Destinee Walker Officially Joins Notre Dame Women's Basketball Roster
Former North Carolina starting guard Destinee Walker (2015-19) was officially announced by Notre Dame on Monday morning (May 6) as joining head coach Muffet McGraw’s roster as a graduate transfer who will be immediately eligible in 2019-20.
Because the 5-10 Walker was sidelined medically as a junior in 2017-18 (knee injury) and 2018-19 (unspecified hip injury), she actually could apply for a sixth season in 2020-21 as well.
Although it was revealed by the Walker family last month after an official visit to Notre Dame the weekend of April 13 that she would enroll as a grad transfer, paper work and protocol delayed the announcement from the University until now for the Orlando native.
Per ESPN Hoopgurlz, Walker was the 17th nationally-ranked recruit out of high school in 2015 and earned McDonald's All-American and Naismith honors. She was named the Florida 4A Player of the Year for both her junior and senior years, leading her Lake Highland Prep squad to a state championship in her senior season.
Walker made an instant impact and was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team after averaging 13.9 points (career high of 32), 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. She led the team in double-digit scoring games with 28.
The ensuing year Walker averaged 12.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists, registering four 20-plus point performances, before injuries began to derail her career. A knee injury shelved Walker the final 10 games of her sophomore campaign, in addition to the entire 2017-18 season, which she medically redshirted.
Complementing her scoring production, Walker was twice selected as the team's Defensive Player of The Year, was named to the ACC Honor Roll each of her first two seasons plus was an Athletic Director’s Scholar-Athlete selection.
Walker returned to the squad last season and played sparingly the first four games, but the aforementioned hip injury prevented her from playing beyond Nov. 24.
In 57 career contests at UNC, Walker was a 43.8 percent shooter from two-point range and a career 78.3 percent shooter from the free-throw line.
Playing time is there for the taking for the 2019-20 Fighting Irish, who lost all five starters from this past season’s national runner up, which a year earlier produced a national championship.
With former walk-on guard Kaitlin Cole awarded a scholarship for her senior season, Walker will be one of nine scholarship players on the 2019-20 squad. The others are junior forward Mikayla Vaughn, sophomore guards Abby Prohaska, Jordan Nixon and Katlyn Gilbert along with forward Danielle Cosgrove, and incoming freshmen Samantha Brunelle and Anaya Peoples at forward and guard, respectively.
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