Senior guard Charel Allen became the fourth Notre Dame player in five seasons named to the State Farm Wade Trophy Preseason List, when she was tabbed for a spot on the 2007-08 chart according to Tuesday's announcement by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).

Charel Allen Selected As BIG EAST Player Of The Week

Jan. 22, 2007

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame junior guard Charel Allen (Monessen, Pa./Monessen) has been chosen as the BIG EAST Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday. It’s the first time in Allen’s three-year career she has been tapped for the award, although she was twice named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll earlier this season and was selected as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Feb. 7, 2005.

In one of the best weeks of her career, Allen averaged 28.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game with a .641 field goal percentage (25-of-39) and a .571 three-point percentage (4-of-7) as Notre Dame defeated both St. John’s (83-65) and Syracuse (83-55) at home. Against St. John’s, Allen poured in a career-high 31 points on 14-of-19 shooting, logging the second-most field goals made by an Irish player in Joyce Center history. Four days later vs. Syracuse, Allen notched her second career double-double (both this season) with a game-high 25 points and a career-high-tying 10 rebounds. She also became the first Notre Dame player with consecutive 25-point games since Feb. 16-19, 2002, when Alicia Ratay did so against Rutgers (25) and West Virginia (31).

For the season, Allen leads the team and ranks ninth in the BIG EAST in scoring (15.9 ppg.), while also collecting 6.1 rebounds per game. Besides her scoring totals, Allen is among the conference leaders in steals (tie-sixth, 2.28 spg.), and she has scored in double figures 16 times in 18 games this season, including each of the past eight contests (averaging 18.4 ppg. in that span).

Notre Dame (13-5, 4-1 BIG EAST) opens a rugged three-game BIG EAST road swing Tuesday when it travels to No. 19 Marquette for an 8 p.m. CT (9 p.m. ET) game at the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee. That game will be broadcast live to a national audience on College Sports Television (CSTV) as the nightcap of a BIG EAST women’s basketball doubleheader.

— ND —