’Canes rise in poll after upsetting Irish

CORAL GABLES — After notching a pair of wins last week — including a stunning upset of defending national champion Notre Dame — the Miami Hurricanes women’s basketball team has seen its stock rise.

Miami jumped five spots to No. 20 in the latest AP Top 25 rankings, which were released Monday. Last week, the Hurricanes stunned the then fourthranked Irish 72-65 behind stellar performances from Beatrice Mompremier and Emese Hof, who both notched double-doubles in the win.

Then, in a Sunday road game that coach Katie Meier worried might be problematic for her team, Miami led from wire-towire and overcame a tough shooting performance in a 65-51 win over Pittsburgh.

The Hurricanes (21-5, 9-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) have now won seven of their last eight games ahead of a Sunday afternoon showdown with No. 2 Louisville, who at 23-1 stands atop the ACC rankings.

Notre Dame fell to No. 6 in the AP Top 25, which features six ACC teams, including Louisville, Notre Dame, North Carolina State (No. 12), Syracuse (No. 16), Miami and Florida State (No. 21).

Mompremier honored: Mompremier, who has been a force for the Hurricanes this season, recognition for her twice.

On Monday, Mompremier earned her third ACC Player of the Week honor and was named one of the 30 players to earn a spot on the Naismith Trophy Midseason Team, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced.

The redshirt junior has an ACC-high 19 doubledoubles and is averaging 16.6 points and 11.8 rebounds. She was added to the Wade Trophy midseason watch list last week.

Mompremier is now one of 30 players eligible for the 2019 Citizen Naithsmith Trophy Women’s Player of the Year award. The competition will be narrowed to 10 national semifinalists on March 4th, with the earned play — four finalists being on April 6.

On the season, Mompremier leads the ACC in overall rebounding (12.5 per game), offensive rebounding (4.2 per game) and defensive rebounding (8.3). She ranks fifth in scoring and sixth in fieldgoal percentage (56.1).

In Miami’s wins over Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, she averaged 20.5 points and 12.5 rebounds.

She is the first Hurricane to earn three Player of the Week awards in a single season since 2010-11, when Riquna Williams was honored four times and Shenise Johnson three times. announced