Notre Dame secures commitment from espnW 100 recruit from class of 2022
Notre Dame has landed the first piece of its 2022 recruiting class.
Mount Notre Dame (Ohio) High School four-star guard KK Bransford committed to head coach Niele Ivey and the Fighting Irish on Friday. Bransford is the No. 29 overall recruit in the class of 2022 according to the espnW 100.
Bransford is the second straight Ohio Ms. Basketball winner to commit to Notre Dame. The Irish landed 2020 recipient Maddy Westbeld, who led the Irish with 15.2 points per game last season.
Bransford, 2021’s Ohio Ms. Basketball, averaged 21.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 3.0 steals per game in leading Mount Notre Dame to a state championship last season. Her Cougars went 28-0 and finished the season as the No. 1 team in the country according to Blue Star Media.
“This is huge for her,” Mount Notre Dame head coach Scott Rogers told reporters shortly after Bransford announced her decision. “She has big goals, and she wanted to go to a school that has big goals. At Notre Dame, that's kind of inherent.”
Rogers said Bransford, 5-10, has great relationships with current Notre Dame players, and Ivey made as good of a recruiting pitch as any head coach Bransford talked to during the process.
“It feels unreal,” Bransford said. “I always dreamed about this when I was a younger kid. For it to actually be the time now and to be able to share it with the MND community and all my family and friends, it's just so special. More special than I thought.”
The 2021-22 Notre Dame women's basketball team takes the floor for the first time this fall for an exhibition game against Emporia State at Purcell Pavilion at 7 p.m. ET Nov. 1. The regular season gets going against Ohio at home Nov. 9 at the same time.
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