SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — For the third time in four days, a Notre Dame women’s basketball player has earned a spot on a national watch list. On Thursday, Maddy Westbeld was announced as one of 20 players on the Katrina McClain Award Watch List. The award is given to the nation’s top power forward and is presented by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the WBCA.
“We’re proud to recognize these incredible student-athletes who have shown many skills that made Katrina McClain the standout she was and have proven themselves the best at their position,” said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. “As we launch our fan voting component tomorrow, we encourage fans to vote alongside Katrina and our distinguished selection committee.”
Westbeld was a member of the All-ACC Second Team last year after playing a critical role in Notre Dame’s ACC regular season title campaign. The 6-3 forward averaged 11.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game on the offensive side of the floor and shot 44.9 percent from the floor. Defensively, Westbeld led the Irish with 1.2 blocks per game. She also accounted for 1.4 steals each contest. Finally, Westbeld scored her 1,000th point against NC State in the ACC Tournament, joining her sister Kat and becoming half of the only two sisters in Irish history to each reach the 1,000-point mark.
About Katrina McClain-Pittman:
Katrina McClain-Pittman was a prolific rebounder and terrific scorer in a career that spanned three Olympic Games and three continents. Before she earned her stripes for USA Basketball, McClain-Pittman starred at the University of Georgia, where she was a two-time Kodak All-American and the WBCA National Player of the Year her senior season. She left Georgia as the school’s second all-time leading scorer and rebounder, averaging a double-double her final two seasons in Athens. The Lady Bulldogs reached the 1985 NCAA Final Four and national championship game with McClain-Pittman controlling the paint and Teresa Edwards running the offense. The two-time USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year finished her international career with two Olympic gold medals and one bronze, three FIBA World Championships medals, and five medals at the Goodwill Games, Pan Am Games, and World University Games. In all, McClain-Pittman appeared on eleven USA Basketball rosters, becoming one of the most decorated athletes in USA Basketball history. She has been inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame, the Georgia State Hall of Fame ,the National High School Hall of Fame, and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
About the WBCA:
Founded in 1981, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of womens’ and girls’ basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to those organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. For more information, visit us online: WBCA.org, follow @wbca1981 or call 1-770-279-8027.
About the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame:
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was born, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving and celebrating the game of basketball at every level – men and women, amateur and professional players, coaches and contributors, both domestically and internationally. The Hall of Fame museum is home to more than 400 inductees and over 40,000 square feet of basketball history. Nearly 200,000 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience the interactive exhibits and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo “Court of Dreams.” Best known for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the game’s elite, the Hall of Fame also operates over 70 high school and collegiate competitions annually throughout the country and abroad. For more information on the Basketball Hall of Fame organization, its museum and events, visit hoophall.com, follow @hoophall or call 1-877-4HOOPLA.