continued to grow, the i rish starters yielded the court to allow some of the squad’s new faces to see their first playing time in n otre d ame uniforms and eventually, every player on the i rish roster added to the scoring effort.
Freshman center m ikayla vaughn made her presence known for the i rish right off the bat. h er 30 points marked a team-high. s he added eight rebounds to that total. s he was also a force defensively, tallying five blocks.
“ i thought m ikayla vaughn was really outstanding,” i rish head coach m uffet m cGraw said. “ s he missed one shot from the field, 30 points, eight rebounds, five blocks — not a bad way to start your n otre d ame career.”
Junior forward and n ebraska transfer Jessica s hepard, who received ncaa clearance to play the 2017–18 season Wednesday as a result of a hardship waiver filed by the program, totaled seven points, four rebounds and four assists on the night.
The favorable ncaa decision for the i rish will matter even more as the season progresses. The i rish lost two players in junior guard a li Patberg and sophomore forward e rin b oley to transferring this offseason, as they left for i ndiana and o regon, respectively. a nd the i rish also lost two players to season-ending ac L injuries in senior forward b rianna Turner, whose injury came during n otre d ame’s second round of the ncaa tournament, and senior guard m ychal Johnson, who tore her ac L on o ct. 23 at practice.
“ i t’s been frustrating for us to watch the injured number grow and not know if Jess was going to be eligible,” m cGraw said. “ i think m ikayla was playing really well and that was the positive point of practice, so it’s always great to see that, but i think we all can breathe a little bit better and easier knowing we have a little more depth.”
Freshman forward d anielle Patterson also added four points and three rebounds to the stat sheet.
The i rish also added two walk-ons to their roster this season in sophomore guard Kaitlin c ole and junior forward m aureen b utler, each of whom suited up for the first time against the c rimson h awks.
c ole’s four points each came on free throws. s he also picked up three rebounds. b utler notched one point and one rebound.
The c rimson h awks struggled to gain any sort of offensive momentum against the i rish, who frequently
went on eight or 10-point runs. i UP also got into foul trouble, with junior forward b rittany r obinson fouling out midway through the fourth quarter. Junior guard c arolyn a ppleby, the c rimson h awks’ leading scorer of the 2016–17 season, also found herself in foul trouble early on and ended the night with four fouls.
m cGraw was all smiles after the game.
“ i felt like it was a double-victory today, getting the clearance for Jessica s hepard a couple hours prior to gametime,” she said. “ s o, it was just great. i t’s great for the team. Great for our depth, great for a lot of reasons. o verall, i thought [junior guard] m arina [ m abrey] and Jackie really played well. i thought they shot the ball really well, they defended well. Jackie with a doubledouble, m arina with nine assists, two turnovers. i was really, really impressed with the way they played … so, really, really pleased with how we played tonight.”
vaughn said she was pleased with her 30-point performance after the game, but also feels there are still areas of her game she can work on.
“ i think it’s really exciting and i ’m excited for the rest of the season — i think we have a really tough schedule,” vaughn said. “a nd i know that i ’m going to have to do a lot more than scoring. i ’m going to have to do more rebounding and more blocking and make sure that my defense is really on par with what our coaching staff really wants for us and i think that’s where we’re going to be really, really strong this year.”
Contact Elizabeth Greason at egreason@nd.edu
kept growing.
The squad lost senior forward b rianna Turner to a torn ac L during its win over Purdue in the second round of the ncaa tournament in m arch. Then, just a week before the season began, senior guard m ychal Johnson suffered a season-ending ac L tear, after just recovering from shoulder surgery. This on top of senior forward Kathryn Westbeld, who is still not practicing after undergoing ankle surgery, although she should join the ranks of healthy i rish players early in the season, makes s hepard a welcome addition.
n otre d ame also lost two scholarship athletes in sophomore forward e rin b oley and junior guard a li Patberg, who transferred over the offseason.
i rish head coach m uffet m cGraw said she was overjoyed with the ncaa decision to grant s hepard immediate eligibility.
“ i was home [when i found out],” she said. “ i had a lot of time to really rejoice and didn’t get to see Jess [un] til just prior to the game, so the whole team is really, really excited. m att [ m cGraw] heard me. h e was down the hall, but down the street he could have heard me.”
m cGraw said she expects s hepard to become one of the squad’s best players this season, especially because of her versatility, both offensively and defensively.
“ i think our expectations are really high for her. i expect her to be one of our better players,” m cGraw said. “ i think the thing i love about her the most is that she’s a great passer and in
our offense, a facilitator at the high-post that can really pass is a blessing for us. s he’s incredibly unselfish and a great teammate, so i think she can rebound, she can score, she can score in traffic, she can score against great defenders, she can score in a lot of different ways.
“o ffensively, she’s got a lot of versatility, so i think she’s going to help us because she’s got that experience, that maturity, that leadership that we are lacking at times.”
s hepard said the adjustment to fitting in with the n otre d ame offense has been a reasonably seamless one and that she sees her role as one that can change from game to game, depending on
what is asked of her.
“First of all, everything’s just a lot easier. h aving great passers surrounding you, having other scorers, and just rebounders, for me, it’s just coming out and doing whatever we need that game,” s hepard said. “o ne game it could be coming out and scoring a lot, one game it could be rebounding and focusing on defense and i think it’s just knowing what the coaches want of me that game and just making sure that i can play to that.”
s hepard scored seven points and totaled four rebounds and four assists in her n otre d ame debut Wednesday.
Contact Elizabeth Greason at egreason@nd.edu
