April 1, 2017
By Leigh Torbin
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Brianna Turner has once again been recognized as one of the nation’s best as Saturday night she was honored by the WBCA as an All-American. The accolade, bestowed upon the 10 best players in the country, joins other All-America honors recently received by Turner from the USBWA, AP and espnW.
Also a WBCA All-American in 2015-16, Turner Skylar Diggins (2011, 2012 and 2013), Jewell Loyd (2014 and 2015) and Kayla McBride (2013, 2014) as the school’s fourth multiple recipient of the coaches association’s honor.
Turner is one of the country’s top players at both ends of the court, leading the ACC in both field goal percentage (.619) and blocked shots (86). Turner stands eighth nationally in shooting percentage and, with just a handful of games left to be played, seems destined to rank in the top 10 for the third consecutive year. The two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Turner stands ninth in league history in career blocked shots (263) and second at Notre Dame behind only Ruth Riley’s 370. Turner’s 1,456 points stand 16th in school history with one season still left to play. She averaged 15.3 points per game this season and led Notre Dame at 7.1 rebounds per game.
Turner scored in double figures in 29 of her 35 games played this year, including six efforts of 20-plus points. Her career high of 31 came in Notre Dame’s Feb. 19 win at No. 21 Syracuse before a women’s record crowd at the Carrier Dome. Turner recorded seven double-doubles this season with four of the seven coming against ranked teams (Washington, UConn, DePaul and Duke).
As all-region selections, senior Lindsay Allen and sophomore Arike Ogunbowale each receive a place on the WBCA’s All-America honorable mention list. It is the first such honor of both players’ respective Irish careers.
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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.