After a tremendous 2023-2024 season going 28-7 overall and 13-5 in conference play, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team is preparing for another successful year.
After winning the ACC Tournament but falling in the Sweet 16 against Oregon State, the Irish finished the year at No. 11. Despite this ranking, this year, the Irish are going to enter being ranked No. 6 in the preseason AP Poll. Notre Dame also welcomes back quite a few players that not only contributed to the team last year but will prove going forward to be high-level contributors to the team this year.
Starting with the powerhouse sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo, who became an AP All-American, the ACC Defensive Player and the ACC Rookie of the Year as a freshman. Hidalgo also set two Notre Dame records in the 2023-2024 season as she averaged 22.6 points per game as a freshman, 4.6 steals and finished the season with a total of 790 points.
Alongside her, former All-American winner graduate student guard Olivia Miles will be returning for the Irish after being out last season due to an ACL tear. Miles also previously was the 2022-2023 ACC Player of the Year Runner-Up as she averaged 6.9 assists per game, 7.3 rebounds and averaged 14.3 points per game in her sophomore season.
Junior KK Bransford also returns for the Irish this year in the backcourt. In her two-year Irish career, she has a total of 494 points, 178 field goals, 118 assists, an average of 3.4 rebounds per game and 68 steals.
Senior guard Sonia Citron joins the Irish back on the floor this year. Citron averaged 17.3 points per game in the 2023-24 season and played 35.8 minutes per game, which tied her for fourth in school history. Citron was named All-ACC Second Team and made First Team All-ACC Tournament during the 2023-24 season. Overall, in the past three years the senior has a total of 1324 points, 467 field goals, 156 steals and 49 blocks.
Notre Dame also welcomes back graduate student and forward Maddy Westbeld, who returns for her fifth year for the Irish. Over the past four years, Westbeld has an impressive total of 1,550 points, averaging 12.9 points per game.
The Irish also welcome two transferring graduate students in forward Liza Karlen and forward Liatu King. Karlen is transferring from Marquette and King is transferring within the ACC from Pittsburgh.
Karlen was a nationally ranked prospect as she headed to Marquette. This past season, she averaged 17.7 points per game, 7.9 rebounds and scored 565 points throughout her senior year, which is the eighth-most points scored in Marquette’s history. The graduate student also made 240 field goals, which was the third-most field goals scored in the program's history.
Karlen also holds notable awards, nominees and accomplishments from her time at Marquette including 2024-25 ACC Newcomer Watch List, 2023-24 All-Big East First Team, AP Player of the Week, three-time winner of Big East Player of the Week, two-time winner of USBWA Player of the Week, 2023-2024 Preseason Honorable Mention All-Big East, nine-time winner of the Big East Weekly Honor Roll and 2022-23 Big East All-Academic Team.
King, in her four years at Pittsburgh, also put up amazing numbers and added some honors and awards for herself. King is coming into Notre Dame with high statistics as she finished her last season in the Steel City averaging 18.7 points per game, 10.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks. The graduate student also was a two-time All-Academic Team selection, was the ACC's Most Improved Player in the 2023-24 season and made the All-ACC First Team a year ago.
The Irish also welcome in one freshman this year, forward Kate Koval. Koval, the No. 5 overall recruit in her class according to ESPN's HoopGurlz rankings, begins her Notre Dame career on the 2024-25 ACC Newcomer Watch List.
Overall, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team has a lot to look forward to with the powerhouse returners and the newcomers who arrive bringing equal amounts of talent. Between now and Christmas, the Irish will face a monstrous non-conference schedule featuring a Nov. 23 visit to No. 3 USC, battles with almost-ranked Utah and TCU in the Cayman Islands (Nov. 29-30) and home dates with No. 4 Texas (Dec. 5) and No. 2 UConn (Dec. 12).
Before all of that, Notre Dame will take on Davenport in a 7 p.m. exhibition on Wednesday before hosting Mercyhurst in the official season opener at 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 4.
