Jan. 10, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the second consecutive week, senior forward Devereaux Peters (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick) has been named to the BIG EAST Conference Women’s Basketball Weekly Honor Roll, the league office announced Monday. Peters was one of five players chosen for this week’s honor (also the second of her career), which recognizes outstanding weekly achievements by conference players who are not chosen as the BIG EAST Player of the Week.
As she did the week prior, Peters nearly averaged a double-double in two games last week, registering 17.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and 2.0 steals per game with a .560 field goal percentage (14-of-25) and a double-double as Notre Dame earned a convincing BIG EAST road win at Marquette (73-55) on Wednesday and then pushed No. 2 Connecticut to the breaking point on Saturday before the Huskies pulled out a last-second 79-76 decision at Purcell Pavilion.
At Marquette, Peters chalked up game highs of 18 points (on 9-of-12 shooting), eight rebounds and four steals, pacing the Fighting Irish to their first win at MU’s Al McGuire Center since 2004. Three days later against Connecticut, Peters was dominant to the tune of 17 points, a game-high 11 rebounds and a game-best/season-high four blocks, posting her third double-double of the season, all in the past five games. Peters also was a major contributor in Notre Dame’s 38-30 scoring edge in the paint (the most points allowed by UConn in the paint this season), as well as the 23 offensive rebounds collected by the Fighting Irish (also the most by a Huskies’ opponent this year).
Peters currently ranks third on the team in scoring at 10.7 points per game, while leading the squad in rebounding (6.5 rpg.) and blocked shots (1.6 bpg.), and placing second in field goal percentage (.550), free throw percentage (.848) and steals (2.1 spg.). She also ranks among the BIG EAST leaders in blocked shots (seventh), field goal percentage (ninth), steals (13th) and rebounding (tie-19th).
The first multiple BIG EAST weekly honoree for Notre Dame this season, Peters is part of a group of four Fighting Irish players that feature at least one conference weekly award recipient from all four classes. Junior guard Natalie Novosel (Lexington, Ky./Lexington Catholic) and sophomore guard Skylar Diggins (South Bend, Ind./Washington) join Peters as Notre Dame players who have been selected for the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll this season — Novosel was chosen on Nov. 29 and Diggins was cited a week later on Dec. 6. In addition, freshman forward Natalie Achonwa (Guelph, Ontario/St. Mary’s Catholic) was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Dec. 13.
The No. 12 Fighting Irish will return to the hardwood at 7 p.m. (ET) Wednesday when they play host to Louisville at Purcell Pavilion — tickets are still on sale through Notre Dame’s Murnane Family Ticket Office, open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) weekdays at Gate 9 of Purcell Pavilion and by phone at (574) 631-7356, or through the official Notre Dame athletics ticketing web site (www.UND.com/tickets). The game can be heard live on the radio in the Michiana area on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1), and it will be webcast worldwide on the Internet at www.UND.com.
For more information on the Notre Dame women’s basketball program, sign up to follow the Fighting Irish women’s basketball Twitter pages (www.twitter.com/ndwbbsid or www.twitter.com/notredamewbb) or register for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system through the sidebar on the women’s basketball page at UND.com.
— ND —