Notre Dame senior forward Brianna Turner will miss the 2017–18 season after undergoing surgery for an ACL tear suffered during last year’s NCAA Tournament, she announced Tuesday via Twitter. Turner is set to receive a medical redshirt for the season and return for 2018–19.
Turner led the ACC in field goal percentage for 2016–17 (.619) and was second on the Irish in points (15.3). It was on the defensive end, however, where her impact was most notable, leading the ACC in blocks and winning her second consecutive ACC Defensive Player of the Year award as well as AP Second-Team All-American recognition. Turner’s junior year built on strong freshman and sophomore campaigns: The forward won the ACC Freshman of the Year award in 2015 and ACC Coaches Player of the Year in 2016. However, during Notre Dame’s 2017 NCAA tournament second-round meeting with Purdue, after scoring the last eight Irish points in under two minutes and looking set to add two more, Turner fell under no contact and was ruled out for the remainder of the game. It was later announced that Turner would miss the rest of the NCAA tournament and would need surgery in the offseason.
While the Irish were forced to play without a front court presence for the rest of the 2017 tournament, eventually losing to Stanford 76–75 in the Elite Eight, even without Turner the Irish have a potential option.
Notre Dame is filing a hardship waiver to grant immediate eligibility to 6’4” Nebraska transfer Jessica Shepard. While the NCAA is yet to announce a decision, the former All-Big Ten selection would serve in a similar capacity as Turner has for the Irish.
