Notre Dame Women's Hoops Ready To Square Off With Northwestern

After a trip to St. Louis last Saturday for a neutral site game, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team plays its first true road game Wednesday night at Northwestern. The game will be the second straight season the Fighting Irish have played in the Chicagoland area. They won at DePaul last December.

Where: Evanston, Ill – Welsh-Ryan Arena
When: Wednesday, Nov. 16 – 9:00 PM EST
Network: Big Ten Network – Sloane Martin and Christy Winters Scott
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 (2-0, 0-0 ACC)

Head Coach: Niele Ivey (36-19 – 3rd season at Notre Dame)

The Fighting Irish beat California 90-79 in the Citi Shamrock Classic Saturday afternoon in St. Louis, MO. It was a homecoming for St. Louis native Niele Ivey. The Irish head coach had hundreds of fans connected to her high school alama mater Cor Jesu on hand to see the win.

The game itself was plagued by fouls. The Irish and Golden Bears combined for 59 fouls, with Dara Mabrey and Lauren Ebo each fouling out for Notre Dame. Mabrey still led the Irish with 16 points. She hit a pair of 3-pointers to tie her sister, ND alum Marina Mabrey, with 274 career 3-pointers made.

Oregon transfer Kylee Watson turned in a 15-point, seven-rebound performance in the paint for the Irish, who dominated 42-26 on the boards. All-American candidate Olivia Miles fought through foul trouble to finish with her second double double in as many games this season with 13 points and 10 assists.

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)

Northwestern Wildcats (1-1, 0-0 Big Ten)

Head Coach: Joe McKeown (241-198 15th year at NW – 751-373 Overall)

Northwestern is led by 15th year head coach Joe McKeown, who is the winningest coach in program history. His 242 wins are more than double the 117 wins Northwestern had from 1995-2008. He currently ranked 4th among active Big Ten coaches in wins. McKeown led the Wildcats to his second NCAA Tournament berth at the school in 2021. They would have gone in 2020 as well if not for the pandemic.

The Wildcats return 10 of their top 12 scorers from last season, including 2022 All-Big Ten honorable mention selection Courtney Shaw and two-time All-Big Ten honoree Sydney Wood. Each are playing in their fifth year of eligibility. The Wildcats had only one player average double figures in scoring last season. She is departed. Shaw is the team’s top returning scorer (averages below).

Northwestern opened its season with a 100-72 loss at No. 20 Oregon and then beat Penn 63-55 on Sunday.

Projected Starting Lineup (2021-2022 Stats)

F Courtney Shaw- Stats – 8.1PPG, 10.0 RPG, 30 BLK
G Kaylah Rainey - Stats – 2.0 PPG, .6 RPG
G Sydney Wood - Stats – 3.8 PPG, 5.3 RPG
F Caileigh Walsh – Stats – 7.4 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 40 BLK
G Jillian Brown - Stats – 8.0, 3.8 RPG, 1.9 AST

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Notre Dame’s two new front court transfers, Kylee Watson and Lauren Ebo, have both factored into Notre Dame’s early season success. Watson is coming off a 15-point game in Notre Dame’s win over Cal and is averaging 12.0 points and 4.0 rebounds through two games, while Ebo is averaging 9.0 points and 4.0 rebounds herself. The duo has helped Notre Dame out rebound its two opponents by 7.0 total boards. Meanwhile, sophomore point guard Olivia Miles is already averaging 8.0 assists through two games and is one of five Irish players averaging double digit points.

Shaw is Northwestern’s top rebounder. She averaged 10.0 per game last year and is so far averaging 6.0 per game, but the Wildcats were out rebounded by 10 boards in their 100-57 loss to Oregon.

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Notre Dame 2023 Commits Board - Defense

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Ranking The 2022 Signees - Offense
Ranking The 2022 Signees - Defense

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