Nov. 21, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame freshman guard Lindsay Schrader (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett HS) has been selected as the BIG EAST Conference Freshman of the Week, the league office announced Monday. Schrader is the 10th different Irish women’s basketball player to earn the award since Notre Dame joined the BIG EAST for the 1995-96 season, and she is the first Notre Dame rookie honoree since current sophomore guard Charel Allen (Monessen, Pa./Monessen HS) was chosen on Feb. 7, 2005.
Schrader tipped off her college career in grand fashion this past weekend, averaging 10.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game while starting twice as the Irish defeated Michigan (55-45) and Western Michigan (71-68). In the season opener against the Wolverines, the former McDonald’s All-American collected 10 points and 14 rebounds, becoming just the second player in school history to register a double-double in her collegiate debut (and the first to do so since the program elevated to Division I status in 1980). Shari Matvey is the only other Irish cager to pull off that feat, amassing 21 points and 14 rebounds in a win over Marion College on Nov. 30, 1979 in the Taylor Invitational at Upland, Ind. Schrader’s 14 rebounds vs. Michigan also were the most by a Notre Dame player in nearly three years, dating back to Jacqueline Batteast’s 18-rebound day at Connecticut on Feb. 23, 2003.
Two days later at Western Michigan, Schrader logged 11 points and five rebounds as the Irish won their road opener for the seventh time in the past eight seasons. She also played a key role in her team’s second half effort, scoring seven points in the final 20 minutes.
Notre Dame (2-0), which has moved up two spots to 13th in this week’s Associated Press poll, returns to the hardwood Wednesday at 7 p.m. (ET) when it travels to Bloomington, Ind., to take on in-state rival Indiana at Assembly Hall.
— ND —