2020–21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team

The 2020–21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team represents the University of Notre Dame during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Fighting Irish, led by first year head coach Niele Ivey, play their home games at Purcell Pavilion as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

2020–21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
2020–21 record	8–8 (6–6 ACC)
Head coach	Niele Ivey (1st season)
Associate head coach	Carol Owens (21st season)
Assistant coaches	Coquese Washington (1st season) Michaela Mabrey (2nd season)
Home arena	Purcell Pavilion

2020–21 ACC women's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 3 Louisville	11	–	1		.917			18	–	1		.947
No. 4 NC State	7	–	2		.778			12	–	2		.857
Georgia Tech	9	–	3		.750			11	–	4		.733
Syracuse	8	–	4		.667			11	–	4		.733
Notre Dame	6	–	6		.500			8	–	8		.500
Florida State	5	–	5		.500			6	–	5		.545
Wake Forest	6	–	7		.462			9	–	8		.529
Clemson	5	–	7		.417			10	–	7		.588
Virginia Tech	5	–	7		.417			10	–	7		.588
Miami (FL)	5	–	7		.417			8	–	7		.533
North Carolina	4	–	8		.333			9	–	8		.529
Pittsburgh	2	–	6		.250			4	–	7		.364
Boston College	1	–	8		.111			5	–	8		.385
Duke	0	–	1		.000			3	–	1		.750
Virginia	0	–	2		.000			0	–	5		.000
Duke suspended their season on December 25, 2020 Virginia suspended their season on January 14, 2021
† 2021 ACC Tournament winner As of February 8, 2020; Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Fighting Irish finished the 2019–20 season at 13–18 and 8–10 in ACC play to finish in a tie for ninth place. As the tenth seed in the ACC tournament, they lost to Pittsburgh in the First Round. The NCAA Tournament and WNIT were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.[1]

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Kristin Baer	1	F	6'2"	Graduate Student	San Jose, CA	Graduated
Kaitlin Cole	2	G	5'10"	Senior	Toledo, OH	Graduated
Margaret Murdock	3	G	5'8"	Sophomore	Glencoe, IL	—
Catherine Murdock	5	G	5'8"	Sophomore	Glencoe, IL	—
Marta Sniezek	13	G	5'8"	Graduate Student	McLean, VA	Graduated
Kathleen Keyes	40	F	5'11"	Freshman	Ridgewood, NJ	—

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Dara Mabrey	1	G	5'7"	Junior	Belmar, NJ	Virginia Tech

2020 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Madeline Westbeld F	Kettering, OH	Fairmont	N/A	2 lb (0.91 kg)
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 98
Allison Campbell PG	Altoona, PA	Bellwood-Antis	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 97
Natalija Marshall F	Queens, NY	Christ the King	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 97
Alasia Hayes PG	Murfreesboro, TN	Riverdale	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 96
Amirah Abdur-Rahim F	Marietta, GA	St. Francis	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 89
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources:

Source:[2]

Roster

2020–21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G 1 Dara Mabrey 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Jr Manasquan Virginia Tech Belmar, NJ F 3 Amirah Abdur-Rahim 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Fr St. Francis Marietta, GA G 5 Alasia Hayes 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Fr Riverdale Murfreesboro, TN G 10 Katlyn Gilbert 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Jr Heritage Christian Indianapolis, IN G 12 Abby Prohaska 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Jr Lakota West Liberty Township, OH F 15 Natalija Marshall 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Fr Christ the King Queens, NY G 20 Nicole Benz 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Sr William S. Hart Valencia, CA G 21 Anaya Peoples 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) So Schlarman Academy Danville, IL F 22 Danielle Cosgrove 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Jr Sachem East Holbrook, NY G 23 Alli Campbell 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Fr Bellwood-Antis Altoona, PA G 24 Destinee Walker 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) GS Lake Highland Prep North Carolina Orlando, FL C 30 Mikayla Vaughn 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Sr Paul VI Catholic Philadelphia, PA F 33 Sam Brunelle 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) So William Monroe High School Ruckersville, VA F 34 Maddy Westbeld 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Fr Fairmont Kettering, OH	Head coach Niele Ivey (Notre Dame) Assistant coach(es) Carol Owens (Northern Illinois) Coquese Washington (Notre Dame) Michaela Mabrey (Notre Dame) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: December 4, 2020

Schedule and results

Source:[3]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference Regular season
November 27, 2020* Noon, ESPN+	No. 22	at Ohio	L 85–86	0–1	Convocation Center (0) Athens, OH
November 29, 2020* 4:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 23	Miami (OH)	W 88–68	1–1	Purcell Pavilion (79) Notre Dame, IN
December 3, 2020* 6:00 p.m., ACCN		No. 24 Michigan	L 66–76	1–2	Purcell Pavilion (122) Notre Dame, IN
December 6, 2020* 2:00 p.m., ACCNX		IUPUI	W 65–58	2–2	Purcell Pavilion (523) Notre Dame, IN
ACC Regular season
December 13, 2020 2:00 p.m., ACCNX		Georgia Tech	L 67–82	2–3 (0–1)	Purcell Pavilion (93) Notre Dame, IN
December 17, 2020 6:00 p.m., ACCN		Virginia Tech	W 84–78	3–3 (1–1)	Purcell Pavilion (64) Notre Dame, IN
December 20, 2020 3:00 p.m., RSN		at Clemson	L 55–78	3–4 (1–2)	Littlejohn Coliseum (425) Clemson, SC
December 31, 2020 3:00 p.m., ACCN		at Miami (FL)	W 71–60	4–4 (2–2)	Watsco Center (0) Coral Gables, FL
January 3, 2021 4:00 p.m., ACCN		Georgia Tech	W 69–67	5–4 (3–2)	Purcell Pavilion (53) Notre Dame, IN
January 7, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN		at Boston College	L 61–64	5–5 (3–3)	Conte Forum (0) Chestnut Hill, MA
January 10, 2021 2:00 p.m., ESPNU		at No. 24 Syracuse	Postponed due to COVID-19[4]		Carrier Dome  Syracuse, NY
January 14, 2021 6:00 p.m., ACCNX		Pittsburgh	Postponed due to COVID-19[4]		Purcell Pavilion  Notre Dame, IN
January 14, 2021 4:00 p.m., ACCN		Wake Forest	W 79–72	6–5 (4–3)	Purcell Pavilion (50) Notre Dame, IN
January 17, 2021 Noon, ACCN		Boston College	W 83–73	7–5 (5–3)	Purcell Pavilion (110) Notre Dame, IN
January 21, 2021 7:00 p.m., RSN		at Virginia Tech	W 65–60	8–5 (6–3)	Cassell Coliseum (250) Blacksburg, VA
January 24, 2021 Noon, ESPNU		at North Carolina	L 73–78	8–6 (6–4)	Carmichael Arena (0) Chapel Hill, NC
January 31, 2021 4:00 p.m., ACCN		Duke	Canceled due to Duke suspending season[5]		Purcell Pavilion  Notre Dame, IN
January 31, 2021 11:00 a.m., ACCN		at Syracuse	L 69–81	8–7 (6–5)	Carrier Dome (0) Syracuse, NY
February 7, 2021 2:00 p.m., ESPN		at No. 1 Louisville	L 65–71	8–8 (6–6)	KFC Yum! Center (2,912) Louisville, KY
February 11, 2021 7:00 p.m., RSN		Virginia	Canceled due to Virginia suspending season[6]		Purcell Pavilion  Notre Dame, IN
February 15, 2021  ESPN2		at NC State			Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
February 18, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN		Syracuse			Purcell Pavilion  Notre Dame, IN
February 22, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN		at Pittsburgh			Peterson Events Center  Pittsburgh, PA
February 25, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		Florida State			Purcell Pavilion  Notre Dame, IN
February 28, 2021  ESPN/ESPN2/ACCN		Louisville			Purcell Pavilion  Notre Dame, IN
ACC Women's Tournament
		vs.			Greensboro, NC  Greensboro Coliseum
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Rankings

2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Regular Season Polls

Poll	Pre- Season	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Week 13	Week 14	Week 15	Week 16	Week 17	Week 18	Week 19	Week 20	Final
AP	22	RV	RV
Coaches	23	RV

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		No Change
(RV)		Received Votes
(NR)		Not Ranked

References

1. "NCAA cancels remaining winter and spring championships".
2. "2020 High School Girls' Basketball Recruits – Notre Dame – ESPN". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
3. "2020–21 Women's Basketball schedule". und.com. University of Notre Dame. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
4. "ACC Women's Basketball Announces Schedule Changes". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. January 5, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
5. "Duke Blue Devils end women's basketball season amid coronavirus concerns". espn.com. ESPN. December 25, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
6. Voepel, Mechelle (January 14, 2021). "Virginia women's basketball team cancels rest of season due to coronavirus issues". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved January 19, 2021.