Tag: Irish in the WNBA

Former Notre Dame guard involved in blockbuster WNBA trade

A major shakeup in the WNBA.

The writing for former Notre Dame guard [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag]’s future with the Seattle Storm was on the wall for some time. The relationship between the two sides had deteriorated to the point where they no longer could work together.

Now, Loyd will have a new WNBA address for the first time.

According to an ESPN report, Loyd has been traded to the Las Vegas Aces as part of a three-team deal. The deal sends Kelsey Plum from the Aces to the Los Angeles Sparks. The three teams will swap picks in this year’s draft; the Storm end up with the second overall pick from Los Angeles.

Loyd will join fellow former Irish guard and U.S. Olympic teammate [autotag]Jackie Young[/autotag] in Sin City. She leaves behind a great legacy in Seattle. She was the first pick in the 2015 draft and lived up to that billing. She won two WNBA championships to go with being a six-time All-Star, an All-Star MVP, a three-time All-WNBA selection and the Rookie of the Year.

Aces fans hopefully will get to watch games like this:

Best of luck to Loyd in her new surroundings.

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Former Notre Dame guard Jewell Loyd requests trade from Seattle Storm

There’s trouble in the Emerald City.

After a successful career at Notre Dame, [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] was selected first overall by the Seattle Storm in the 2015 WNBA draft. She won Rookie of the Year, and her 10 seasons with the Storm also have netted two championships and six All-Star selections, one of which resulted in an All-Star MVP. She also has won two Olympic gold medals.

But Loyd’s tenure with the Storm could be nearing its end. The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that she is requesting a trade. This comes after the conclusion of an investigation into the coaching staff’s alleged player mistreatment that turned up nothing. Loyd was at the investigation’s center after filing a complaint.

Loyd has one year left on her contract after signing a supermax extension upon the conclusion of the Storm’s 2023 season. That prompted [autotag]Skylar Diggins-Smith[/autotag], another former Irish guard, to sign with the Storm that offseason. While the Storm returned to the playoffs, they promptly were swept by [autotag]Jackie Young[/autotag]’s Las Vegas Aces.

Here’s Young scoring a season-high 34 points against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever:

If it’s time for Young to have a fresh start elsewhere, here’s hoping her first season there is a fruitful one.

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Championship eludes former Notre Dame guard Kayla McBride again

Still can’t get it done.

Former Notre Dame guard [autotag]Kayla McBride[/autotag] had her best chance to win a championship yet this season. Her Minnesota Lynx had a 30-10 regular-season record and took the New York Liberty, the only team with a better record, to a winner-take-all Game 5 of the WNBA Finals.

McBride did everything she could, scoring 21 points, the second-most on the Lynx. She also grabbed five rebounds, had a team-high five assists and a game-high four steals.

It was not enough though as the Liberty won their first WNBA championship with a 67-62 overtime victory. The Lynx remain in a three-way tie for the most WNBA titles with four.

McBride is used to just coming up short by now. She made the finals with the Las Vegas Aces in 2020, but the Seattle Storm, one of the other two teams with four championships, swept that series. She went to three national title games with the Irish in the 2010s but lost every single time.

It’s a classic example of always being the bridesmaid but never the bride. Let’s hope that McBride, who turns 33 next season, can become the bride before too long.

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Former Notre Dame guard one win away from first WNBA championship

Good luck in Game 5, Kayla!

[autotag]Kayla McBride[/autotag] has experienced a lot in her 11 WNBA seasons, including four All-Star selections, one of which came this year. But the former Notre Dame guard has yet to call herself a champion. That could be about to change.

McBride and the Minnesota Lynx forced a decisive Game 5 in the WNBA Finals after defeating the New York Liberty in Game 4, 82-80. Bridget Carleton made a pair of free throws with two seconds left to put the Lynx in front. Sabrina Ionescu’s would-be buzzer-beating 3-pointer wound up an air ball, denying the Liberty their first championship for the moment.

McBride led the Lynx with 19 points. She also grabbed two rebounds and dished out four assists. Through four games in the series, she is averaging 17.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting 43.1% from the field.

The Lynx currently have four championships in their history. A fifth would give them the most for any WNBA franchise. Here’s hoping McBride gets to be part of that fifth title, assuming she can bring herself to watch:

Game 5 will be played Sunday in Brooklyn.

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Former Notre Dame guard Kayla McBride part of big WNBA Finals comeback

Can the Lynx win the title?

The WNBA Finals are here, and [autotag]Kayla McBride[/autotag] is the only former Notre Dame player who made it. Right now, she’s happy about that because her Minnesota Lynx just opened the series with a 95-93 Game 1 overtime victory over the New York Liberty. What makes this game notable is that the Lynx came back from 18 points down.

McBride was one point of the Lynx team-high of 22 points. She was the only player on her team to reach double figures in the first half, and she tied for the team lead with with 12 second-half points. She was held scoreless in overtime, but she had done enough to help set up Napheesa Collier’s game-winning fadeaway with 1.8 seconds left.

It’s been a great season for McBride, who earned her fourth career All-Star appearance and her first in five years. After a regular season in which she averaged 15.0 points a game, she has a 14.6 scoring average through eight playoff contests. Most importantly, she’s two wins away from her first championship.

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Former Notre Dame great Marina Mabrey ends Caitlin Clark’s season

Mabrey next year, rook.

Caitlin Clark has been playing basketball almost nonstop for nearly a year, and that finally has come to an end. A lot of it at the end had to do with former Notre Dame guard [autotag]Marina Mabrey[/autotag].

The Connecticut Sun acquired Mabrey from the Chicago Sky during the season, and that move has paid off so far. Mabrey scored 17 points as the Sun swept Clark’s Indiana Fever out of the first round of the WNBA playoffs with an 87-81 Game 2 victory.

Mabrey, starting in place of the injured Tyasha Harris, shot only 3 of 10 from 3-point range during the game, but she made two big ones late. One of them came as an answer to one from Clark, who led all scorers with 25 points:

A few minutes later, with the Fever’s season hanging in the balance, Mabrey hit from downtown again to squash any doubts that this game would end in the Sun’s favor:

Mabrey performed spectacularly in the two-game sweep. She led all scorers with 27 points off the bench in Game 1.

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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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Skylar Diggins-Smith bumps Caitlin Clark on record-setting night

She probably could have handled this better.

With the WNBA back from its Olympic break, the focus has shifted back to Indiana Fever rookie sensation Caitlin Clark. And a former Notre Dame standout has entered the latest controversy involving her.

Clark broke the WNBA rookie assists record during the Fever’s 92-75 victory over the Seattle Storm on Sunday, dishing a game-high nine. That’s not what everyone was talking about afterward. During the game, Clark pumped up the home crowd, and [autotag]Skylar Diggins-Smith[/autotag] didn’t take that very well:

It’s unfortunate Diggins-Smith has joined the list of players who have made Clark’s rookie season tougher than it needs to be. Hopefully, she can have better judgment in such situations moving forward, or she’ll continue to be the target of some people’s wrath.

Diggins-Smith led the Storm with five assists and scored 15 points in the losing effort. She was second on the team in scoring to fellow Irish legend [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag], who had 26 points.

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