Tag: Brianna Turner

Former Notre Dame star Brianna Turner asked if she plays for UConn

Come on now.

Former Notre Dame standout [autotag]Brianna Turner[/autotag] has established herself during her six seasons in the WNBA. While she’s played fewer minutes this year with the Chicago Sky than she did during her five years with the Phoenix Mercury, it’s not like she doesn’t have accomplishments like two All-Defensive First Team selections.

Meanwhile, UConn is the biggest brand in women’s basketball across all levels, and the proof is there in all of its national championships. So it stands to reason for casual or ill-informed fans that any elite women’s basketball player to emerge over the past quarter-century went there or still goes there.

Turner, of course, did not go to UConn. The accolades she earned while with the Irish are too many to list, making her one of the most accomplished players ever to come through South Bend.

Apparently, some people don’t recognize this though because Turner took to social media to reveal this anecdote:

We don’t know for sure, but is it possible this person confused her with  Breanna Stewart, who’s been away from the Huskies longer than Turner’s been away from the Irish? It would be a logical explanation.

Stewart and Turner met only once during their collegiate careers, and that was when the Huskies beat the Irish for the 2015 national championship. Turner actually outscored Stewart in that game, racking up 14 points while Stewart had only eight.

The point of all this? The Huskies don’t have a monopoly on elite women’s basketball talent, hard as that might be to believe.

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Notre Dame guard Olivia Miles takes in Chicago Sky game

See what the Irish star is up to.

If Notre Dame’s women’s basketball team is going to have a successful 2024-25 season, much of it will depend on [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag]A. After missing the entire 2023-24 season while recovering from a knee injury she suffered late in the 2022-23 season, she’s ready to get back to action.

With the Irish’s first game several weeks away though, Miles simply can’t stay away from live basketball. So she figured the time was right to leave South Bend for a bit to watch the Chicago Sky host the Washington Mystics. The Sky took notice of her presence and decided to spread the word on social media.

https://twitter.com/chicagosky/status/1834035200507957483

Miles expressed gratitude and also got the chance to talk with injured Sky rookie standout Angel Reese.

The game resulted in an 89-58 win for the Mystics, but Miles got to watch two former Irish players for the Sky. [autotag]Lindsay Allen[/autotag] scored six points to go with a team-high five assists, and [autotag]Brianna Turner[/autotag] had four points while leading the Sky with three steals.

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Video recounts Skylar Diggins-Smith tumultuous Phoenix Mercury tenure

Skylar is Skylar.

Notre Dame legend [autotag]Skylar Diggins-Smith[/autotag] has developed both a good and bad reputation in the WNBA. Though she’s built a Hall of Fame resume, she also gets into sticky situations. Most recently, she decided to bump Caitlin Clark during a play stoppage in a game.

Secret Base, one of the best sports channels on YouTube, decided to take a look at Diggins-Smith’s four-year tenure with the Phoenix Mercury that often was filled with tension. While the title of the video says her beef was with the legendary Diana Taurasi, the video itself really is more about Diggins-Smith and her beef with the Mercury as a whole:

During the three seasons Diggins-Smith actually played for the Mercury, she made All-WNBA each year, was a two-time All-Star, and she averaged 18.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists a game. Former Irish standout [autotag]Brianna Turner[/autotag] was with her each season.

Despite the seemingly ideal circumstances, Diggins-Smith clearly was not happy with the Mercury, and the feeling appeared to be mutual. So she signed with the Seattle Storm this past offseason, joining fellow Irish legend [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag].

It’s clear Diggins-Smith’s demeanor will not change. Hopefully, that doesn’t cloud her legacy.

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Former Notre Dame guard Marina Mabrey traded to Connecticut Sun

Hope she gets her ring this year.

[autotag]Marina Mabrey[/autotag] won a national championship with Notre Dame in 2018. The former Irish guard is in her sixth WNBA season but does not a ring at that level. Her odds of earning that ring this year just improved significantly.

The Chicago Sky have traded Mabrey and a 2025 second-round pick to the Connecticut Sun for Rachel Banham, Moriah Jefferson, a 2025 first-round pick and the rights to swap first-round picks in 2026. The Sky are a fringe playoff team, but the Sun are only two-and-a-half games behind the New York Liberty for the league’s best record. Needless to say, it’s a better situation for Mabrey, who is headed to her fourth WNBA team.

Mabrey was second on the Sky with 14.0 points a game and was leading them with a career-high 4.5 assists a game. She also is averaging a career-high 4.9 rebounds a game. Her departure will be felt by the Sky, though they still have former Irish standouts [autotag]Lindsay Allen[/autotag] and [autotag]Brianna Turner[/autotag].

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Four former Notre Dame stars compete in Seattle Storm-Chicago Sky game

Second meeting for these teams in three days.

For the second time in three days, the Seattle Storm hosted the Chicago Sky. Together, the teams boast five players who once represented Notre Dame. The Storm won the third and final matchup between the teams for the regular season, 84-71.

The Storm’s [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] led the former Irish players with 20 points despite shooting only 6-of-20 from the field. [autotag]Skylar Diggins-Smith[/autotag], Loyd’s fellow starting guard, scored 15 points and led all players with eight assists.

For the Sky, [autotag]Marina Mabrey[/autotag] and [autotag]Lindsay Allen[/autotag] tied for the team lead with six assists apiece. Mabrey scored 14 points but had a game-high four turnovers. Allen made a single basket on two field-goal attempts.

[autotag]Brianna Turner[/autotag], who played on her 28th birthday when these teams met the other night, was left on the bench for the third time in four games.

This game also was notable for Angel Reese recording her WNBA-record 13th straight double-double, breaking a record previously held by Candace Parker. We’ll see if she can wrestle Rookie of the Year honors away from Caitlin Clark.

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Five Notre Dame alumni face each other on Brianna Turner’s birthday

Plan to stay up late tonight.

Former Notre Dame standout [autotag]Brianna Turner[/autotag] has turned 28, and there’s only one way to celebrate if you’re an Irish fan. Turner and four of her fellow former Irish will be on the same court when the Chicago Sky visit the Seattle Storm. This is the WNBA matchup that can provide the most former Notre Dame players at any one time in 2024.

Turner has been left on the bench during the Sky’s past two games, but maybe coach Teresa Weatherspoon will give her a break on her birthday. Weatherspoon will have no qualms playing Sky leading scorer [autotag]Marina Mabrey[/autotag] (14.1 points a game) or reliable bench player [autotag]Lindsay Allen[/autotag], whose 3.1 assists a game rank third on the Sky.

Suiting up for the Storm will be U.S. Olympian [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag], one of the league’s top scorers at 20.4 points a game, and [autotag]Skylar Diggins-Smith[/autotag], whose 13.9 points a game rank third on the team. A win for the Storm would tie them for first with [autotag]Kayla McBride[/autotag]’s Minnesota Lynx in the Western Conference.

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Notre Dame alumni aplenty in Chicago Sky-Seattle Storm game

Will you watch if you’re able?

Notre Dame has one of the best women’s basketball programs in the country. As proof of that, eight players who have gone through the program currently are in the WNBA. The most number of those players who can be on the floor at the same time are five. We’ll see this happen Tuesday when the Chicago Sky host the Seattle Storm, both teams with .500 records.

[autotag]Marina Mabrey[/autotag], one of the top 3-point shooters in the WNBA who has made 12 of 34 shots from downtown for a .364 shooting percentage from there, leads the Sky with 19.3 points and 5.5 assists a game. [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag], the league’s defending scoring champion, is second on the Storm with 19.5 points a game.

The Storm’s [autotag]Skylar Diggins-Smith[/autotag] is fifth in the league with 6.2 assists a game, which would tie a career high if the season ended today. Rounding out this group of former Irish players are the Sky’s [autotag]Lindsay Allen[/autotag] and [autotag]Brianna Turner[/autotag], and we’ll see if they can play a role in this game.

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Jewell Loyd, Skylar Diggins-Smith lead Storm to first win of season

We could see this a lot this season.

Seattle Storm fans are going to learn a lot about their new backcourt of [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] and [autotag]Skylar Diggins-Smith[/autotag]. Those two played together at Notre Dame, and now, they have a chance to work together in the WNBA. Hopefully, there will be plenty of moments involving them both during their time in the Pacific Northwest.

The league acknowledged the duo’s past with the Irish when posting highlights of the Storm’s 84-75 win over the Washington Mystics, their first victory of the season, on social media:

Diggins-Smith also led the Storm with five assists, though those were somewhat offset by her game-high seven turnovers. Meanwhile, half of Loyd’s points came from the free-throw line. However, none of that should diminish the fact that both players were phenomenal during this particular game.

Both players will be in Chicago on May 28 to play the Sky. Five of the WNBA’s eight Irish representatives will be under the same roof. The others will be [autotag]Marina Mabrey[/autotag], [autotag]Brianna Turner[/autotag] and [autotag]Lindsay Allen[/autotag].

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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:

Social media reacts to Notre Dame’s upset win over UConn

You’re loving this moment, right?

With Notre Dame battling UConn in prime time on Fox, all eyes were on this game. The Huskies have such a big reputation that it might be forgotten among casual fans that the Irish have their own track record of success. They definitely can see that after the Irish upset the Huskies on their floor in convincing fashion, 82-67. It is without question the biggest moment of the season to this point.

The people who felt best about this win obviously were Irish fans and those who are connected to the program one way or another. The only thing they could do was take to social react and share their thoughts. These are the folks who either support all things Notre Dame or know the program so well that they’ll remember nights like this long after most others have forgotten about it.

Here are some of the best reactions to this win on social media: