Tag: Maddy Westbeld

Notre Dame earns four selections on ACC All-Academic Team

Whatever Notre Dame does for the rest of the season, it can say there are some bright players in its program.

Whatever Notre Dame does for the rest of the season, it can say there are some bright players in its program. The ACC has released its All-Academic Team, and four Irish players made the cut. The Notre Dame players who shine best in the classroom while also performing at a high level on the court are Destinee Walker, Anaya Peoples, Dara Mabrey and Maddy Westbeld. This is Notre Dame’s best showing on the ACC All-Academic Team since entering the conference.

Mabrey and Walker are on this team for the third time, while this is the debut for Westbeld and Peoples. Players qualify for the list by achieving a 3.0 GPA for the previous semester and a 3.0 cumulative GPA throughout their academic career. Seeing how most collegiate athletes leave their competitive playing careers behind upon leaving school, this is a nice thing to put on a resume. Being able to balance your academic and athletic sides so well should be the goal for anyone who chooses to play sports in college.

Notre Dame’s Westbeld Wins ACC Rookie of the Year

Notre Dame has their first women’s basketball rookie of the year since 2015.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Welcome to an elite club in Notre Dame women’s basketball history, Maddy Westbeld. The freshman forward out of Kettering, Ohio, won the ACC Rookie of the Year Award, as voted upon by the head coaches.

She becomes just the second player in program history to win Rookie of the Year in the ACC, joining Brianna Turner, who did so in 2015. She also is just the sixth overall Notre Dame player to win Rookie of the Year in any conference since the program’s birth in 1977.

Westbeld’s awards haul didn’t stop there. Notre Dame’s leading scorer and rebounder also collected First Team All-ACC honors as voted upon by the Blue-Ribbon media panel and a Second-Team nod from the Head Coaches Panel. Westbeld also naturally landed on the ACC All-Freshman list.

Amongst ACC freshmen, Westbeld ranked first in scoring, second in rebounding, second in steals, fourth in assists and fourth in blocks. No other freshman in the league ranked in the top-four in all the above-mentioned categories.

Not only does Westbeld’s 14.9 points per game top all ACC rookies and leads the Irish, but also ranks 12th among all Division-I freshmen. In addition, her scoring average would rank third all-time amongst freshmen in Notre Dame history. The two ND greats in front of her being Shari Matvey (17.6 ppg) and Beth (Morgan) Cunningham (17.9 ppg).

You can also dub Maddy Miss Do It All because she’s the only freshman in the country averaging at least 14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists & 1.4 steals. Overall, she’s just 1-of-9 Division-I players achieving the feat, and the only one from a Power-Five school.

Furthermore, Westbeld ranks fifth among Division I freshmen in the Points+Rebounds+Assists/Game category at 25.3.

Westbeld has tallied three double-doubles on the year, including two over the last week of the regular season. She’s raised her rebounding average to 7.8, which would rank fifth all-time in Notre Dame freshman history.

Westbeld and the rest of the Fighting Irish return to action in the second round of the ACC Tournament against Clemson, taking place Thursday, March 4, at 8:30 p.m. EST on RSN.

Previous Notre Dame Rookie of the Year winners:

ACC
Brianna Turner (2015)

Big East
Jewell Loyd (2013)
Jacqueline Batteast (2002)
Alicia Ratay (2000)

Midwestern Collegiate Conference
Beth Morgan (1994)

Notre Dame women’s basketball falls in ACC opener

The Notre Dame women’s basketball team fell in their ACC opener on Sunday. Details and highlights here.

The Notre Dame women’s basketball team got off to a rough start in ACC play, falling to Georgia Tech 82-67 Sunday at Purcell Pavilion.

Maddy Westbeld led the way for Notre Dame with a team-high 21 points and nine rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Yellow Jackets swarm.

Lotta-Maj Lahtinen led Georgia Tech with 19 points and eight rebounds.

The game started well for Notre Dame; the Irish led 18-15 after one quarter. But Georgia Tech’s offense was relentless the rest of the way: It put up 20, 26 and 21 points in the final three quarters, respectively.

Georgia Tech accomplished all of that despite committing 10 more turnovers than the host Irish.

Notre Dame falls to 2-3 on the season and 0-1 in ACC play. Georgia Tech moves to 4-1 overall after winning its conference opener.

Notre Dame returns to action on Thursday when it plays host to Virginia Tech in another ACC matchup.

Notre Dame’s Maddy Westbeld Named ACC Rookie of the Week

Notre Dame freshman Maddy Westbeld is off to a nice start in her collegiate career.

Notre Dame freshman Maddy Westbeld is off to a nice start in her collegiate career. The ACC can see that after naming her the conference Rookie of the Week. It’s a bright spot for an Irish team off to a 2-2 start.

In the Irish’s most recent games against Michigan and IUPUI, Westbeld averaged 20 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and two steals. She also was 55.2 percent from the field on 16-of-29 shooting. In the fourth quarter of the Irish’s loss to the Wolverines, she scored 12 of her team’s 20 points.

Westbeld is the ACC freshman scoring leader at 17.5 points a game. That’s also good enough to lead the Irish by 3.2 points. Nationally, she is one of three freshmen with over 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists a game. In fact, her 6.8 rebounding average also leads Notre Dame.

The Irish already have wrapped up their nonconference schedule. They have a week off between games before tipping off ACC play Dec. 13 against Georgia Tech.