Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Olivia Miles to Miss NCAA Tournament

March Definitely Breeds Madness

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish Women’s Basketball team takes on Southern Utah in the NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 17. Unfortunately, some early St. Patrick’s Day luck is not totally fulfilled, as the team just announced that Olivia Miles will not play for the rest of this season.

Miles suffered a right knee injury during the final game of the regular season, a win over Louisville. She is a Second-Team AP All-American, but even without those accolades, the Irish know they are going to be missing a dynamic player and amazing shooter. They have already been down Dara Mabrey since she was injured earlier in the season, too.

The team has been playing overall well, but to lose arguably your best player for March Madness is a tough pill to swallow. The Irish will lean on the strong efforts of Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld, and Lauren Ebo to guide and lead the team through their tournament run.

William Howard-USA TODAY Sports

First Round Game Details

The 3-seed Irish will host the 14-seed Southern Utah at Purcell Pavilion in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The game will tip-off at 3:30 PM ET and will be shown on ESPN2. The Southern Utah Thunderbirds (23-9) won the WAC for their first ever NCAA Tournament bid. The winner of the game will face the winner of Creighton/Mississippi State, the 6/11 matchup played after the Irish and Thunderbirds compete. The second round game will be Sunday, March 19 at a time TBD.