Big Time
Center Natalie Achonwa
is a pivotal figure in Notre Dame's
guard-oriented offense
I
By Lou Somogyi
t's that time of year
again when supreme
backcourt play will
be categorized as the
prime meal ticket for
March Madness success.
F o r t u n a t e l y, N o .
2-ranked and 23-1 Notre
Dame — 11-0 in the Big
East — might be better fortified in that area
than any team in the
country with the starting trio of two-time AllAmerican senior Skylar
Diggins, playmaking junior Kayla McBride and
freshman Jewell Loyd,
one of the nation's top
rookies.
But when it comes to
reaching an elite level,
it's not an accident that
the clear top four teams
in the nation this year
— Baylor, Notre Dame,
Connecticut and Stanford — all feature a
Achonwa was averaging 13.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game during No. 2 Notre Dame's 23-1 start, and she was second on the team in game-changing "big."
Defending national
assists with 61.
photo by joe raymond champion Baylor's 6-8