Notre Dame Women's Basketball Opens Season vs Northern Illinois
Notre Dame women’s basketball tips-off Niele Ivey’s third season as coach at her alma mater tonight against Northern Illinois. The Fighting Irish bounced back from a 10-10 season in 2020-2021 and just missing the NCAA Tournament by going 24-9 with a third-place finish in the ACC standings and a trip to the Sweet 16 in Niele Ivey’s second season. Notre Dame enters the season ranked in the top-10 for the first time since the 2018-2019 season, which followed the team’s 2018 national championship.
Where: Notre Dame, Ind – Purcell Pavilion
When: Monday, Nov. 7 – 7:00 PM EST
Network: TV ACC Network Extra – Patrick Hartnett PBP, Karen Keyes Color
Radio: ND Radio Network, 99.9 FM WQLQ in South Bend – Sean Stires PBP
Let's take a look at tonight's matchup:
NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (24-9, 13-5 ACC)
Head Coach: Niele Ivey (34-19 – 3rd season at Notre Dame)
Olivia Miles leads a group of four returning starters from a year ago. The first-team All-ACC point guard led the Irish with 13.7 points a game and was No. 4 in the nation with 7.3 assists. She became the first freshman, male or female, to have a triple double in an NCAA Tournament game when she did it in the first round against UMass.
Miles is joined by ACC Freshman of the Year Sonia Citron, who was the team’s second-leading scorer (11.8) and rebounder (6.6), grad student guard Dara Mabrey (10.3 ppg), who hit 73 3-pointers last season, and Maddy Westbeld (11.3 ppg). Transfers Kylee Watson (Oregon) and Lauren Ebo (Texas) will also give the Irish good front court depth after losing last year’s leading rebounder and shot blocker Maya Dodson.
Projected Irish Starting Lineup (2021-2022 stats)
G Olivia Miles- 5-10, Soph. - 13.7 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 7.3 APG
G Sonia Citron - 6-1, Soph - 11.8 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 2.2 APG
G Dara Mabrey - 5-7, 5th – 10.3 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 2.3 APG
F Maddy Westbeld - 6-3, Jr. - 11.8 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 29 Blk
F Kylee Watson - 6-4, Jr - 3.8 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 18 Blk (at Oregon)
Northern Illinois Huskies (14-15, 11-9 MAC)
Head Coach: Lisa Carlsen (103-105 – 8th yr at NIU, 287-268 overall in 20 years)
Led by 8th year head coach Lisa Carlsen, Northern Illinois finished in fourth place in the MAC last season. The Huskies have three players who garnered All-MAC honors for the 2021-2022 season.
Chelby Koker (17.8 ppg) only played 16 games last season due to a season-ending knee injury, but she still earned honorable mention all-conference honors. The senior was a second-team All-MAC player as a sophomore. She hit 36 of 92 3-pointers prior to the injury. A’Jah Davis averaged a double-double (16.6, 12.0) to earn first-team recognition. She was the only Husky to start all 29 games last season. Janae Poisson was a MAC honorable mention selection after averaging 12.9 points and hitting 80 of 132 3-point shots. 5-11 front court grad transfer Emma Carter averaged 17.6 points for Division II Franklin Pierce.
Projected Starting Lineup
G Chelby Koker - Stats – 17.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 4.5 APG
G Jayden Marable - Stats – 5.4 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 2.0 APG
F Laura Nickel - Stats – 1.4 PPG, 1.7 RPG, 1 BLK
F A’Jah Davis – Stats – 16.6 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 8 BLK
F Emma Carter - Stats – 17.6, 5.1
WHAT'S AT STAKE
Both teams won exhibition games by lopsided margins, but now it’s the real thing. Northern Illinois was a good team inside and outside last season. They were second in the MAC with 41.6 rebounds per game, while also connecting on 7.6 3-pointers per game. They hit 15 shots from long range in their exhibition win over Loras
Notre Dame Associate Head Coach Carol Owens is a member of the NIU Hall of Fame. She played for the Huskies from 1985-’90 and is NIU's all-time leading rebounder with 1,028 rebounds and third all-time leading scorer with 2,102 points.
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