Notre Dame Women’s Basketball hungry to make it back to NCAA tournament

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - Notre Dame Women’s Basketball is entering year 2 of the Niele Ivey era.

The Irish return the majority of the starters and are welcoming in grad transfer Maya Dodson, freshman Sonia Citron and Nat Marshall back from an ACL injury .

Last year the Irish were .500 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 24 years.

This year, they are hungry to get back there.

“Oh my gosh, I love the energy,” Ivey said. “The energy the first day of practice it was tremendous. It was electric. Everybody is committed. They’ve all worked so hard to come back. They’re playing with a sense of urgency and a hunger. I think that’s just from having a bad taste in their mouth from last year and not being able to make the tournament. I think everybody grew from that. It’s something in the back of our minds, motivation for us. But just their buy in and the commitment to what we’re doing that they’ve been putting in, it’s been really exciting.”

The Irish are also excited to get their fans back inside of Purcell Pavilion.

“Building a chemistry especially in an empty gym, it built a deeper appreciation for the game,” guard Dara Mabrey said. “This group is very excited to get out there to exemplify that and really get that full Notre Dame experience with the support of the fans because our alumni and our fanbase is huge and it’s very important to us.”

Notre Dame kicks off the season on Nov. 9 against Ohio.

Copyright 2021 WNDU. All rights reserved.