CHICAGO, Ill. — Notre Dame is the only team in the country that signed three HoopGurlz top-20 recruits in its 2023 class, and two of them earned top national honors on Tuesday. McDonald’s has announced that Irish signees Hannah Hidalgo and Emma Risch will be two of 24 high school senior women to play on the 2023 McDonald’s All-American team. The two games — both men and women — will be played at the Toyota Center in Houston on March 28.
Hidalgo signed with the Irish on Nov. 15. The New Jersey native and Paul VI senior could very well be the country’s best guard before her high school career is all said and done. She is the No. 5 recruit in the nation.
On Sunday, SBLive shared that Hidalgo posted 48 points, 11 rebounds, 8 steals and 5 assists in last weekend’s 72-69 win over Westtown. She had averaged 21.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists through three seasons of high school basketball. The 5-6 point guard was the 2021-22 Courier Post South Jersey Player of the Year, 2022 Olympic Conference Player of the Year and a member of the 2022 All-Conference First Team.
“Irish eyes are smiling!” Karen and Kevin Keyes Family Head Coach Niele Ivey said after Hidalgo made her pledge last fall. “We are ecstatic to welcome five-star point guard Hannah Hidalgo to the ND family! Hannah brings swag, competitiveness, and a relentless drive that will instantly elevate our program. She is-multi dimensional, lightning fast and tenacious defensively with a scorer’s mentality and a high basketball IQ. Hannah does a great job of pushing pace and making everyone around her better.”
Risch made her commitment to the Irish more than a year ago, but she signed formally on Nov. 9.
“Emma is one of the best shooters I’ve seen in a very long time,” Ivey said. “She has an incredible IQ, deep shooting range and elite vision. Her size and ability to score in all three levels separates her and will translate to college basketball immediately. I’m looking forward to the positive impact she will make on our team on and off the court. We can’t wait to welcome her to South Bend!”
Risch, who attends Melbourne (Fla.) Palm Bay, recently made the greatest jump in the latest ESPN 2023 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings; she was previously No. 64 nationally and now checks in at No. 20, making her a five-star recruit. She is the eighth-ranked player in the class classified as a guard by ESPN.
A versatile guard who brings height to the backcourt, Risch averaged 20.5 points, 6.9 rebound, 4.0 assists and 3.1 steals per game in 26 starts as a junior. The 6-2 Florida native had a 45 percent success rate from behind the arc as well.
In addition to basketball, Risch competes on the golf team for her high school and plays travel basketball for East Coast United. She is also a top-10 student in her class and boasts a 4.23 GPA.
The final signee in Ivey’s 2023 class was Cassandre Prosper. In December, the Canadian guard forwent the remainder of her senior year of high school and became just the second recruit in program history to enroll early. The other is current All-American guard Olivia Miles.
Prosper has made an early impact at Notre Dame, appearing in every game since joining the team on Dec. 26. She is posting 3.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and just around 10 minutes per game at just 17 years old.