Basketball season has finally arrived! It’s always exciting when this happens, but as we slog through this year’s less-than-stellar football season I’m sure many of us were particularly ready for this change of pace. I’ll be providing weekly updates on the women’s basketball season, which is off to an exciting start as the team holds the top rank in the AP poll.

Preseason WNIT Games

Muffet McGraw began her 30th year as head coach of the Irish with a Preseason WNIT Championship.

The tournament started for #1 Notre Dame when they faced the Central Michigan Chippewas last Friday. Looking eager to kick off the season, they jumped out to a 15-0 lead and never looked back. The game ended with a lopsided final score of 107-47. Notre Dame shot 62%, including nearly 55% from three-point range, while holding Central Michigan to 27% shooting. Ten of the eleven players on ND’s roster were able to see playing time, as freshman Jackie Young missed the game with a thumb injury suffered in an exhibition game.

After such a dominant win in the first round, the Irish struggled to get the offense clicking in their second round game against Fordham on Monday. The team looked sluggish from the opening tip, and only shot 37.5% through the first three quarters. Late in the third quarter the Irish finally found some rhythm and carried it into the fourth. While the final score was 67-36, this can largely be attributed to Notre Dame outscoring Fordham 20-4 in the fourth quarter.

This sent McGraw’s team into the semifinals of the tournament on Thursday. They were matched up against reigning Horizon League champion Green Bay, and struggled against a determined opponent. A highlight of this game was the debut of Jackie Young in her first non-exhibition play for the Irish. However, Notre Dame shot poorly again, ending the night shooting only 35.9%. The defense was good enough to give them a reasonably comfortable lead of 55-43 to end the third quarter. While Green Bay outscored the Irish 24-16 in the fourth, the Irish were able to sneak away with a 71-67 win and a spot in the WNIT championship game.

In Sunday’s championship game, Notre Dame faced #17 Washington. Coming off a Final Four appearance in last year’s NCAA Tournament, the Huskies have been averaging over 93 points per game this season led by star Kelsey Plum. This game was a good chance to see how the Irish would handle another ranked team. Things got off to a quick start, with ND establishing a 10-0 lead before Washington took a timeout with just over six minutes left in the first quarter. Seven of those ten points were courtesy of sophomore Arike Ogunbowale, who led the Irish in scoring in all four tournament games. The team went on to establish a 39-22 lead at halftime. They were outscored by Washington in the third quarter and allowed them to cut the lead to ten with just over six and a half minutes remaining in the game. They never got closer than ten, however, as Notre Dame held the high-scoring Huskies to 60 points in a 71-60 win. Ogunbowale was named tournament MVP, and senior point guard Lindsay Allen was also named to the All-Tournament Team.

Observations

Before the season began, there was buzz about the major improvements senior Kristina Nelson (Koko) had made to her game. Playing very limited minutes and having minimal impact in previous seasons, she was said to have put in a lot of work this offseason to come back ready to contribute. Four games into the year, consider me a believer. Nelson is not going to be the star of this team, but she is going to be key to its success. Her improved decision-making and the jump shot she has added to her repertoire, along with some tough defensive play, are going to make her a great option for the Irish this year.

Another player who has stood out to me so far is junior Kathryn Westbeld. She seems to be stepping up as a great hustle player, working hard while she is in the game and playing smart basketball. During this tournament she made several clutch plays for Notre Dame at crucial moments, including steals and offensive rebounds.

I am also trying not to take for granted any moment Lindsay Allen is on the court for this team. Now in her senior year, the point guard has started every single game of her career at Notre Dame. Muffet McGraw has repeatedly said how comfortable she feels when the ball is in Allen’s hands. Let’s hope the two-time (so far) Nancy Lieberman Award finalist is able to pass on some of her wisdom to redshirt freshman Ali Patberg before she goes.

Overall, it looks like it will be an interesting year. Notre Dame has a deep bench to work with. Ten of the eleven players are likely to see significant playing time. Ali Patberg will likely be worked into the mix more gradually as she and the coaches get comfortable with her return from a torn ACL, and Diamond Thompson is still unlikely to see much playing time, but this still gives the coaches a lot of options to work with. The downside to this is that they will need some time to work out the best way to fit all of these pieces together. Over the course of the first few games, we’ve seen a variety of player combinations, and that may continue. However, having a lot of good players to get on the floor is a pretty great problem to have.

In Other WBB News…

On November 14th Arike Ogunbowale was named ACC Player of the Week following her 30-point, 12-13 shooting performance against Central Michigan.

In the semifinal win over Green Bay, Lindsay Allen became the newest Notre Dame player to score over 1000 points in her career.

Burger Basket Leaderboard

At Notre Dame home games where the Irish score 88 points or more, the fans in attendance receive coupons for a free burger. I thought it would be fun to track which player is responsible for feeding the fans the most often over the course of the season. So far, it’s a short leaderboard, with the 88-point total being reached only twice: in the exhibition win over Roberts Wesleyan, and in the tournament opener against Central Michigan.

Arike Ogunbowale – 1
Jackie Young – 1

Coming Up

This week Notre Dame travels to Houston to take on Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday and returns home for a game against TCU on Saturday.