Tag: Kylee Watson

Niele Ivey, Cassandre Prosper speak after win over Northwestern

No updates about Citron yet.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Emotions were running high for Notre Dame after it beat Northwestern, 110-52. Instead of celebrating a victory, the Irish were concerned for the well-being of standout guard [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag], who scored 23 points but suffered an injury late in the third quarter.

When [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] and [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag] (seven points off the bench) came down to speak with the media after the game, neither knew what was going on with Citron. All they and anyone who follows the Irish knew was that losing Citron for an extended period of time would be devastating. This is a team also wondering when [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] will be healthy enough to rejoin the lineup.

Fortunately, Citron’s injury wasn’t the only topic of discussion during the postgame news conference. Most questions were aimed at Ivey, but Prosper had a couple of questions thrown her way. Here is some of what they had to say about a mixed bag of an evening:

Notre Dame wins home opener vs. Northwestern, but Citron is injured

A blowout win that could prove costly.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Almost everything went right for Notre Dame in its home opener against Northwestern. It feel into an early hole but quickly climbed back out of it. And while the Irish surely are happy with a dominant 110-52 victory, they’re more concerned about the fate of one of their stars.

The Irish (2-1) fell behind the Wildcats (2-1), 8-0, in the game’s first couple of minutes, prompting [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] to call an early timeout. They came out of that timeout looking like a different team, scoring the next 15 points unanswered.

The Irish held an eight-point lead after the first quarter, then put any doubts about the outcome away when they outscored the Wildcats, 32-10, in the second.

The win might have come at a hefty cost though. [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] had a game-high 23 points late in the third when she suddenly went down with a knee injury. The Irish players and coaches huddled to say a prayer for their teammate, and one could hear a pin drop inside Purcell Pavilion.

Citron was able to walk back to the locker room but needed help in doing so. There is no word on her condition as of this writing.

The entire Irish starting lineup finished in double figures. [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] continued her hot start to the season with 21 points and six steals. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] completed a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds.

[autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag] scored 10 to go with a career-high four blocks, and [autotag]Anna DeWolfe[/autotag] also had 10 points along with a game-high six assists.

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ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Nov. 12

A couple of Irish names are on here.

College basketball season is back, and fans couldn’t be more excited. What that initially means is high statistics across the board. Even if you know these numbers won’t hold up, they still are thrilling to look at. Here are the players who posses those numbers:

Niele Ivey, Sonia Citron, Kylee Watson speak during ACC Women’s Tipoff

Hear from the reigning ACC regular-season champs.

Notre Dame is hoping to repeat and even improve upon the success it had last year as the ACC regular-season champion. Reigning ACC Coach of the Year [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] fielded questions about that and more during the ACC Women’s Tipoff on Oct. 24 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Joining her were returnees [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] and [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag].

Here is some of what they had to say:

Kylee Watson, Sonia Citron will represent Notre Dame at ACC Media Day

Wonder what these two will say.

With the season creeping closer, ACC programs soon will head to Charlotte, North Carolina for the conference’s annual Media Day. Every team is represented by its coach and two of its players, making it no different than a typical postgame news conference. Obviously, Notre Dame coach [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] will be in attendance. Meanwhile, the players will be represented by [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] and [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag]:

Citron led the Irish in scoring last season (14.7 points a game) by a slim margin over [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] (14.3 points a game), who was injured in the regular-season finale and didn’t play any of the remaining games. Citron also averaged the most minutes for the Irish at 33.5. For all of that and more, she made the All-ACC First Team.

Watson was the Irish’s field-goal percentage leader in 2022-23 at 60.1%. She also had career highs in most major statistical categories in her first season at Notre Dame after two years with Oregon.

The Irish are ranked 10th in the AP preseason poll and open against South Carolina on Nov. 6 in Paris.

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Notre Dame gives out team awards for 2022-23 season

Congratulations to the honorees.

For the second straight season, Notre Dame made noise that forced the women’s basketball world to pay attention to it. The impact this past year was even greater than the year before though. The Irish upset UConn during nonconference play, won the outright ACC regular-season championship and made their second straight Sweet 16. That’s a year almost any program would take.

The book on the 2022-23 season officially closed Wednesday when the Irish held their awards banquet. It had to have been tough for ACC Coach of the Year [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] and her staff to select the winners of these awards. Then again, when you look at who won, you probably won’t be surprised. These winners embodied the very things they were honored for, and if the awards had to be voted on again, it’s likely the same results would have come out.

Here are the players who shined the most for the Irish this season:

Thirteen Notre Dame players make ACC All-Academic Team

These players knew to hit the books before they hit the court.

Generally speaking, Notre Dame basketball is a very mixed bag right now. The women are coming off their second straight Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament. After a historically bad season, the men have a new coach and need to somehow figure out how to fill up a roster with many gaps. The one thing both programs have in common is they have some very intelligent players.

As a reflection of Notre Dame’s high classroom standards, 13 basketball players have made their respective ACC All-Academic Teams. Specifically, seven women and six men were so honored. It’s the latest example of the university refusing to compromise its values if it means accepting student-athletes who won’t take their studies seriously. With this latest news, that stubbornness won’t change anytime soon.

Take a look at the players who are as good in the classroom as they are on the court. Maybe this can serve as an inspiration to a young person who is struggling with grades. If you are one of them, don’t give up because these men and women sure don’t. It’s the first ACC All-Academic selection for all players unless noted:

Niele Ivey, Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld speak after Notre Dame loss

Here’s what was said in the final postgame news conference of the season.

For the second straight season, Notre Dame has gone out in the Sweet 16 during the NCAA Tournament. With the Irish’s bigs in foul trouble during the third quarter, it only was a matter of time before Maryland took advantage of a team that had no real remaining strength. That’s exactly what happened in a 76-59 Terrapins victory. All [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] can do now is build a better team for next year and hope it will stay healthy – something this year’s team couldn’t do.

Ivey spoke after the Irish’s final game of the season alongside [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] (14 points, seven rebounds) and [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] (nine points, five rebounds). Had All-American point guard [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] been able to play, there is little doubt that she would have taken part in the season’s last postgame news conference. Alas, she will have to hope that she’s able to do it next year, hopefully just after winning a national championship.

Here is some of what Ivey, Citron and Westbeld had to say:

Foul trouble dooms Notre Dame against Maryland in NCAA Tournament

The road has ended for the 2022-23 Irish.

With no [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] or [autotag]Dara Mabrey[/autotag], Notre Dame relied heavily on its frontcourt for the NCAA Tournament. The problem with that is you only can succeed that way when the frontcourt is able to play.

When [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag] and [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag] both picked up their fourth fouls during the third quarter of the Irish’s Sweet 16 game against Maryland, the bottom fell out of what had been a competitive contest. With [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] forced to preserve Watson and Ebo for when they really might be needed, the Terrapins ended the quarter on a 13-1 run and never looked back in a 76-59 win, ending the Irish’s season.

The Irish (27-6) scored 13 unanswered points in the second quarter to take their biggest lead at eight. They remained in front by one at halftime but didn’t lead after that. While they tied the score five times in the third quarter, the smaller lineup they were forced to go to with their bigs in foul trouble ultimately caught up with them.

Diamond Miller and Shyanne Sellers combined to lead the guard-heavy Terrapins (28-6) with 30 of their 45 second-half points. They led by as much as 22 late in the fourth quarter as they punched their ticket to the Elite Eight.

After slow first halves, Miller and Sellers with 18 points apiece, and Sellers also had a game-high eight assists. Lavender Briggs scored 12 points in 25 minutes off the bench. Abby Meyers had 11 points and tied Miller for the team lead in steals with four. That gave Meyers and Miller eight of the Terrapins’ 15 steals.

[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] lived up to her reputation as the Irish’s all-purpose player with 14 points and seven rebounds, but she also committed four turnovers. [autotag]KK Bransford[/autotag] led the Irish with seven assists but had four turnovers of her own. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] scored nine points but tied [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag] with a team-high five turnovers before fouling out. Ebo fouled out with seven points in her final college game.

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Prosper, Watson speak ahead of Notre Dame second-round tournament game

How big of a role will these two play in their next tournament game?

SOUTH BEND – Two Notre Dame players on the opposite ends of the spectrum but also similar are [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag] and [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag]. Prosper enrolled early at the university and didn’t join the team until after the season already had begun. Watson is new to the Irish, too, but she already had two years at Oregon under her belt. She went to the NCAA Tournament in both of those years, and this is new for freshman Prosper.

In the Irish’s first-round win over Southern Utah, Watson shot a perfect 6 of 6 from the field for 12 points before fouling out. Prosper came off the bench and tied for the game high of 10 rebounds. Now, they will look to have similarly good games against Mississippi State in the second round. They recognize it will be more of a challenge, but that’s expected come tournament time.

Here is what they told the assembled media the day before their next win-or-go-home: