Feb. 12, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame women’s basketball incoming freshman guard Kayla McBride (Erie, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) is one of 24 student-athletes who have been named to the 2010 McDonald’s Girls’ High School All-America Team, it was announced late Thursday evening. With the selection, McBride will compete for the East team in the McDonald’s High School All-America Game, which is scheduled to take place at 5:30 p.m. (ET) on March 31 and will be televised live to a national cable audience by ESPNU from Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
“This is an incredible honor and we are so proud of Kayla,” Fighting Irish head coach Muffet McGraw said. “She put in so much time and effort during the off-season to improve her game, and it’s such a thrill to see that kind of hard work and dedication pay off. We’re looking forward to following Kayla throughout the rest of her high school career, and excited to have her joining us at Notre Dame next season.”
The 5-foot-11 McBride is the sixth future Notre Dame women’s basketball player, and third in four seasons, to earn McDonald’s High School All-America recognition since the girls’ team was first created in 2002. Other incoming Fighting Irish cagers who played in the McDonald’s game have included Courtney LaVere (2002), Crystal Erwin (2003), and a trio of current Notre Dame players — Lindsay Schrader (2005), Devereaux Peters (2007) and Skylar Diggins (2009). Diggins shared Most Valuable Player honors at last year’s McDonald’s game in Coral Gables, Fla., after collecting a game-high 18 points, five rebounds and three steals for the East team in a 69-68 loss to the West squad.
McBride, who also earned a spot on the ESPN Hoopgurlz All-Star Team that likewise was released Thursday, has been ranked as one of the top 25 players in the nation in the Class of 2010 by both ESPN Hoopgurlz (20th) and All-Star Girls Report (22nd). She recently became the all-time scoring leader in Villa Maria Academy history (currently with 1,549 points), and has helped Villa Maria — the defending Pennsylvania Class AA state champion — to a 19-2 record so far this season, including a 15-0 mark in District 10/Region 4. McBride (19.0 ppg.) and the Victors also are ranked No. 1 in the state in Class AA and have been ranked among the top 15 teams in the East Region by several national media outlets this year.
Notre Dame’s three-player incoming Class of 2010 — which also features 6-3 forward Natalie Achonwa (Guelph, Ontario/St. Mary’s Catholic/National Elite Development Academy) and 6-1 forward Ariel Braker (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Grosse Point North) — has been rated as the No. 10 recruiting class in the country by All-Star Girls Report, marking the third consecutive Top 10 group for the Fighting Irish and the program’s 14th consecutive Top 25 class, an active streak that only two other schools in the country can match.
— ND —