonwa helped lead Notre Dame to a 138-15 (.902) record from 2010-11 through 2013-14, along with four NCAA Women’s Final Four appearances and three trips to the NCAA title game, as well as three conference championships (two in the BIG EAST Conference before last year’s perfect run through the ACC) and two conference tournament crowns (2013 in the BIG EAST, 2014 in the ACC). She also ranks among the program’s all-time leaders in points (13th – 1,546 points), rebounds (fourth – 970), field goal percentage (sixth – .562) and double-doubles (tied-fifth – 28).

Later this year, Achonwa will continue her basketball career as a member of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, who selected her in the first round (No. 9 overall) of the 2014 WNBA Draft. Achonwa missed the 2014 season while recovering from knee surgery.

A native of Guelph, Ontario, Achonwa graduated from Notre Dame in May 2014, earning her bachelor’s degree in management-consulting from the top-ranked Mendoza College of Business. She currently serves as an operations specialist for the Fighting Irish women’s basketball program, coordinating team travel arrangements, supervising the team’s student managers, helping oversee the program’s popular summer camps, and serving as a liaison for the team’s numerous community service projects.

Riley Earns 2015 Moose Krause Award
The Notre Dame Monogram Club has selected former women’s basketball star Ruth Riley (’01) as this year’s recipient of the Edward “Moose” Krause Distinguished Service Award.

Riley will receive the organization’s highest honor during Notre Dame’s game vs. Louisville on Feb. 23 at Purcell Pavilion.

A 13-year WNBA veteran, Riley retired from the sport in June 2014 and currently serves as an NBA/WNBA Cares Ambassador. Back in November, Riley traveled to Leipzig, Germany, where she was honored as a 2014 Junior Chamber International Ten Outstanding Young Persons of The World recipient in the category of humanitarian and/or voluntary leadership. She was the first American to receive the global award since 2008.

Irish Fans Crave Another Big Mac Attack
Now in its eighth season, Notre Dame’s wildly-successful “Big Mac” promotion once again looks to send fans home with full bellies, offering a coupon for a free Big Mac from South Bend-area McDonald’s restaurants if the Fighting Irish score at least 88 points in an regular season or exhibition game at Purcell Pavilion.

In the eight-year history of the promotion, Notre Dame has hit the 88-point mark at home 61 times, most recently in the Jan. 22 win over Georgia Tech.

Senior forward Markisha Wright leads all current Fighting Irish players with seven “Big Mac Baskets” apiece during her career.

And for those tracking such things (or perhaps falling under the heading of “the media relations director has way too much time on his hands”), 28 different players have converted the “burger ball”, including 10 current members of the Fighting Irish roster.

What’s more, of the 61 Big Mac games, 29 have been reached on two-point baskets, 19 on free throws, and 13 on three-pointers.

Next Game: Virginia
Notre Dame continues the second half of the Atlantic Coast Conference season at 7 p.m. (ET) Thursday when it welcomes Virginia to Purcell Pavilion for the first time in series history. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

— Chris Masters, Associate Athletic Media Relations Director