Tag: Niele Ivey

ACC honors galore for Notre Dame

So many Irish folks won awards that we had to make a listicle out of this story.

When you win the outright ACC regular-season championship, as Notre Dame did, many conference honors are sure to come. That’s exactly what happened when the ACC unveiled its annual honors. The best part is the honors weren’t limited to those who are on the court every game.

All of this is happening ahead of the ACC Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Greensboro, North Carolina. Having earned one of the top four seeds, the Irish received an automatic berth to the quarterfinals, which will take place Friday. As the top seed, they will play the winner of the second-round game between Syracuse and an NC State program that has given them problems over the past year.

Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology has the Irish holding steady as the No. 3 seed in the quadrant featuring undefeated and top-ranked South Carolina. Should the Gamecocks draw the Irish in the Elite Eight in that scenario, they’ll have to deal with these heavy hitters that have made the Irish such a force this season:

Watch: Mark Packer vents during Ivey Coach of the Year announcement

Take our advice and don’t be like Mark Packer.

If you don’t agree with Notre Dame’s [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] being named the ACC Coach of the Year, that’s fine. Like anyone else, you’re entitled to your opinion. But that opinion should wait until after the award winner has been announced, not during. This piece of advice was either lost on or ignored by the ACC Network’s Mark Packer as Ivey’s honor was announced on live TV, and thanks to Blue and Gold’s Tyler Horka, his bitterness now is on Twitter for all to see:

Look, you definitely can make a case for Duke’s Kara Lawson to have won the award. After all, her Blue Devils proved a formidable foe for the Irish all the way to the end, even winning at Purcell Pavilion. But again, why does this have to happen during the moment of truth?

This reflects poorly on Packer and doesn’t help the notion of ESPN’s alleged bias towards all things Duke. If he’s going to throw a tantrum while the ACC awards are being announced, someone else needs to emcee this show in the future. You cannot and should not display this egregious lack of professionalism at the wrong time. All young broadcasters should note this is what not to do during an awards show.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

[lawrence-related id=70051]

 

Notre Dame wins outright ACC regular-season championship

Feels nice to be alone on the conference mountaintop.

[autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag]’s transformation as a worthy successor to [autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag] officially has been completed. With Notre Dame needing a road win over Louisville in its regular-season finale to clinch at least a share of the ACC regular-season title, the pressure couldn’t have been higher. The road was made tougher with the sudden loss of [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag], one of the country’s best players, to a right knee injury. All signs pointed to a disappointing precursor to the ACC Tournament.

Instead, Ivey kept her team focused, and the Irish overcame a 10-point third-quarter deficit to come away with a hard-fought 68-65 win over the Cardinals. With Duke losing to North Carolina, the Irish won their first outright ACC regular-season championship since 2017. They last won a share of the ACC regular-season title in 2019.

The 24-4 Irish finished conference play with a 15-3 record. They will have the top seed in the conference tournament, which begins Wednesday in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their first game will be in the quarterfinals Friday against the winner of Thursday’s second-round game between NC State and Syracuse.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame wallops Georgia Tech on senior night

Nice showing in the season’s final home game.

Senior night for Notre Dame began with honoring [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag] and the injured [autotag]Dara Mabrey[/autotag]. Once the game tipped off though, the script started to flip. Georgia Tech scored eight unanswered points out of the gate, prompting [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] to take an early timeout. Fortunately, things more or less corrected themselves from there, and the Irish won, 76-53.

The Irish (23-4, 14-3) had trouble holding off the Yellow Jackets (13-15, 4-13) for a bit, only taking a six-point lead into halftime. That changed in the third quarter as the Irish opened it with a 14-4 run. The Yellow Jackets never seriously threatened after that, only getting as close as 14 early in the fourth quarter. In short, it was a typical Irish victory for the final regular-season game at Purcell Pavilion this season.

[autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] led all scorers with 13 points. [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag] completed a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] also scored 12, and [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] contributed 11 points and a game-high five assists. Ebo had eight points in her final regular-season home game, and [autotag]KK Bransford[/autotag] scored 10 off the bench.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame wins ugly game against cellar-dwelling Pittsburgh

Good thing they don’t give points for style.

If you watched Notre Dame’s game against Pittsburgh and didn’t know the ACC standings, you never would have known the Panthers are in last. A contest that few expected to be close was exactly that almost throughout. It couldn’t have been a pleasant feeling for [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] seeing her top-10 Irish struggle to shake the inferior Panthers. Still, she undoubtedly will take the 69-63 win.

The Irish (19-4, 10-3) led by as much as 11, but you probably would have forgotten that had you watched the game. There were eight lead changes, and the Panthers (8-16, 1-12) in front as late as early in the fourth quarter. The Irish ended up losing the field-goal percentage battle, .440-.431. The possibility of a real letdown after a tough loss against Duke four days earlier was real.

In the end, the Irish made more clutch plays. When [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] hit a 3 to extend their lead to six with two-and-a-half minutes to go, the game pretty much was sealed. While the Panthers had a chance to creep closer, they never did. The result is the Irish breathing a sigh of relief that they didn’t lose back-to-back games at home.

Citron scored 20 points and showcased her defensive skills with three steals and three blocks. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] achieved a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, and [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] did the same with 11 points and 13 assists. The Irish as a whole had significant advantages in rebounds (41-27), second-chance points (25-8) and fast-break points (10-1).

Perhaps [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag]’s presence could have allowed the Irish to assert their authority more. Instead, an injury kept her from playing once again. While she could be back soon, the Irish need to learn how to dominate without her or [autotag]Dara Mabrey[/autotag] in the lineup. Otherwise, their NCAA Tournament run could be a short one.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]

Niele Ivey, Maddy Westbeld speak after loss to Duke knocks Irish out of first

Read some inside thoughts on the defeat.

SOUTH BEND – The good news for Notre Dame is there’s plenty of time to reclaim first place in the ACC after Duke claimed it.

The bad news is the 57-52 loss the Blue Devils handed the Irish means [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] will have to figure out how to play catch-up. That’s not where a team wants to be with less than a month to go before the ACC Tournament. Alas, the Irish have no choice.

[autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] played the entire game and had 15 points and seven rebounds. But she contributed to the Irish’s 2-of-13 shooting from the field in the fourth quarter, missing all three of her shots. In fact, the six points [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] scored in that frame were all the Irish produced. [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag] surely could have helped stop the bleeding had she been available, but we’ll never know for sure.

Here is some of what Ivey and Westbeld said about the Irish’s toughest loss this season:

Notre Dame’s Dara Mabrey done for season, career with ACL tear

Not what anyone wanted.

When [autotag]Dara Mabrey[/autotag] went down in excruciating pain during Notre Dame’s win over Virginia, many feared the worst. Unfortunately, those fears have come true. Mabrey announced on social media Monday that she has torn her ACL. Not only will this put the graduate student out for the season, but it’s the end of her collegiate career:

This is a bad loss for the Irish as Mabrey has been part of the same starting lineup [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] has had every game this season. Not only will she have to make alternate plans now, but the road to the ACC title might have just gotten a little tougher. Also, will the Irish be able to make as deep an NCAA Tournament run with [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag] or [autotag]KK Bransford[/autotag] as the new starter as they would have with Mabrey? A lot of questions just opened up.

Mabrey will finish five years of college basketball, the first two coming at Virginia Tech, with averages of 10.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists a game and a shooting slash line of .401/.380/.842. She started every game for the Irish the past three seasons and was their leading 3-point scorer in her first two. She leaves this season as the Irish’s top 3-point scorer with 33, and that figure certainly will be passed two or three times before the year ends.

Hopefully, Mabrey will be just as effective helping her team from the sidelines. With the stakes continuing to rise as the season goes on, the Irish need every advantage they can get. Mabrey becoming a de facto assistant coach should provide one.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Despite rough patches, Notre Dame holds on against Clemson

That was ugly and close, but the outcome was desirable.

Except for the result, Notre Dame probably will want to forget its game against Clemson. The shooting left a lot to be desired, and the Tigers were a feisty group eager to snag another home victory against a ranked opponent after doing it against Virginia Tech this season. Yet somehow, the Irish hung on long enough to escape with a 57-54 victory.

The Irish (15-2, 6-1) struggled from the field all night, often missing open shots. While the Tigers (12-8, 3-5) weren’t much better, they took advantage of their opportunities more in the first half, leading by as much as nine. All signs pointed to the Irish dropping a game that a team of their stature should not. Then, they made four unanswered layups at the beginning of the third quarter to go up seven, and they mostly controlled the game from there.

Despite playing a better second half, the Irish nearly let the game get away. With [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] at the free-throw line in the final seconds and her team up three, she only needed to make one to all but assure victory. Instead, she missed both, and Daisha Bradford got the rebound. Bradford fired a prayer at the buzzer to try and send the game to overtime, but the shot wasn’t that close, and the Irish could exhale.

Both the Irish and Tigers made only 18 field goals, but the Irish attempted eight more shots, resulting a final field-goal percentage of .353. They also shot only 4 of 17 from 3-point range and were 11 of 17 from the charity stripe. You better believe [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] will emphasize shooting during the next practice.

[autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] was everything for the Irish once again. She had a line of 20 points, eight assists, four rebounds and four steals. Westbeld had 15 points and six boards, and [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] grabbed a game-high nine boards.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame’s Niele Ivey highlighted in coaches fashion story

Rock those outfits, Niele!

You might have noticed that Notre Dame coach [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] has had a very colorful wardrobe this season. More often than not, her game outfits have jumped out and often have a shade of green. She even has served as an inspiration to Jackson State coach Tomekia Reed. All of that and more is talked about in this story from ESPN-owned-and-operated website Andscape.

Perhaps the most interesting part about the story is that Ivey selects her wardrobe with help from best friend and former Irish teammate [autotag]Julie Henderson[/autotag], who now is a model. In fact, Henderson flies to South Bend at least once a month to provide that assistance. That’s how you know a friendship is real.

When asked to comment about her thought process for game outfits, Ivey said this:

“My first thing [is] the color scheme and then it’s kind of like a vibe and energy. So this year, I’m going to try to plan out more games in advance. I don’t mind patterns, but I think I like bold colors and sometimes I like bright colors. I kind of like showing my femininity a little bit more. I will say that that would probably be my beginning stage of understanding and learning fashion. I’m big on if I feel good in the clothes.”

Clearly, Ivey’s need to be fashionable has not affected her coaching as the Irish have a 12-2 record. Here’s to more of her rocking in both areas.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Niele Ivey, KK Bransford, Cassandre Prosper speak after Notre Dame win

A lot of happy thoughts after that dominating victory.

SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame’s 85-48 win over Boston College was a coming-out party for a couple of new faces. [autotag]KK Bransford[/autotag] has been around throughout the season, and the freshman’s 17 points set a personal high for the season, not to mention tied with [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] for the game’s scoring lead. Early enrollee and Montreal native [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag] played her first home game and made the most of it with seven points and a game-high nine rounds.

All of this led to a happy [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] being joined by both freshmen in the postgame news conference. With the ease of the victory and the emergence of two players who could represent the program’s future, it was easy to feel relaxed when taking questions from the assembled media. The way this team is playing, there will be plenty more of those as the season continues. For now though, here is what they said: