Dec. 18, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame junior center Melissa D’Amico has been selected for the BIG EAST Conference Weekly Honor Roll, the league office announced Monday. D’Amico is the third Irish women’s basketball player in as many weeks to be chosen for this distinction, following in the footsteps of junior guard Charel Allen (Dec. 4) and senior guard Breona Gray (Dec. 11). For D’Amico, it’s her first career Honor Roll selection, to go along with her BIG EAST Player of the Week citation on Dec. 17, 2005. Notre Dame now has had six different players awarded that status a total of eight times since the conference created the Honor Roll prior to last season.
In her team’s only game last week, D’Amico tied her career high with 20 points, converting 8-of-10 shots from the floor, in a 75-65 victory over IUPUI on Saturday afternoon at the Joyce Center. The 6-foot-5 center also collected five rebounds and tied another personal best with three blocked shots. Ironically, D’Amico’s previous career-high scoring performance came almost exactly one year ago, when she scored 20 points in a win over Arkansas State at the Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas. That performance ultimately led to D’Amico’s selection as both the MVP of that tournament and BIG EAST Player of the Week.
This season, D’Amico ranks third on the team in scoring (10.5 ppg.) and is fourth in rebounding (5.0 rpg.). She also leads the squad and ranks sixth in the BIG EAST in field goal percentage (.583), while also standing 11th in the conference in blocked shots (1.3 bpg.). D’Amico has been particularly sharp of late, averaging 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds with a .603 field goal percentage in the past seven games.
Notre Dame (7-3) will play its final game before the Christmas holiday Tuesday when it travels to Valparaiso for a 7:05 p.m. CT (8:05 p.m. ET in South Bend) game at the Athletics-Recreation Center. The game will be televised live regionally in northern Indiana and suburban Chicago by WHME-TV (Channel 46 in South Bend) and Lakeshore Public Television.
— ND —