Jan. 24, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the second time this season, Notre Dame sophomore guard Skylar Diggins (South Bend, Ind./Washington) has been named to the BIG EAST Conference Women’s Basketball Weekly Honor Roll, the league office announced Monday. Diggins, who previously earned the accolade on Dec. 6, was one of five players chosen for this week’s honor, which recognizes outstanding weekly achievements by conference players who are not chosen as the BIG EAST Player of the Week.
In two games last week (both against ranked opponents), Diggins averaged 14.5 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game with a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio (12 assists, six turnovers) as the Fighting Irish registered back-to-back wins over Top 25 opponents for the first time in nearly six years, defeating No. 16/17 Georgetown (80-58) and No. RV/23 St. John’s (69-36) at Purcell Pavilion.
Last Tuesday against Georgetown, Diggins rang up a game-high 22 points (including 17 in the first half alone), a game-best six assists (including four in the second half) and four rebounds to help Notre Dame to a near wire-to-wire victory over the Hoyas. This past Sunday against St. John’s, Diggins stuffed the stat sheet to the tune of six points, six assists and six rebounds, piloting a Fighting Irish offense that outscored the Red Storm in the paint, 46-20 en route to Notre Dame’s largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent since Feb. 25, 2004 (93-58 over No. 21/19 Miami (Fla.)).
Diggins currently ranks second on the team in scoring at 13.7 points per game, while leading the squad in assists (4.7 apg.) and ranking fourth in three-point percentage (.302) and steals (1.8 spg.). She also ranks among the BIG EAST leaders in assists (5th) and scoring (14th).
Diggins joins senior forward and three-time BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll selection Devereaux Peters (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick) as multiple conference weekly honorees for Notre Dame this season. The duo also 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) was selected for the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Nov. 29, while freshman forward Natalie Achonwa (Guelph, Ontario/St. Mary’s Catholic) was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Dec. 13.
No. 9/10 Notre Dame (17-4, 6-1 BIG EAST) is off this week before returning to the hardwood at 7 p.m. ET Saturday when it travels to suburban Philadelphia for a BIG EAST matchup with Villanova at The Pavilion. As with all Fighting Irish women’s basketball games, the contest at Villanova can be heard live on the radio in the Michiana area on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1), as well as 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 —