Notre Dame women’s basketball falls out of AP Top 10 for first time this season
The hits keep coming for Notre Dame women’s basketball. This blow is far less impactful than losing sophomore point guard Olivia Miles to a knee injury, though.
Head coach Niele Ivey’s team dropped out of the Associated Press Poll top 10 for the first time all season on Monday. The Fighting Irish (25-5) checked in just on the outside at No. 11. That’s a ranking consistent with ESPN analyst Charlie Creme’s projection of a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is scheduled for this coming Sunday, March 12.
Earning a No. 3 seed would give Notre Dame the opportunity to play two games at home inside Purcell Pavilion in South Bend. First and second round games would be played there for a pod of four teams including Notre Dame, a No. 6 seed, a No. 11 seed and a No. 14 seed. The Irish would play the No. 14 seed in the first round and the winner of the other game if they were to advance themselves.
Right now, all attention — internal and external — is on Miles. She went down clutching her right knee in the regular season finale at Louisville on Feb. 26 and has not played since. Notre Dame beat NC State in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals by lost in a blowout to Louisville in the semifinals. Without Miles running the point, the Irish put up a season-low 38 points. The team’s previous single-game low was 50.
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Sonia Citron earns ACC All-Tournament Second Team honor
Fellow sophomore guard Sonia Citron has taken on more responsibilities without Miles in the mix. She scored 28 points in the ACC Tournament win over NC State. Despite scoring just 8 in the next game vs. Louisville, Citron landed on the tourney’s Second Team.
Citron is the Irish’s leading scorer at 14.7 points per game. She connects on 43.9 percent of her three-point attempts which is also a team-best. If Miles is not able to recover from her knee injury in the next week and a half, Ivey has the same amount of time to formulate a game plan that puts Citron in the best position to succeed. She’s the Irish’s best chance of making March Madness noise if Miles cannot give it a go.
