| NCAA Bridgeport Regional: | #5 Seed Notre Dame |
|---|---|
| Where: | Bridgeport, CT | Total Mortgage Arena |
| Listen: | 99.9 WQLQ-FM | ND Radio Network |
| Notes: | ND Notes |
| Social: | @NDWBB |
| Sweet 16: | #1 seed NC State |
| When: | Saturday, March 26 | 11:30 am ET |
| Watch: | ESPN |
| Elite 8: | #2 seed UConn or #3 seed Indiana |
| When: | Monday, March 28 | TBD |
Bracket | Notre Dame Notes | Clemson Notes
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The calendar turned to March and that can only mean one thing, it’s championship week for ACC women’s basketball. The University of Notre Dame (10-9) earned a No. 6 seed this time around, an improvement of four spots a season ago. Keep in mind, the Irish could have finished as high as No. 4 if they had been victorious this past Sunday against top-10 ranked Louisville.
Notre Dame’s journey inside the Greensboro Coliseum starts on Thursday, March 4, against 11th-seeded Clemson (10-12). That matchup will tip off at 8:30 p.m. EST on RSN (Regional Sports Affiliates). Please check the table above to find the game on T.V. in your area. For those in the South Bend market, the game will air on the Marquee Network.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Historically, Notre Dame has enjoyed much success inside the Greensboro Coliseum. The Irish are 17-2 all-time at the ACC Tournament, with a loss to Louisville in the 2018 title game and a 2nd round opening loss to Pitt just a year ago.
The Irish boast 11 total conference tournament crowns in its program history. ACC-wise, they won four straight tournament titles after joining the league for the 2013-14 season, then tacked on a fifth in 2019.
Interesting to note that Notre Dame and Clemson have never met in the conference tournament, along with Notre Dame and Georgia Tech. Plus, if there’s a potential semifinal bout between ND and NC State, it’ll mark the first time two conference opponents meet in a tournament, without facing off once in the regular season.
LAST TIME VS CLEMSON
Clemson got the best of Notre Dame right before the Christmas break. The Tigers jumped on the Irish and never looked back, cruising to a 78-55 victory at Clemson. Notre Dame shot just 36.8 percent for the game, coughed the ball up 17 times and was out-rebounded 50-36.
Destinee Walker led the Irish with 14 points off the bench on 6-of-10 shooting. Abby Prohaska also poured in a career-high 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Freshman Maddy Westbeld tallied a stat-stuffer game with six points, five assists and 11 rebounds.
RUBBER MATCH WITH GEORGIA TECH?
If the Irish were to get past their ‘Revenge’ match with Clemson, up next on the ‘Road’ to the ACC crown would be a ‘Rubber-match’ with Georgia Tech.
The Irish hosted the Yellow Jackets twice inside Purcell Pavilion, earlier on in the ACC season. Georgia Tech had the first laugh with an 82-67 victory on Dec. 13. Georgia Tech’s Lotta-Maj Lahtinen led with 19 points while Lorela Cubaj collected a 16-point, 13-rebound, double-double. On the ND side, Maddy Westbeld led with 21 points and nine rebounds, while Dara Mabrey joined her in double figures with 11 points. The Yellow Jackets scored 21 points off of 17 ND turnovers.
However, the Irish got ‘Retribution’ on Jan. 3, kicking off the new year with a 69-67 nail-biting victory. Destinee Walker played hero with 21 seconds left, hitting the game-winner near the right-side baseline, just outside the paint. Walker finished with 15 points while Mabrey led with 16 points. Westbeld and Vaughn each added 11 points. Defensively, the Irish kept Cubaj in check this time around, holding her to six points and eight rebounds. Lahtinen had 11 points and seven boards while Kierra Fletcher led with 19 points.
ACC ROOKIE OF THE YEAR, MADDY WESTBELD
The ACC Head Coaches voted Maddy Westbeld as their Rookie of the Year winner. Westbeld enters an elite Notre Dame club, becoming just the sixth player in program history to win a conference’s Rookie of the Year award. She also is the second to do so in the ACC, joining Briana Turner who accomplished the feat in 2015.
Westbeld’s awards haul didn’t stop there. Notre Dame’s leading scorer and rebounder also collected First Team All-ACC honors as voted upon by the Blue-Ribbon media panel and a Second-Team nod from the Head Coaches Panel. Westbeld also naturally landed on the ACC All-Freshman list.
THE MOST COMPLETE FRESHMAN IN THE ACC
One could make the argument that Maddy deserved the Blue-Ribbon media nod as well. She’s not only the most complete freshman in the ACC this season, but also one of the most complete in the entire country.
Here’s the stats to back it up:
• ACC Freshmen-only stat rankings: 1st in Scoring, 2nd in Rebounding, 2nd in Steals, 4th in Assists & 4th in Blocks. She is the only freshman in the league to rank in the top-four in all above-mentioned categories.
• Maddy is the only freshman in the country averaging at least 14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists & 1.4 steals. Overall, she’s just 1-of-9 Division-I players, and the only one from a Power-Five school.
• Ranks 5th in the country among freshmen in the Points+Rebounds+Assists/Game category with 25.3. Tops ACC freshmen.
• Her 14.9 ppg leads all ACC rookies and ranks 10th overall in the league. Nationally, her scoring average ranks 12th among all Division I freshmen.
WHO’S HOT — OLIVIA
How about Notre Dame’s first-ever early enrollee Olivia Miles. The freshman has fired off four straight games in double figures, totaling 42 points (10.5 ppg). She’s brought an efficient shooting approach, converting 20-of-35 (.571) from the field over those four games. She’s shooting 53.7 percent from the field overall.
If you are just looking at ND stats since their return from the Covid pause – Olivia boasts the second-highest scoring average with her 10.7 ppg. She’s also averaging 3.7 apg in that stretch.
WHO’S HOT CONTINUED — MADDY
Joining Miles in the hot-hand department is the team’s scoring and rebounding leader Maddy Westbeld. Since returning from the team’s Covid pause — two double-doubles, 46 points and 29 rebounds over three games. Nearly averaging a double-double in that span with 15.3 ppg and 9.7 rpg.
WHO’S HOT CONTINUED — SAM
Before the team Covid pause, Sam Brunelle fired off three straight games in double figures, totaling 39 points, 13 assists and 21 rebounds. She also had dished a career-high five assists in back-to-back games. She almost made it four straight games but came up just shy with eight points vs. Florida State.
Then Brunelle went off in the third quarter vs. Louisville on Feb. 28, shooting 5-of-6 to score 11 of her 13 points.
Thus, over her last five games, the sophomore has averaged 12.0 ppg, 5.6 rpg and 3.0 assists.
In addition, her 24 rebounds over the last four games, are more than the previous nine games combined.
RECORD CHASING
Destinee Walker has been absolutely dominant at the free-throw line this season. She ranks 2nd in the ACC and 12th in the country, converting 90.2 percent of her attempts, aka 55-of-61. She recently had a streak of 27 straight made free throws break at the Florida State game on Feb. 25.
Walker has a solid chance at becoming the new top Notre Dame single-season free-throw shooter. The record is currently held by Kayla McBride, who shot 90.0 percent (90-of-100) in the 2012-13 season (minimum of 2.0 made per game).
Meanwhile, Westbeld is honing in on a top-three finish amongst ND freshmen all-time. Right now, her scoring average would rank third behind Shari Matvey (17.6 in 1979-80) and Beth Morgan (17.9 in 1993-94). Furthermore, her 7.8 rpg would rank fifth.
HERE COME THE IRISH — OLIVIA MILES
Miles has brought a new look and swagger to the Irish offense. The freshman will be riding a four-game double-digit scoring streak heading into Greensboro. The New Jersey native is coming off a Louisville game in which she accomplished highs in both points (11) and assists (6). The game prior vs Florida State, she produced highs in points (11) and rebounds (8).
More impressive is the fact that the 18-year old has been thrown into the fire, with four out of her five games being against top-5 seeds in the ACC tournament.
Miles made up one-half of Coach Ivey’s top-five nationally ranked recruiting class that also featured guard Sonia Citron. Miles was ranked the No. 8 prospect overall by ESPN and the No. 2 point guard.
BRACKETOLOGY REPORT
“Great moments are born from great opportunity.”
After a big 2-1 week with wins over Pitt and Florida State, Notre Dame hits do-or-die time at the ACC Tournament. ESPN’s Charlie Creme has the Irish as the ‘Last Team In’.
This is the most ‘bubbly’ the ACC has been in years, so this week will be critical come Selection Monday. Creme has Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Miami all on the bubble and needing wins in Greensboro. Certainly, wins over Clemson and three-seeded Georgia Tech would bolster Notre Dame’s tournament resume.
Currently, the Irish boast a NET ranking of 52. Notre Dame is 4-6 this season against Top-50 NET opponents.
APPROACHING MILESTONE: 700
When it comes to the Mabrey family, that’s a whole lot of buckets. Queens of the three some might say. Marina graduated in 2019 as the program’s all-time career made three-pointer leader, draining a total of 274. Michaela converted a career total of 228, while Dara now boasts 193. All-in-all, the Mabreys have totaled a whopping 695 splash-downs.
— ND —