History
Current coach Muffet McGraw has been the women's head coach since 1987 and has led Notre Dame to five Final Four appearances (1997, 2001, 2011, 2012 and 2013), winning the National Championship in 2001 by beating Purdue 68-66. The 2001 team was led by 6-foot-5 center and future WNBA star Ruth Riley. Under McGraw's stewardship, Notre Dame has made it to the Sweet Sixteen in 6 out of the last 11 seasons, and has had 20-win seasons in 14 out of the past 15 seasons. She has led the Irish to 15 NCAA tournament appearances including a current streak of 13 straight. In the current streak, Notre Dame has made it to the second round in all but one of the appearances.
McGraw would take the Fighting Irish back to the Final Four in 2011 under the play of star point guard Skylar Diggins, beating Pat Summitt's Tennessee Lady Volunteers; the program's first win against the Lady Vols in 21 tries. That win was followed by an upset of the number one-ranked UConn Huskies (making Notre Dame the first team ever to beat both Tennessee and UConn in the same tournament) to advance the Fighting Irish to the 2011 championship game, where it lost to Texas A&M. The Irish would return to the championship game in 2012, losing to unbeaten Baylor after winning the Big East regular season title and beating UConn again to reach the final.
In the current 2012-2013 season, the Irish, led by Diggins and shooting guard Kayla McBride, posted their best regular season record in school history (31-1), despite losing Big East defensive player of the year Devereaux Peters and two other starters to graduation. Their only regular season loss was to Baylor, and the team posted wins over #9 Tennessee in Knoxville and a narrow 1 point at #1 Connecticut. The Irish completed an undefeated 16-0 Big East regular season championship vs #3 Connecticut in the final game of the season, winning a triple overtime thriller to close out Diggins’ career in South Bend. UConn and Notre Dame would again meet in the Big East Tournament final, with Notre Dame winning narrowly 61-59 to claim their first ever Big East tournament championship. Notre Dame had lost to UConn in the finale 6 previous times. Notre Dame returned to an school record third Final 4 and are currently riding a school record 30-game win streak.
Read more about this topic: Notre Dame Fighting Irish Women's Basketball
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