Tag: Irish in the WNBA

Three Notre Dame players projected as 2025 WNBA first-round picks

You’ll definitely want to watch these players for the Irish next season.

The dust barely has cleared on the 2024 WNBA draft. But that hasn’t stopped people from looking ahead to the 2025 draft. And if you do that as a Notre Dame fan, you’ll realize why next season likely will be the best chance yet for the current group to go far.

Sabreena Merchant of The Athletic has put together a list of who she believes will make up the first round of next year’s WNBA draft. Merchant figures three current Notre Dame players will be taken in that round, beginning with [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] at No. 3:

“It’s hard to design a more prototypically perfect 2-guard than Citron. She is tall and strong, defends well and has a beautiful jumper that goes in 37 percent of the time from long range. Citron is overtaxed as a primary ballhandler, but let her run off screens or handoffs, and she can create her own shot. She is plug-and-play on any team, adding positive value on both ends of the floor.”

[autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag], who announced her return to the Irish for next season earlier this week, also made the list as the sixth overall pick:

“Another player who could have been a first-rounder in this year’s draft, Westbeld does everything well. She can shoot from distance (36 percent on 3s in her college career), and she also can drive to the basket. Westbeld is a load in the paint and dominates on the glass. She can body bigger players on defense; her effort to limit (Elizabeth) Kitley to 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting during the 2024 ACC season was an eye-opener. It’s unclear if she has All-Star upside, but Westbeld is the type of player winning teams find minutes for.”

[autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] rounds out this list at No. 8, but she has an asterisk next to her name since she still has a medical redshirt year:

“It’s been a long time since we watched Miles play basketball, so in case you forgot, she’s an elite passer who excels at creating offense in transition. She rebounds well for her position and is a defensive playmaker with 2.1 steals per game. The 3-point jumper was a work in progress during her sophomore season, but she started to fill it up from midrange at least. Without the jumper, she’d be a solid backup point guard in the WNBA, but she has a chance to be even more if that developed during her rehab year.”

So yeah, the 2024-25 Irish are going to be special. Get excited for it now because there’s no time like the present, but more importantly, all of these special players will be off to greener pastures before you know it.

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Watch: Jewell Loyd makes halfcourt shot, advises in Notre Dame return

A program legend was there for a great night.

[autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] will go down as one of the best women’s basketball players ever. In her WNBA tenure with the Seattle Storm, she’s earned two championships, five All-Star selections and her first scoring title just this past season. But her journey to superstardom at the professional level began at Notre Dame, and she returned there for the Irish’s game against No. 5 Virginia Tech.

Before anyone got there, she stepped onto the court at Purcell Pavilion and made a shot from halfcourt like it was nothing:

After the Irish earned a victory over the Hokies that many were not expecting, Loyd met with the Irish and offered advice to the players who undoubtedly remained a high from their upset win:

One of the best players in program history, Loyd always will have a place at Notre Dame. That she came back for the high point of the season to this point makes it better. Hopefully, the Irish won’t have to wait long for her next visit:

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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:

Jewell Loyd selected for NBA All-Star Celebrity Game

Will you be tuning in?

Former Notre Dame player [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] had quite the 2023 WNBA season. She was the league’s scoring champion and the MVP for its All-Star Game. Now, she’ll get a chance to compete during NBA All-Star Weekend.

Loyd was among the many names announced for the annual NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, which will take place the Friday before the big event in Indianapolis. She will play for Team Shannon, named for coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, who is coaching because of his employment with ESPN, which is broadcasting the game. They’ll be playing a team coached by Stephen A. Smith.

By playing in the game, Loyd will be the fourth former Notre Dame player in the WNBA to do so. She’ll be joining [autotag]Arike Ogunbowale[/autotag], [autotag]Ruth Riley[/autotag] and two-time selection [autotag]Skylar Diggins[/autotag]. While you look forward to this year’s event, here are some images of a couple of these players in this game over the years:

Two former Notre Dame players named to All-WNBA Second Team

Congrats, Jackie and Jewell!

We’re getting close to Notre Dame’s women’s basketball team’s defense of its ACC regular-season title. First, we need to acknowledge two former Irish who had fantastic seasons in the WNBA. In fact, they were recognized for those seasons by being named Second Team All-WNBA.

Statistically, [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] of the Seattle Storm had the better season. She won the league’s scoring title with 24.7 points a game, the second-highest scoring average in league history. She also was named MVP of the WNBA All-Star Game by setting event records in points (31) and 3-pointers (10). However, her standout season was not nearly enough to keep the Storm from having the league’s second-worst record at 11-29.

[autotag]Jackie Young[/autotag]’s Las Vegas Aces are one win away from the WNBA championship. She is largely responsible for the season the Aces have had, averaging a career-high 17.6 points a game and shooting 44.9% from 3-point range, the second-best such shooting percentage in the league. She also was voted to start in the All-Star Game.

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Watch: Arike Ogunbowale signs autograph after being ejected from game

There’s one way to make a statement.

Tuesday’s game between the Dallas Wings and Atlanta Dream was historic for the wrong reasons. A WNBA record 10 technical fouls were called between both teams. Two of those were attributed to former Notre Dame star [autotag]Arike Ogunbowale[/autotag] as she sat on the bench, meaning she was ejected with 1:42 left in the Wings’ 85-73 victory. With the Wings’ win assured thanks in part to her 21 points, Ogunbowale decided she would make a spectacle as she headed back to the locker room:

When asked to comment on the technicals, Ogunbowale said this:

She also took to Twitter for some more unfiltered thoughts, sort of:

But she also probably was still on a high from this ankle-breaking move she executed during the game:

Ogunbowale, who scored a career-high 41 points as the Wings lost their previous game to [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] and the Seattle Storm, is well on her way to another All-Star selection. If the season ended today, she would have career highs of 23.3 points and 4.2 assists a game. There’s no reason to think she’ll drop off. As we just saw, she’ll bring attitude and a little creativity with her, too.

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Jewell Loyd sets WNBA All-Star scoring record, wins MVP

Notre Dame was well-represented in the WNBA’s annual showcase.

[autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] has turned in one phenomenal scoring performance after another for the Seattle Storm this season. That carried over into this year’s WNBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas. Her 31 points and 10 3-pointers both were records for the event, and they were key in Team Stewart’s 143-127 win over Team Wilson. Plus, she was named All-Star MVP, making her the second former Notre Dame player in three years to earn the honor after [autotag]Arike Ogunbowale[/autotag] did so in 2021.

Ogunbowale also played in this game, scoring 18 points for Team Wilson but shooting only 2 of 11 from 3-point range. [autotag]Jackie Young[/autotag], the third Irish legend in the game, was teammates with Ogunbowale for this affair. She didn’t fare much better, knocking down only a pair of 3-pointers on 2-of-12 shooting from the field.

Maybe Notre Dame’s representation wasn’t terrific across the board, but the fact that three of its players were there shows how great the program is. Check out how they looked under the bright All-Star lights:

Arike Ogunbowale advances to WNBA 3-Point Contest finals

The former Notre Dame star can say she was a part of history.

[autotag]Arike Ogunbowale[/autotag] was busy when it came to tipping off WNBA All-Star Weekend. The Notre Dame legend and current Dallas Wings star, who now is a three-time All-Star selection, participated in both of Friday’s events that served as precursors to Saturday’s game in Las Vegas. After her and Wings teammate Satou Sabally’s 52.6 seconds were not enough to advance in the Skills Challenge, it was time for the 3-Point Contest.

In the first round of the 3-Point Contest, Ogunbowale made four of five shots on her “money ball” rack, and her 21 points were enough to advance to the finals. Fellow former Notre Dame star [autotag]Jackie Young[/autotag], who leads the WNBA with a .480 3-point shooting percentage, had a chance to eliminate Ogunbowale as the last first-round competitor. The Las Vegas Aces guard only scored 15, and her elimination surely was a disappointment to the hometown crowd.

Ogunbowale was off the mark in the championship round, scoring a contest-low 11 points, but she would have had to be almost perfect to win anyway. The New York Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu turned in a historic performance with 37 points while missing only two shots and making 14 straight in between misses. That’s a record for either a WNBA or an NBA 3-Point Contest. In fact, you need to see it to believe it:

If Ogunbowale was going to lose this contest, at least it happened in part because of a performance like that. Now, the 2021 All-Star MVP can focus on the game itself. That should be fun for her, Young and [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag].

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Watch: Jewell Loyd ties WNBA record with nine 3-pointers in a game

She is on fire this season.

Former Notre Dame guard [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] already is having her best season ever with the Seattle Storm. Plus, she seemingly is pushing herself to new heights every game. The latest example came in the Storm’s 93-86 loss to the Washington Mystics. Despite the defeat, Loyd did everything she could in scoring 39 points and tying the WNBA single-game record with nine 3-pointers:

Loyd had a chance to break the record at the final buzzer, but her shot went off the rim. The way the All-Star and former top overall pick has been playing, don’t be surprised if she has another chance to break that record this season. For now, she’ll have to be content with matching the mark set by the Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell in 2019.

As well as Loyd as played, it hasn’t be enough to prevent a six-game losing streak for the Storm that has given them the league’s worst record at 4-16. All she can do is continue to play well. At least Storm fans can look forward to that.

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Three former Notre Dame guards to start WNBA All-Star Game

The Irish will be well-represented in the WNBA’s annual showcase of top talent.

We’ve mentioned several times on this site that Notre Dame has an influx of former players in the WNBA. We’ve also mentioned before that several of those players are pretty darn good. 2023 has been no exception. The latest evidence of that is that three of this year’s All-Star Game starters are former Irish guards.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise as all three guards are among the top five WNBA scoring leaders. And while some of them have been professionals longer than others, it doesn’t change the fact that Notre Dame is and will continue to be a hotbed for women’s basketball talent. Heck, there are at least a couple of players on the Irish’s current roster also destined for the WNBA.

Here are the three former Irish who will get to flaunt their skills among the rest of the best the WNBA has to offer July 15 in Las Vegas: