After defeating Davenport by a 101-41 score in Wednesday’s exhibition, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team prepares to face off against the Mercyhurst Lakers in the season opener on Monday.
Last year, the Mercyhurst Lakers finished 18-11 overall and 14-8 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play. With the new season, the team has also lost key players from last year, including then-graduate student guard Julia Buchman, then-senior guard Paige Woodford, senior forward Kate Deutsch and senior guard Lauren Klare.
Buchman, Klare and Woodford were near the top of the leaderboard for the Lakers, as Buchman finished last season with 229 points, Klare finished with 170 and Woodford finished with 141. Woodford was also key for the Lakers with a total of 32 steals for the season.
The Lakers welcome back a number of players this season including sophomore guard Sophia Kelly, senior guard Singo Lekeuneu, senior guard Allyson Ross, junior guard Jenna Van Schaik, senior guard Maria McConnell, senior guard Ava Waid, graduate student guard Grace Clary and junior forward Bailey Kuhns.
Kuhns was a key player on offense for the Lakers as she led the team with a total of 414 points alongside Clary who finished with 124 points. Van Shaik contributed 67 rebounds at the end of last season, 14 of them offensively and 53 defensively. Clary was right behind her with a total of 65 rebounds, eight on offense and 57 on defense.
The team also welcomes six freshmen and a transfer onto the team this year, including freshman guard Cici Hernandez, freshman guard Alena Fusetti, freshman guard Grace Strickland, freshman guard Quinn Borroni, freshman forward Erica Hall and freshman guard Ella Cupka. The transfer for the Lakers is junior forward Lauryn Stover. Stover managed 13.5 points a game last year at Purdue Fort Wayne before transferring to Mercyhurst.
The Irish finished their season last year strong, going 28-7 overall and 13-5 in ACC play. The Irish prepare to face off against the Lakers with an updated roster.
Heading into this year, the Irish lost former graduate students guard Jenna Brown, forward Becky Obinma and guard Anna DeWolfe. The Irish also lost former senior forward Natalija Marshall.
Obinma finished the 2023-24 season with a total of 43 points, DeWolfe finished the season with 306 and Marshall finished with 169. DeWolfe was a key player on the court as she had a total of 36 steals in this past season to help the Irish, with Marshall right behind her having a total of 34 steals to round out the year.
This year, the Irish welcome back sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo who made her college debut last year and led the team in points with a total of 790. Graduate guard Olivia Miles, who is making a comeback after an ACL tear, returns with guard Sonia Citron, back for her senior year. Graduate guard Sarah Cernugel and graduate forward Maddy Westbeld, who has averaged a total of 12.9 points per game over the past four years at Notre Dame, are back as well.
Notre Dame also has two transfer students, including graduate forward Liza Karlen, who is transferring from Marquette. Karlen averaged 17.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game during the 2023-24 season at Marquette. The other is graduate forward Liatu King, who is transferring from Pittsburgh. King finished her senior year at Pittsburgh averaging 18.7 points per game, 10.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks.
The team also welcomes one freshman onto the team, forward Kate Koval. Koval was ranked inside the top five of the overall recruit list by ESPN Hoopgurlz and made the ACC Newcomer Watch List.
The Irish prepare to face off against Mercyhurst for the first time in history on Monday with tip-off at 5 p.m.
