Tag: beth morgan

Top 10 3-point shooters in Notre Dame women’s basketball history

Who has most hit from downtown in Irish history?

Several months back, former Notre Dame guard [autotag]Jackie Young[/autotag] advanced to the finals of the annual WNBA 3-Point Contest. But nobody was going to beat Sabrina Ionescu, whose final-round score of 37 was higher than even the highest score ever recorded in the NBA version of the contest. Almost immediately, many wondered how Ionescu would favor in a shootout with NBA 3-point king Stephen Curry.

This past NBA All-Star Weekend, fans got their wish. It was the highlight of the weekend with Curry needing the final rack to beat Ionescu, 29-26. There are hopes that something like this can continue next year and beyond, especially with women’s basketball increasing in popularity.

While we contemplate the future of women’s basketball and only can guess what it holds, we know who’s helped lay the groundwork for that future. Among them are the top 3-point shooters in Notre Dame history. Since 3-pointers are the latest thing to bring male and female basketball players together, let’s see who rounds out the top 10 for the Irish:

Top 10 scorers in Notre Dame women’s basketball history

Here are some Irish legends.

The sports world is abuzz with Caitlin Clark becoming the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer in women’s basketball. She hasn’t even gone professional yet, and many already are crowning her the GOAT. That label gets tossed around very liberally these days, but it’s hard to picture many athletes who have transcended their sport the way she has.

Despite what our site editor Nick Shepkowski might have said about me, Caitlin Clark is not my sister. Athleticism is not in my immediate family’s gene pool, or I would have kept following my NBA dreams years ago. Alas, the closest I can get to organized basketball these days is to write about it and create listicles about it.

I would like to demonstrate that ability right now by assembling a listicle of the top 10 scorers in Notre Dame women’s basketball history. It’s a great way to celebrate the new scoring queen in women’s college hoops, and the timing couldn’t be more appropriate:

Niele Ivey, Hannah Hidalgo, KK Bransford speak after Notre Dame win

Hear from the victors.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – It was all smiles for Notre Dame after it defeated Miami, 70-59. Niele Ivey had nothing but praise for both her team at the folks who came out to Purcell Pavilion over the course of the Irish’s three-game homestand, especially those who braved freezing temperatures and bitter wind chills to come to this game.

Praise especially was reserved for [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag], who had another amazing game of 25 points and seven steals and even rewrote the program’s record books with this performance, and [autotag]KK Bransford[/autotag], who made a difference with 10 points in the first half.

The Irish now will hit the road for four of their next five games, which includes a break from ACC play, though it’s a game at UConn that promises to be no less challenging. That’s why it was important for them to play well in these past three games, of which they won two.

Here’s what they had to say after this latest victory:

Watch: Notre Dame Women’s Basketball Top Ten Tournament Moments

The last 25 years has been an insane for Notre Dame in women’s hoops. What are their 10 best tournament moments? Watch them here!

The Notre Dame Women’s Basketball team has been on a remarkable run the last quarter-century.  They reached their first Final Four under the direction of Muffet McGraw in 1997, won their first national championship in 2001 before being a main-stay in the Final Four over the last decade and again winning a championship in 2018 in the most exciting of ways possible.

During that run there have been endless memories.  Buzzer beaters, comeback wins and plenty of incredible individual performances to keep tournament marches alive.  Notre Dame’s Athletic Page on YouTube recently ranked the top ten moments by the women’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament and this is what they came up with:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYWWQSmlI-8&w=560&h=315]

I won’t argue the rankings although moments vs. complete game performances can cause a little bit of confusion.  We may live to be 100 and not see someone have a weekend like Arike Ogunbowale had at the 2018 Final Four and National Championship, though.