Former five-star recruit Natalija Marshall out for remainder of Notre Dame women’s basketball season

An already thin Notre Dame women’s basketball roster just got thinner.

After the Fighting Irish’s 83-62 victory over Syracuse at Purcell Pavilion on Thursday, head coach Niele Ivey told reporters sophomore forward Natalija Marshall will miss the remainder of the season with a medial meniscus tear. Ivey said the injury was not a result of a specific tweak in practice or a game but rather weathering of the joint over time.

With Marshall, Notre Dame had 10 scholarship players. Now the Irish are down to nine — and possibly eight. Senior guard Katlyn Gilbert has not played since Dec. 19. Ivey said she is currently not an option to play because of personal matters. She has not gone into much more detail on Gilbert’s outlook for the rest of the season.

Ivey has gone with a seven-player rotation for much of the season anyway. Gilbert only played in five games with an average of 5.9 minutes per appearance. Ivey will go eight-deep at times, but rarely does the eighth player in those scenarios receive more than 10 to 15 minutes of playing time. Still, not having Marshall or Gilbert as a safety nets is a depth concern moving forward.

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Marshall’s short Notre Dame career has been troubling from an injury standpoint. She missed her entire freshman season rehabbing from an ACL tear suffered in high school. She didn’t go through a full-contact practice at Notre Dame until last summer. Her Irish debut came in the season opener against Ohio. She scored four points in seven minutes off the bench.

Whether it was the new knee injury or still trying to work her way back from the last one, Marshall never figured into the regular rotation this season. She appeared in 13 games, all off the bench, and only registered 10-plus minutes three times. Her best game of the season was an 11-point performance in 28 minutes against Bryant on Nov. 21. She also secured a career-best five rebounds in that game.

Most of Marshall’s work came in short stints. She averaged 3.2 points and 8.2 minutes per game and shot 38.1% from the field. She was also only a 50.0% (10 of 20) free throw shooter.

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The Queens (N.Y.) Christ The King product arrived at Notre Dame in 2020 as a five-star recruit. The reality of rehab arrived with her, though. While her teammates fought through a tough 10-10 season and missed out on the NCAA Tournament, Marshall fought to get back onto the floor with grueling leg strengthening exercises in the weight room. That’ll once again be the case over the next few months and into the offseason.

Though she wasn’t a go-to player off the bench to begin with, Marshall’s absence and Gilbert’s up in the air status place even more pressure on junior forward Sam Brunelle as a reserve post presence. Brunelle cannot afford to have off nights. She’s all Ivey has in terms of size and length off the bench.

Sophomore combo guard Sonia Citron started in place of junior guard Anaya Peoples against Syracuse. Peoples still played 13 minutes. If Citron continues to start, Brunelle, Peoples and senior guard Abby Prohaska will be Ivey’s three core players to come off the bench. Prohaska ha splayed all of five minutes over the span of two games since returning from a concussion she suffered on Dec. 22.

Notre Dame is truly down to eight players excluding walk-ons Trinity Cha and Sarah Chernugel. Another injury would put the Irish in a severe spot. The available players have led Notre Dame to a strong 15-4 overall record and 6-2 mark in ACC play, but the situation would get dire if another player was unable to finish the season for whatever reason.

Notre Dame currently only has one play signed in the class of 2022 as well. Four-star guard KK Bransford is a good one — a McDonald’s All-American, in fact — but Notre Dame is going to need to bolster its roster in not just quality but quantity for the 2022-23 season.