Notre Dame women’s basketball will have its second “Sister Act” in the past decade thanks to Sunday’s announcement on Twitter by 6-2 Madeline Westbeld, from Fairmont High School in Kettering Ohio, that she will sign with Notre Dame in the 2020 recruiting cycle.
Ranked the nation’s No. 23 prospect by ESPN’s Hoopgurlz and No. 27 by Prospects Nation, Westbeld’s older sister Kathryn Westbeld was the glue figure of the 2018 national champions after earning McDonald’s All-American honors in high school. The elder Westbeld’s high school rankings were nearly identical: No. 21 by ESPN and No. 33 by PN.
Coincidentally, newly hired Fighting Irish assistant coach Michaela Mabrey played a role in her recruitment. She had played at Notre Dame from 2012-16, and was followed by younger sister Marina Mabrey (2015-19), the school's most prolific three-point shooter and also a starter for the 2018 national champs.
A starter since her freshman season, the younger Westbeld averaged 15.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per game as a junior. In addition to Notre Dame, her other four finalists were Louisville, Ohio State, Tennessee and UCLA.
She took her official visit to the Oct. 12 Notre Dame-USC football weekend, where she was joined by two other Irish verbal commits in the class: 5-11 guard Allison Campbell (No. 21 PN, No. 25 ESPN) and 6-4 forward Natalija Marshall (No. 19 PN and No. 32 ESPN).
Also taking her visit that weekend was Notre Dame’s top-rated prospect, 5-11 point guard Caitlin Clark (No. 4 ESPN and No. 7 PN), who has narrowed her choices to the Irish and home-state schools Iowa and Iowa State (where brother Blake is a sophomore reserve quarterback).
A fourth current verbal commit, guard Alasia Hayes from Tennessee, is ranked No. 44 by ESPN and No. 130 by PN. She had visited earlier in this recruiting cycle.
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