Muffet Mcgraw

There's no shame in being the 2nd best team in the country. It should be celebrated. Not in a confetti dropping, net cutting, trophy raising, Freddie Mercury singing We are the Champions sort of way. But Muffet McGraw and the Notre Dame women's basketball team should feel extremely proud of what they accomplished this season, and proud of how they did it. And fans of college athletics should be proud too. It will take a while for...

University of Notre Dame head women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw announced Thursday that three of the country’s top high school student-athletes have chosen to continue their academic and athletic careers with the Fighting Irish, each signing a National Letter of Intent to attend Notre Dame beginning in the fall of 2011. Madison Cable, a 5-11 guard from Mount Lebanon, Pa. (Mount Lebanon High School), Whitney Holloway, a 5-4 guard from Plainfield, Ill. (Montini Catholic High School)

NOTRE DAME - A familiar face is returning to the Notre Dame women's basketball team.  Beth Morgan Cunningham, one of the best players Muffet McGraw has ever coached, is joining Muffet's staff.     “One of the things we've always tried to stress with our program is developing and maintaining the right chemistry, whether that be among our players or our staff,” McGraw said. “When the opportunity came to welcome Beth back to our program, it made perfect sense.

IOWA CITY - Neither the home team, nor the home court advantage were any match for Notre Dame.  The top seeded Fighting Irish women beat 9-seed Iowa 74-57 Tuesday night, to advance to the Sweet 16 for the 4th year in a row. Kayla McBride scored a career high 28 points, including 24 in the first half, as the Irish led by double digits for most of the game.  "Kayla McBride was phenomenal in the first half against the zone", Muffet McGraw...

H eat of battle. Elbows flail. Bodies collide, then hit the deck. Notre Dame’s Natalie Novosel’s in the middle of the mayhem. She scrambles to get to her feet. Georgetown’s Adria Crawford takes down Novosel with a leg whip. Foul. Technical. Tempers boil. Poise suddenly became as important as a jump shot with a money-back guarantee. Eleventh-ranked Notre Dame’s 80-58 victory over No. 16 Georgetown Tuesday night had its chippy moments.

SOUTH BEND — Kellie Watson, who won Miss Basketball honors in Michigan in 2008, has left the Notre Dame women’s basketball program for personal reasons, The Tribune has learned. A knee injury has kept Watson off the court for ND’s last 12 games. The 6-foot-2 sophomore forward played in only one game this season, going scoreless in 13 minutes in the Nov. 15 season-opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. “We are all sorry to see her go and we wish her the best,” Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw said of Watson.

NOTRE DAME - Coming off back to back appearances in the national championship game, the Notre Dame women's basketball team unveiled a challenging schedule that will includes 13 opponents that appeared in last season's NCAA tournament. The schedule includes a home game against defending national champion Baylor, in a repeat of last year's national championship game.  The Irish will also face UConn twice, travel to Tennessee, and play a game on top of an aircraft carrier when they face Ohio State on the deck of the USS Yorktown.

Three Notre Dame women's basketball players were named to the all Big East first team. Sophomore guard Skylar Diggins was one of just four unanimous first-team all-BIG EAST selections this season, following up on her second-team all-conference citation last year.  Junior guard Natalie Novosel and senior forward Devereaux Peters joined Diggins on the All-BIG EAST First Team, marking the first time in the 34-year history of the Notre Dame women’s basketball program that the Fighting Irish have had three players earn first-team all-conference honors in the same season.

NOTRE DAME — Three Fighting Irish players were among 14 finalists for the 2011 United States World University Games Team, it was announced Wednesday by USA Basketball. Junior guard  Skylar Diggins, senior guard Natalie Novosel and senior forward Devereaux Peters have all made the cut. The Notre Dame All-American trio earned their spots as finalists for the USA World University Games Team following three days of trials in Colorado Springs at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, after competing with 35 of the nation’s top collegiate players.

SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame freshman Skylar Diggins drove to the wing on the golden maple Joyce Center court, pulled up and fired in a 3 that touched nothing but net during practice for Sunday's NCAA women's basketball tournament game against Cleveland State. Melissa Lechlitner followed with another pull-up jumper that likewise found its mark with lethal precision. Ashley Barlow, another swish. If what the second-seeded Irish did in their green practice jerseys is any indication, Notre Dame is ready to begin its quest for NCAA Tournament glory.