Western Michigan rounds out 2022 home schedule

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Just as quickly as it began, the 2022-23 non-conference schedule will come to an end on Wednesday. No. 5/5 Notre Dame (9-1) will welcome Western Michigan (5-5) to town for a Dec. 21 contest at noon ET.

After a physical, top-10 matchup at Virginia Tech on Sunday, Karen & Kevin Keyes Family Head Coach Niele Ivey will look to take her squad to its 10th victory on the year. 

Fresh off of her second ACC Player of the Week honors this season, sophomore guard Olivia Miles leads Notre Dame in four of the five major statistical categories: points (16.0), rebounds (8.3), assists (7.2) and steals (2.7).

After playing what was essentially a seven-player rotation at Virginia Tech, Notre Dame will look to get its bench players some valuable minutes heading into the bulk of conference play. Lauren Ebo has been the star off the bench thus far, including a 15-point performance in Blacksburg last weekend. In total, the Irish bench is averaging 26.1 points per game.

On the opposite end of the court, Notre Dame will look to post its fourth-consecutive stout defensive performance. In games against UConn, Merrimack and Virginia Tech, the Irish allowed just 52 points per game. They are second in the ACC in both total rebounds (46.1) and blocks (6.1), giving up few second-chance points, if the opposing team can even get the shot off. 

The Broncos are led by guard Lauren Ross, who has been named the MAC Player of the Week three times already this year. The redshirt sophomore posted 35 points in Western Michigan’s most recent game, including a perfect 12-12 mark from the charity stripe. She leads the MAC and is ninth nationally in scoring (22.1 points per game), and she’s hitting nearly 40 percent of her three-point attempts. 

The Irish are 9-0 all-time against the Broncos, with six of those victories coming at home.