April 2, 2005
INDIANAPOLIS – Notre Dame senior forward Jacqueline Batteast (South Bend, Ind./Washington HS) has been selected to the 2005 Kodak/Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-America Team, the WBCA announced Saturday in a press conference at the Westin Hotel in Indianapolis, site of this year’s NCAA Women’s Final Four. Batteast is only the second Irish women’s basketball player ever to be named to the prestigious 10-player squad, following in the footsteps of Ruth Riley in 2001. Like Riley, Batteast previously had been a finalist for the Kodak All-America Team on two occasions in 2002 and 2004 before making the squad on her third try. Batteast’s teammate, junior guard Megan Duffy (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne HS) also was a Kodak/WBCA All-America Team finalist this season, earning her honorable mention All-America status.
The BIG EAST Conference Player of the Year, Preseason WNIT Most Valuable Player and a third-team Associated Press All-America selection, as well as a candidate for the John R. Wooden Women’s Award and Naismith Award, Batteast averaged 16.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game with six double-doubles and 29 double-digit scoring games in her final season at Notre Dame. She departs as one of the most decorated players in school history, having been a four-time all-BIG EAST selection (a first-team pick the past two years) and ranking among the top five in the Irish career record books in 16 categories, including points (4th – 1,874), scoring average (4th – 15.2 ppg.), rebounds (4th – 965), rebounding average (4th – 7.8 rpg.), blocked shots (3rd – 167), blocks average (3rd – 1.36 bpg.), games started (3rd – 119) and double-doubles (2nd – 38). She also set a new school record by starting the final 97 games of her career, breaking Gaither’s old mark of 95 consecutive starts from 1994-97.
Batteast was one of the cornerstones in Notre Dame’s 27-6 record this season, as well as its run to the Preseason WNIT championship and a second-place finish in the BIG EAST. The 27 victories equal the success of the 1999-2000 squad for the third-highest win total in school history, while the .818 winning percentage is the fourth-best mark in the program’s 28-year history and the fifth time in the past nine seasons the Irish have won better than 80 percent of their games.
Following her participation in the WBCA All-Star Challenge later on Saturday at the University of Indianapolis, Batteast will turn her attention toward preparing for the 2005 WNBA Draft, which will be held April 16 beginning at noon (ET). All three rounds of the draft will be televised, with the first round airing on ESPN2 and the final two rounds being shown on NBA TV.
— ND —