Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2018 91 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Yet she remains potent as a scorer with a 13.2 average, including 20 points and seven assists in the come- back win versus Tennessee. • Senior forward Kathryn West- beld has been the model of toughness as the proverbial "glue player" with her high-post passing. Yet in the win at No. 8 Florida State, she set the tone with 21 points (8-of-11 shooting from the floor, including two treys, and a coast-to-coast drive for a layup) and 12 rebounds. "Somebody's going to get going every night," Young said. "… We're all smart players, and we know what we should do. The more games we play, the easier it's going to be." "We have a lot of options," Mc- Graw said. "Nobody has pressure to be the leading scorer every game. It's something we share." IN THE ZONE With a short bench this season, McGraw has abandoned her typi- cal man-to-man defensive principles — which had been relatively subpar anyway — and gone to a mostly 2-3 zone, with other defenses thrown in, including an effective triangle-and- two at Duke. The prolific Blue Devils entered the contest second in the country in three-point shooting percentage (41.6) but were only 6 of 19 (31.6 percent) versus the Irish and tallied merely eight points in the fourth quarter of the 72-54 loss. The zone also was designed in part to keep the thin Irish from getting into foul trouble, and they ranked No. 6 nationally in fewest fouls com- mitted through Feb. 13. The emphasis has been on moving the feet relentlessly, playing the pass- ing lanes aggressively with deflec- tions, and avoiding the dumb reach- in or over-the-back fouls. "We're playing smarter," McGraw said of the defensive improvement. "We're able to pressure the ball, but still not get into any kind of foul trouble. They want to stay on the court — they know how important it is. They're really thinking about that when they're guarding people." The Irish did commit an inordi- nately high 15 fouls in a highly physical contest against Georgia Tech Feb. 11, but the guard trio of Ogunbowale, Young and Mabrey combined for only four — despite Mabrey and Young playing 39 min- utes and Ogunbowale 36. "We're trying to trap a little bit more and stay aggressive without fouling," McGraw said. "The guards are doing a really good job." She couldn't resist adding a caveat. "They're probably just so tired, they can't find the energy to foul," McGraw deadpanned. More importantly, the Irish as a group have been far more committed on that end of the floor while realiz- ing they can't just always out-gun ev- eryone. It was the defensive intensity that sparked the 23-point comeback win versus Tennessee Jan. 18. "Once we got a few stops and we started scoring we were a little more motivated to get another stop and keep inching back," Mabrey said. "I think we started talking more and communicating on defense." ✦ 2017-18 NOTRE DAME WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Nov. 1 Indiana (Pa.)! W, 108-40 Nov. 11 Mount. St. Mary's W, 121-65 Nov. 14 at Western Kentucky W, 78-65 Nov. 19 at Oregon State W, 72-67 Nov. 24 vs. East Tennessee State# W, 77-46 Nov. 25 vs. South Florida# W, 76-66 Nov. 26 vs. South Carolina# W, 92-85 Nov. 29 at Michigan& W, 83-63 Dec. 3 at Connecticut% L, 80-71 Dec. 6 Michigan State W, 90-59 Dec. 9 Penn W, 66-54 Dec. 17 DePaul W, 91-82 Dec. 20 Marquette W, 91-85 (OT) Dec. 28 Syracuse W, 87-72 Dec. 31 at Wake Forest W, 96-73 Jan. 4 Miami* W, 83-76 Jan. 7 at Georgia Tech* W, 77-54 Jan. 11 at Louisville* L, 100-67 Jan. 14 Boston College* W, 89-60 Jan. 18 Tennessee W, 84-70 Jan. 21 Clemson* W, 90-37 Jan. 25 at Pittsburgh* W, 87-53 Jan. 28 at Florida State* W, 100-69 Feb. 1 North Carolina* W, 94-62 Feb. 4 at Duke* W, 72-54 Feb. 11 Georgia Tech* W, 85-69 Feb. 15 at Virginia* (ACCN) 7 p.m. Feb. 18 at Boston College* (ACCN) 1 p.m. Feb. 22 Virginia Tech* (ACCN) 7 p.m. Feb. 25 NC State* (ESPN2) 2 p.m. Feb. 28-March 4 ACC Tournament^ TBD ! Exhibition; # Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla.; & ACC-Big Ten Challenge; % Jimmy V Women's Classic; * ACC game; ^ at Greensboro, N.C.; ACCN — ACC Network; RSN — Regional Sports Network Three-Point Play 1. Male Presence — Muffet McGraw ad- mitted that with four players out because of torn ACLs, a broken nose by Jackie Young, and ankle problems that on occasion have slowed Jessica Shepard and Kathryn Westbeld, prac- tices became tamped down. The drawback was that with some tentative- ness in practicing with aggression and inten- sity, there could be carry-over into the games. However, after the Louisville debacle and then the male practice players returning a week later to school, the competition was ratcheted up. It's been a delicate balancing attack for McGraw that seems to be paying off. 2. [Fast-] Break Time — While the Irish are highly efficient in their Princeton-style scheme, the opportunity to run more is wel- come to take some of the onus off lining up in half-court sets without a natural point guard, where Marina Mabrey has performed quite remarkably after never having to play that role. Getting the ball into the hands of Arike Ogunbowale and Jackie Young in the open court off transition is ideal. "That's our game," McGraw said of speeding up the pace. "We want to run. … We definitely want to advance the ball as much as we can and not run as much offense as we can." 3. The Full Nelson — Fifth-year senior Kris- tina "Koko" Nelson often can get into foul trouble, but she has been a huge spark off the bench on several occasions, with head coach Muffet McGraw singling her out in the rally versus Tennessee. At Pitt, Nelson contributed eight points, seven rebounds and six assists, and at No. 8 FSU she fouled out in only 14 minutes — but also tallied 11 points, grabbed five rebounds, handed out three assists and blocked two shots while helping keep the Seminoles at bay. — Lou Somogyi Junior Marina Mabrey has handled most of the point guard duties despite never previ- ously playing the position. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND