Dec. 4, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame junior guard Charel Allen (Monessen, Pa./Monessen) has been chosen for the BIG EAST Conference Weekly Honor Roll, the league office announced Monday. It’s the second time in Allen’s career she has earned a weekly conference honor, garnering the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week citation on Feb. 7, 2005. Allen is the first Irish women’s basketball player to receive a weekly conference award this season, with Megan Duffy the last Notre Dame cager to pick up a BIG EAST honor with her Player of the Week selection on Feb. 27, 2006.
Allen averaged 18.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game with a .458 field goal percentage for the Irish last week, helping her squad earn wins in two of three games. She also scored in double figures in all three contests, including a career-high (and game-best) 22 points in an 87-66 Notre Dame victory over Richmond on Nov. 28. Allen went on to collect a game-high 15 points in the Irish comeback win at Michigan, hitting a key three-pointer with 10.9 seconds left to pull Notre Dame within a point, and then converting both ends of a one-and-one with 0.7 ticks to play, sealing the win. Allen capped off her week by scoring a team-high 17 points and grabbing a career-high-tying nine rebounds in a three-point loss to Indiana on Sunday.
For the season, Allen leads the Irish in scoring (and ranks 11th in the BIG EAST) at 15.9 points per game, while she also stands ninth in the conference in steals (2.25 per game) and free throw percentage (.818). Her current string of eight consecutive double-digit scoring games this season is tied for second in the BIG EAST (behind only Providence’s Chelsea Marandola), and dating back to last year, Allen has scored in double figures in 16 of the past 20 Irish games.
Notre Dame (5-3) gets back on the hardwood Wednesday at 7 p.m. (ET) when it takes on No. 10/9 Purdue in the second of a three-game homestand at the Joyce Center. The first 3,000 fans through the turnstiles will receive an Irish women’s basketball rally towel, courtesy of Papa Vino’s, and the band “Cook & Belle” will perform at halftime. Tickets for the Purdue game, and all remaining Irish women’s basketball contests, are available at a cost of $8 for adults and $5 for youths (21-and-under) or seniors (55-and-older), while Notre Dame/Saint Mary’s/Holy Cross students are admitted free with their student ID. Purchases can be made in person (second-floor ticket windows at the Joyce Center at the Gate 1 entrance), by phone (574-631-7356), or on-line at the official Notre Dame athletics web site by clicking here.
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