Dec. 29, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Just a few days after Christmas, University of Notre Dame women’s basketball freshman forward Brianna Turner (Pearland, Texas/Manvel) discovered one more present waiting for her under the tree.
For the third time this season, Turner was selected as the Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Week, earning that honor today based on a vote of the conference’s Blue Ribbon Panel that is comprised of the ACC’s 15 head coaches, local and national media members and the women’s basketball media relations directors for each school.
Turner is not only the first three-time ACC Freshman of the Week this season (she previously received the award on Nov. 17 and 24), but she becomes the sixth Fighting Irish player in program history to garner three conference freshman-of-the-week citations. Current junior guard Jewell Loyd (Lincolnwood, Ill./Niles West) was the most recent Notre Dame player to pull off that feat, earning four BIG EAST Conference Freshman of the Week honors during the 2012-13 season.
Coincidentally, Loyd also joins Turner as a multi-time ACC weekly honoree this season, having been chosen as the ACC Player of the Week on Dec. 8 and 15.
Turner posted her first career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, and matched a career-best five blocked shots in Notre Dame’s near wire-to-wire 82-67 victory at UCLA on Sunday afternoon. Despite facing a UCLA roster with five players standing taller than 6-foot-3, Turner more than held her own, collecting more offensive rebounds (nine) than any other player’s total rebound count during the game. Turner’s nine offensive rebounds also matched her previous career high for total rebounds (nine vs. UMass Lowell on Nov. 14), while her five blocks tied her personal best set in her last outing on Dec. 21 against Saint Joseph’s (Pa.).
“Bri continues to grow and develop with every game and every practice,” Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said. “She has so much potential and we’re just beginning to see glimpses of what she can achieve. It’s a great accomplishment to be named ACC Freshman of the Week three times and we believe the best is still yet to come for her.”
Turner currently leads the nation with a .667 field-goal percentage. She also ranks sixth in the ACC in blocked shots (2.1 bpg.), is tied for 14th in the conference in scoring (14.0 ppg.) and stands 18th in rebounding (6.3 rpg.).
Notre Dame returns home to tip off its second season in the ACC at 7 p.m. (ET) Friday, playing host to Florida State at Purcell Pavilion. The game will be streamed live and free of charge worldwide online through the official Notre Dame athletics multimedia platform, WatchND, while radio coverage will be available in South Bend on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1).
For more information on the Notre Dame women’s basketball program, sign up to follow the Fighting Irish women’s basketball Twitter pages (@NDsidMasters or @ndwbb), like the program on Facebook (facebook.com/ndwbb) or register for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system through the “Fan Center” pulldown menu on the front page at UND.com.
— Chris Masters, Associate Athletic Media Relations Director