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Notre Dame

Notre Dame women's basketball adds Kelly Ratigan of South Bend to roster

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•05/27/25•

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ratigan
Notre Dame women's basketball guard Kelly Ratigan. (Photo by Larry French)

One of the best South Bend area high school players in recent memory is headed home. South Bend (Ind.) Saint Joseph’s Kelly Ratigan is officially on scholarship with Notre Dame women’s basketball, the team announced Tuesday.

Ratigan is the daughter of Notre Dame football orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brian Ratigan, a former Fighting Irish linebacker from 1989-92. She was the MVP of the Northern Indiana Conference in high school and broke her school’s all-time scoring record, due in major part to averaging 24.1 points per game as a senior.

“We are so excited to welcome Kelly back home to South Bend and Notre Dame!” head coach Niele Ivey said in a statement. “She had an outstanding career at St. Joseph High School, and we couldn’t be happier to be a part of her journey moving forward.

“Kelly has an incredible motor and is a crafty scorer and 3-point shooter. She brings quality intangibles, including her leadership and work ethic.”

Ratigan is a senior with two years of collegiate eligibility remaining. She started 49 of 59 games at Loyola Maryland to begin her college career before only appearing in three games as a true junior this past season. She suffered a season-ending injury.

In her second season with the Greyhounds in 2023-24, Ratigan averaged 8.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 31.4 minutes per game. She was averaging 6.0 points per game in 2024-25 before she went down with her injury.

Ratigan has a career-high single-game points total of 23 points, recorded on Nov. 29, 2023, against St. John’s. That same season, she led the Greyhounds with 53 three-pointers. She shot 36.4 percent from beyond the arc. She made five threes in one game on two separate occasions.

Notre Dame has added five players from the transfer portal this offseason after losing four from last year’s roster to the portal. Ratigan is the third guard the Irish have brought in, joining Duke’s Vanessa de Jesus and Vanderbilt’s Iyana Moore. The Irish have also signed forwards Malaya Cowles from Wake Forest and Gisela Sanchez from Kansas State.

Head coach Niele Ivey is up to nine scholarship players for the 2025-26 season. Five of them will be out of eligibility for the following season; the four transfers not named Ratigan plus Cassandre Prosper. Ratigan, Hannah Hidalgo, KK Bransford and Leah Macy are the only current Notre Dame players slated to return in 2026-27. The Irish just for their first class of 2026 commit last week in Bella Ragone.

Notre Dame’s roster for the next two seasons has taken a little bit of shape over the last month plus, but there is still work to be done by Ivey and Co. to further fill out the scholarships available.

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