Tag: Niele Ivey

Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles, Sonia Citron win ACC awards

Congrats, ladies!

There are a lot of reasons Notre Dame is 16-4. Two of them are Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron. These particular two were impressive enough recently that they were named the ACC Player of the Week and ACC Freshman of the Week, respectively. It’s the fifth time in program history the Irish have swept a conference’s weekly awards, and Niele Ivey was happy to bask in her players’ honors:

In the Irish’s home wins over Syracuse and Boston College, Miles had averages of 23.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists. The latter of those games saw her score 30 points and dish out six assists.

Citron has won the conference’s weekly freshman honor five times now, more than anyone else this season. Her averages were 13.5 points and 8.0 rebounds, and she had a shooting line of .625/.667/.714.

The only other time the Irish have swept these weekly awards since joining the ACC came in December 2015 when the honors went to Madison Cable and Arike Ogunbowale.

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Watch: Niele Ivey addresses team after Notre Dame beats North Carolina

Who wouldn’t run through a wall after hearing this?

Once a powerhouse, Notre Dame has fallen off over the past few years. However, a 70-65 win over North Carolina convinced a lot of people that this program is on its way back up. Both teams are ranked in the Top 25, but this victory put the Irish (13-3, 4-1) ahead of the Tar Heels (14-2, 4-2) in the ACC standings and into a tie for third with Virginia Tech. Coach Niele Ivey told her team exactly what this meant in the locker room afterward:

With the victory, the Irish have won six of their past seven games. They have yet to play NC State or Louisville, the two teams that are undefeated in conference play and also rank in the top five nationally. Barring a collapse over the next month-and-a-half, the Irish should get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years. It’s only a matter of how good they’ll be when that time comes.

Notre Dame makes final cut for basketball recruit Ashlynn Shade

This would be a huge get for the Irish.

After a long period of sustained success, Notre Dame has been in a rut the past two seasons. Niele Ivey’s first year succeeding the legendary Muffet McGraw as coach had a respectable 10-10 record. While an improvement from when the Irish went 13-18 in McGraw’s final season, it still was nowhere near the 30-plus wins they had over the previous nine years. However, the Irish have real cause to hope that a light could be at the end of the tunnel with this tweet from five-star recruit Ashlynn Shade:

The 5-foot-11 Shade, who is entering her junior year at Noblesville, has been turning coaches’ heads since at least third grade. As a sophomore, she averaged 23.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 4.3 steals a game. She’s well on her way to becoming one of the best girls players in the history of Indiana prep basketball.

With Notre Dame and Indiana both on Shade’s final list, it isn’t clear which school has the home state advantage. On one hand, the Irish have had more success in their history. It also will be tough to compete with legendary programs like UConn and Tennessee, programs with recent success like Stanford and Louisville, and schools with solid academic reputations like North Carolina and Vanderbilt. The only thing to say here is may the best program for her be chosen.

Notre Dame product Jackie Young named to U.S. 3-on-3 Olympic team

Add another Notre Dame Olympian to Team USA.

With only a few days before the Tokyo Olympics officially begin, Notre Dame has some new blood for the U.S. Former Irish guard Jackie Young, a member of the 2018 national championship team, has been named a late addition to Team USA for the new 3-on-3 basketball event. She will take the place of Katie Lou Samuelson, who was forced to pull out after entering health and safety protocols. The other members of the team are Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray and Young’s Las Vegas Aces teammate Kelsey Plum.

Young, the top overall pick in the 2019 WNBA draft, is in her third season with the Aces, who are one game back of the Seattle Storm for first in the Western Conference. She has started all 21 games for the Aces while averaging 12.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 steals a game.

The preliminary round for the 3-on-3 competition will begin Saturday and run through July 27, which also is the day of the quarterfinals. The semifinals and finals will be played July 28. One person who will be watching is Irish coach Niele Ivey, who was associate head coach during Young’s time in South Bend:

Notre Dame’s NCAA Tournament streak ends at 24

All good things must come to an end, but that doesn’t make whenever the time comes any easier.

All good things must come to an end, but that doesn’t make whenever the time comes any easier. After 24 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, Notre Dame was left out of this year’s Big Dance. A 10-10 overall record and 8-7 ACC record was not nearly enough to merit an at-large bid, although this was known already. This streak would have come to an end with last year’s 13-18 squad but for COVID-19 canceling the tournament, and it turned out that only prolonged the inevitable with Muffet McGraw retiring and Niele Ivey taking over.

The Irish will not play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995. They also were shut out of the Women’s NIT. You have to go back to 1993 for the last time Notre Dame was completely absent from the women’s basketball postseason. Entire families have been born since then.

Hats off to the Irish on a terrific run. Two national championships, seven title game appearances and nine Final Four berths are nothing to sneeze at. Here’s hoping that dominance will return soon.

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Signee Olivia Miles Will Join Notre Dame After Enrolling Early

One of Niele Ivey’s first acts after succeeding Muffet McGraw last spring was landing two prized recruits: Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron.

One of Niele Ivey’s first acts after succeeding Muffet McGraw last spring was landing two prized recruits: Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron. Notre Dame will see what it has in Miles soon, one of the top point guards in the country. That’s because she’s enrolling at the university early. After completing a quarantine and COVID-19 protocols, she can begin practicing with the team Jan. 25 and will play in her first game as early as Jan. 31 against Syracuse.

Miles, a Phillipsburg, New Jersey, native who won a state championship with Blair Academy last season, joins an Irish team in which three of the four leading scorers are guards. She’ll also find herself in a happy atmosphere as the Irish have won four of their past five games to improve to 5-3 in the ACC and fifth in the conference. The Irish can better their positions further over the next week with wins against struggling programs in Virginia Tech and North Carolina. Those are must-win games because that Syracuse game in which Miles could make her collegiate debut kicks off a trio a contests that also consists of top-ranked Louisville and undefeated NC State.

Irish give one away to Boston College

Notre Dame women’s basketball led BC by 12 with under five minutes to play Thursday but let one get away that shouldn’t have.

Things went great for the Notre Dame women’s basketball team on Thursday night during their game at Boston College.

For roughly 36, anyway.

Leading the Eagles 60-48 with just 3:29 to go, the Irish would surrender an 11-0 run to the Eagles that got things within one in just 1:43. In all, it was a 16-1 run by Boston College as Notre Dame falls to 5-5 overall on the season and 3-3 in ACC play.

Mikki Vaughn recorded her second-straight double-digit scoring effort as she finished with 12 points and seven rebounds while Anaya Peoples nearly put up a double-double as she scored 10 points and pulled down nine boards.

“Super disappointed with how we ended that game. I thought we lost that game with lack of discipline and lack of leadership on the floor. Hats off to Boston College for fighting back,” Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey stated. “Just taking care of the ball is a concern for us.”

The women’s basketball team had games against Syracuse and Pitt both postponed in the coming week and is not set to return to action again until they play host to this same Boston College team on January 17.

Notre Dame falls in women’s basketball to No. 24 Michigan

Notre Dame fell at home to No. 24 Michigan in women’s basketball Thursday, dropping the Irish to 1-2 to start the season.

The Notre Dame women’s basketball team fell to No. 24 Michigan Thursday night, 76-66, and to 1-2 on the year with the home loss.

Sam Brunelle and Katlyn Gilbert both made their season debuts for the Irish but it wasn’t enough to get by Michigan as the Wolverines went on a 25-10 run to overcome an early 15-8 deficit, but the Irish did close the first half with a 9-3 run of their own to cut Michigan’s lead to just two.

The third quarter was played to a near draw after Michigan’s quick start to the half behind the arc and had the Irish down just three, 54-51 heading to the final frame.

The Irish were able to cut the Michigan lead to just one early in the fourth but a quick 7-0 run by the Wolverines stretched the lead to eight points and the Irish struggled to stay within striking distance, getting it within five at one point in the fourth, 65-60, but being outscored 11-6 from there.

Maddy Westbeld led the Irish with 18 points while Anaya Peoples scored 13 herself.

Naz Hillmon’s 20 points and 11 rebounds for Michigan led all players.

Notre Dame returns to the court to close out their out-of-conference schedule on Sunday when they play host to IUPUI at 2 p.m. ET.

See photos from Thursday night’s game by scrolling through below.

Notre Dame’s Ivey records first career win

The Notre Dame women’s basketball team improved to 1-1 on the young season Sunday as they won new head coach Niele Ivey’s first home game.

The Notre Dame women’s basketball team got off to a tough start over Thanksgiving weekend as they fell on the road to Ohio, 86-85, despite entering the fourth quarter with a 65-62 lead.

Better news came in the form of new head coach Niele Ivey’s first career win as the Irish bounced back by trouncing Miami (Ohio) on Sunday, 88-68, and moving to 1-1 on the young season.

Sixth-year-senior-guard Destinee Walker paced Notre Dame with 24 points while freshman Maddy Westbeld added 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block.

Notre Dame got out of the gates quickly as they took a 45-30 lead to halftime and cruised to a fairly easy victory.

Ivey was cleared excited to get win number-one out of the way on what was an understandably emotional day.

“This was a dream, something I visualized, something I’ve prayed about, just to be able to say that I can get a win,” Ivey said, sounding both relieved and thrilled. “To be the head coach and walking into Purcell Pavilion was an absolute dream.”

Ivey and the 1-1 Fighting Irish return to the court on December 3 when they host No. 24 Michigan on Thursday night.

 

Does this mean he’s hiring Hammon? Of …

Does this mean he’s hiring Hammon? Of course not. Nor am I saying he should. That’s not the point of this story. Point is: Hammon is a fascinating candidate, and the Pacers have a history of being out in front on this issue. And the NBA is inching closer to its first female head coach. Eleven women were NBA assistants this past season, including former Notre Dame star Niele Ivey of the Memphis Grizzlies. She’s not there anymore; Notre Dame hired her in April to replace McGraw.