# 2021–22 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team

The 2021–22 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Fighting Irish were led by second year head coach Niele Ivey and played their home games at Purcell Pavilion as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Fighting Irish finished the season 24–10 overall and 13–5 in ACC play, to finish in a three way tie for third place. As the third seed in the ACC tournament, they defeated sixth seed Georgia Tech in the Quarterfinals before losing to seventh seed Miami in the Semifinals. They received and at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and were the fifth seed in the Bridgeport Region. They defeated twelfth seed UMass in the First Round and fourth seed Oklahoma in the Second Round before losing to NC State in the Sweet Sixteen to end their season.

## Previous season

The Fighting Irish finished the season 10–10 and 8–7 in ACC play to finish in sixth place. In the ACC tournament, they lost to Clemson in the Second Round. They were not invited to the NCAA tournament or the WNIT.

## Offseason
### Departures

Departures :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Amirah Abdur-Rahim | 3 | F | 6'3" | Freshman | Marietta, Georgia | Transferred to SMU |
| Alasia Hayes | 5 | G | 5'7" | Freshman | Murfreesboro, Tennessee | Transferred to Mississippi State |
| Nicole Benz | 20 | G | 5'8" | Senior | Santa Clarita, California | Graduated |
| Danielle Cosgrove | 22 | F | 6'4" | Junior | Holbrook, New York | Transferred to St. John's |
| Alli Campbell | 23 | G | 6'0" | Freshman | Altoona, Pennsylvania | Transferred to Penn State |
| Destinee Walker | 24 | G | 5'10" | Graduate Student | Orlando, Florida | Graduated |
| Mikayla Vaughn | 30 | C | 6'3" | Senior | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Graduated |

### Incoming Transfers

Incoming Transfers :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Maya Dodson | 0 | F | 6'3" | Graduate Student | Alpharetta, Georgia | Stanford |

### 2021 recruiting class

Source:
College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Olivia Miles PG | Phillipsburg, New Jersey | Blair Academy | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 97 ||||||
| Sonia Citron G | Scarsdale, New York | The Ursuline School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 95 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: ||||||

## Schedule and results

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 1, 2021* 7:00 p.m. | | Emporia State | W 104–46 | – | Purcell Pavilion (0) Notre Dame, IN |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 9, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | | Ohio | W 105–69 | 1–0 | Purcell Pavilion (4,553) Notre Dame, IN |
| November 11, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | | Western Illinois | W 76–50 | 2–0 | Purcell Pavilion (4,121) Notre Dame, IN |
| November 14, 2021 Noon, ACCN | | at Syracuse | W 82–56 | 3–0 (1–0) | Carrier Dome (3,345) Syracuse, NY |
| November 18, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | | Fordham | W 71–56 | 4–0 | Purcell Pavilion (4,487) Notre Dame, IN |
| November 21, 2021* 5:00 p.m., ACCNX | | Bryant | W 94–35 | 5–0 | Purcell Pavilion (4,470) Notre Dame, IN |
| November 26, 2021* 4:30 p.m., FloHoops | | vs. Georgia Daytona Beach Invitational | L 67–71 $^{OT}$ | 5–1 | Ocean Center (0) Daytona Beach, FL |
| November 27, 2021* 7:00 p.m., FloHoops | | vs. No. 16 Oregon State Daytona Beach Invitational | W 64–62 | 6–1 | Ocean Center (0) Daytona Beach, FL |
| December 2, 2021* 6:00 p.m., BTN | No. 24 | at Michigan State ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | W 76–71 | 7–1 | Breslin Center (4,581) East Lansing, MI |
| December 5, 2021* Noon, FS1 | No. 24 | at No. 2т Connecticut | L 54–73 | 7–2 | Gampel Pavilion (10,167) Storrs, CT |
| December 8, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 22 | at Valparaiso | W 73–56 | 8–2 | Athletics–Recreation Center (1,550) Valparaiso, IN |
| December 12, 2021* 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 22 | Purdue-Fort Wayne | W 78–41 | 9–2 | Purcell Pavilion (5,591) Notre Dame, IN |
| December 19, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 21 | Pittsburgh | W 85–59 | 10–2 (2–0) | Purcell Pavilion (4,983) Notre Dame, IN |
| December 22, 2021* 8:30 p.m., FS1 | No. 20 | at DePaul | W 91–86 | 11–2 | Wintrust Arena (1,904) Chicago, IL |
| December 30, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 17 | at Virginia | Postponed due to COVID-19 Issues | Postponed due to COVID-19 Issues | John Paul Jones Arena Charlottesville, VA |
| January 2, 2022 2:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 17 | at No. 15 Duke | L 70–72 | 11–3 (2–1) | Cameron Indoor Stadium (3,354) Durham, NC |
| January 9, 2022 2:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 20 | No. 5 NC State | Postponed due to COVID-19 Issues | Postponed due to COVID-19 Issues | Purcell Pavilion Notre Dame, IN |
| January 13, 2022 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 20 | at Wake Forest | W 74–64 | 12–3 (3–1) | LJVM Coliseum (1,260) Winston–Salem, NC |
| January 16, 2022 1:00 p.m., ACCRSN | No. 20 | No. 21 North Carolina | W 70–65 | 13–3 (4–1) | Purcell Pavilion (5,905) Notre Dame, IN |
| January 20, 2022 6:00 p.m., ACCRSN | No. 19 | at Boston College | L 71–73 | 13–4 (4–2) | Conte Forum (1,017) Chestnut Hill, MA |
| January 23, 2022 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 19 | at Pittsburgh | W 77–63 | 14–4 (5–2) | Peterson Events Center (2,201) Pittsburgh, PA |
| January 25, 2022 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 20 | at Virginia Rescheduled from Dec 30, 2021 | Postponed, UVA Forfeit | Postponed, UVA Forfeit | John Paul Jones Arena Charlottesville, VA |
| January 27, 2022 6:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 20 | Syracuse | W 83–62 | 15–4 (7–2) | Purcell Pavilion (4,493) Notre Dame, IN |
| January 30, 2022 2:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 20 | Boston College | W 74–61 | 16–4 (8–2) | Purcell Pavilion (5,584) Notre Dame, IN |
| February 1, 2022 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 20 | No. 3 NC State Rescheduled from Jan. 9 | W 69–66 | 17–4 (9–2) | Purcell Pavilion (5,566) Notre Dame, IN |
| February 3, 2022 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 20 | Virginia Tech | W 68–55 | 18–4 (10–2) | Purcell Pavilion (4,230) Notre Dame, IN |
| February 6, 2022 2:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 20 | at Florida State | L 65–70 | 18–5 (10–3) | Donald L. Tucker Center (2,678) Tallahassee, FL |
| February 10, 2022 6:00 p.m., ACCRSN | No. 18 | Miami (FL) | W 69–53 | 19–5 (11–3) | Purcell Pavilion (4,906) Notre Dame, IN |
| February 13, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 18 | at No. 3 Louisville | L 47–73 | 19–6 (11–4) | KFC Yum! Center (10,056) Louisville, KY |
| February 17, 2022 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 19 | at No. 16 Georgia Tech | W 72–66 $^{OT}$ | 20–6 (12–4) | McCamish Pavilion (3,099) Atlanta, GA |
| February 24, 2022 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 14 | Clemson | W 77–56 | 21–6 (13–4) | Purcell Pavilion (3,641) Notre Dame, IN |
| February 27, 2022 Noon, ESPN2 | No. 14 | No. 4 Louisville | L 64–86 | 21–7 (13–5) | Purcell Pavilion (7,531) Notre Dame, IN |
| ACC Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 4, 2022 8:00 p.m., ACCRSN | (3) No. 20 | vs. (6) No. 25 Georgia Tech Quarterfinals | W 71–53 | 22–7 | Greensboro, NC (5,682) Greensboro Coliseum |
| March 5, 2022 2:30 p.m., ACCN | (3) No. 20 | vs. (7) Miami (FL) Semifinals | L 54–57 | 22–8 | Greensboro, NC (7,923) Greensboro Coliseum |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 19, 2022* 7:30 p.m., ESPN2 | (5 B) No. 21 | vs. (12 B) UMass First Round | W 89–78 | 23–8 | Lloyd Noble Center Norman, OK |
| March 21, 2022* 5:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (5 B) No. 21 | at (4 B) No. 22 Oklahoma Second Round | W 108–64 | 24–8 | Lloyd Noble Center (3,258) Norman, OK |
| March 26, 2022* 11:30 a.m., ESPN | (5 B) No. 21 | vs. (1 B) No. 3 NC State Sweet Sixteen | L 63–66 | 24–9 | Total Mortgage Arena Bridgeport, CT |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. B=Bridgeport. All times are in Eastern. ||||||

## Rankings

2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings
Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked in previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |
| (NR) | Not Ranked |