Notre Dame star returns home for Final Four
About five hours after returning to Notre Dame after winning the Spokane Regional, Kathryn Westbeld limped Tuesday into her business class at Notre Dame — quantitative decision modeling.
No one would have blamed the 6-foot-2 senior forward if she had made her way to the back of the room to find a seat and get more sleep.
“I should have, but I was front and center,” Westbeld laughed a little more than 14 hours after she scored 20 points to lead the topseeded Irish to an 84-74 win over Oregon on Monday night, earning a trip to the Final Four.
Now the senior post player will see her collegiate career come to an end in Columbus,
Ohio, a 75-minute trip from her hometown of Kettering, where she led Fairmont High School to a state championship.
“My family has been blowing up my phone trying to get tickets,” Westbeld said. “It means the world to me to be able to go home for my last games here at Notre Dame.”
The fact that Westbeld is even still playing after spraining her ankle is a bit of a miracle. She wears a walking boot on her left foot after injuring it in the opening round of the NCAAs.
Westbeld didn’t start the first half of Notre Dame’s second-round game with Villanova, which was tied 45-45 at halftime. But she came out and played 16 minutes, scoring two points and pulling down six rebounds as the Irish ran away for a 98-72 victory.
Then at Spokane, Westbeld had four points, six rebounds and three assists in a 90-84 Elite Eight victory over Texas A&M.
Now she’s helped the Irish get back to the Final Four for the first time in a few years.
Their next opponent is a familiar one in UConn. The Irish-Huskies semifinal follows another matching No. 1 seeds — Kansas City winner Mississippi State (361) and Lexington winner Louisville (36-2). The winners meet Easter Sunday at 6 p.m.
Two of Notre Dame’s losses came at the hands of the Cardinals — 10067 on Jan. 11 in Louisville and then 74-72 March 4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship game in Greensboro, N.C.
The other was an 80-71 setback Dec. 3 in Hartford’s XL Center to Geno Auriemma’s crew.
The Irish, then No. 2, led that one by 11 points early in the fourth quarter, but the top-ranked Huskies finished on a 26-6 run for an 80-71 victory in which Westbeld, still rounding herself into shape from offseason right ankle surgery, scored four points.
That was the seventh straight victory by UConn over Notre Dame, a string that includes three Irish losses in the Final Four, including two in the 2014 and ‘15 championship games, the last one a 63-53 setback in Tampa, Fla., Westbeld’s freshman season.
She and the Irish haven’t been back to the Final Four since.
“I wanted it so badly,” Westbeld said. “I’m really happy we were able to accomplish that. I’m excited for my teammates. Everyone has done so much for us to get to this point. I’m just proud of the way we won.
“We’ve turned some heads — I don’t think anyone thought we could get this far.”
The Irish have overcome four season-ending ACL injuries and other injuries — a black eye to Westbeld, a broken nose for guard Jackie Young and hand injury to guard Marina Mabrey even before the tournament run began with Westbeld suffering a left ankle sprain early in the first minutes of Notre Dame’s 99-81 firstround victory over Cal State Northridge.