Nov. 3, 2016
By Leigh Torbin
No stranger to postseason accolades, Brianna Turner is beginning her junior year with the No. 1/2 Notre Dame women’s basketball team with a projection to finish the 2017 season among the country’s elite as well. Turner was one of five players named on Thursday to the Associated Press’ Preseason All-America team.
Turner is joined on the preseason All-America squad by Nina Davis of Baylor, Kelsey Mitchell of Ohio State, Kelsey Plum of Washington and A’ja Wilson of South Carolina.
The 2016 ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, Turner has been named to the postseason All-America teams following each of her first two seasons with the Irish. She averaged 14.6 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game last season as she helped lead the Irish to a 33-2 record and the program’s third consecutive dual ACC regular season and tournament championships. She is the only Division I player to rank in the top 10 in the nation for field goal percentage in each of the last two years. The Pearland, Texas native led the ACC in both field goal percentage (59.3) and blocks per game (3.03) in 2015-16.
“It’s really exciting and it’s good to be honored but, this time of the year, it’s about doing the work to get the team ready,” Turner said. “Hopefully by the end of the year I live up to these expectations and our team can as well.”
Following an exhibition game at 7 p.m. tonight against Roberts Wesleyan, the Irish open their 2016-17 season on Nov. 11 when they play host to Central Michigan in the opening round of the Preseason WNIT.
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Leigh Torbin, athletics communications associate director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2013 and coordinates all media efforts for Notre Dame’s women’s basketball and men’s golf teams. A native of Framingham, Massachusetts, Torbin graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in sports management. He has previously worked full-time on the athletic communications staffs at Vanderbilt, Florida, Connecticut and UCF.