Notre Dame women's basketball transfer Sam Brunelle commits to Virginia
Sam Brunelle will continue her women’s basketball career closer to home.
The former Notre Dame forward announced Saturday a commitment to transfer to Virginia.
“The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave, and feels even better to come back… I’m coming HOME #GoHoos #wahoowa,” Brunelle tweeted.
Brunelle attended William Monroe High School in Stanardsville, Va., a roughly 30-minute drive from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. While at William Monroe, Brunelle was once ranked as the No. 1 recruit in the 2019 class before finishing ranked No. 6 overall in the espnW 100.
Brunelle, who intends to transfer after an early graduation from Notre Dame this summer, will have two seasons of immediate eligibility remaining. She will join a Virginia team that finished last season with a 5-22 record and only two wins in the ACC. Virginia fired head coach Tina Thompson and replaced her last month with Missouri State’s Amaka Agugua-Hamilton.
The 6-foot-2 Brunelle saw her role decrease over her three seasons with the Irish. As a freshman in 2019-20, Brunelle started all 31 games and averaged 13.9 points (second on the team) and 5.8 rebounds (third on the team) per game. Head coach Muffet McGraw retired following the disappointing 13-18 season.
Brunelle didn’t start a game under new head coach Niele Ivey in the last two seasons. She played in 17 of Notre Dame’s 20 games in the 2020-21 season around nagging shoulder and knee pain with 8.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Brunelle played in all 32 games last season and averaged 6.8 points and 1.9 rebounds. She finished the season sixth on the team in scoring and seventh in minutes played.
Brunelle was one of three Notre Dame players who entered the transfer portal following the season. Junior guard Anaya Peoples, who started 17 games and averaged just 3.8 points, and senior guard Abby Prohaska (3.8 points per game) also entered the transfer portal.
Peoples recently told The News-Gazette in Champaign, Ill., that she’s considering an official visit to Illinois. She attended high school at Schlarman Academy in nearby Danville, Ill.
The Irish also lost graduate senior Maya Dodson, an All-ACC forward last season, when the NCAA denied her appeal for an extra year of eligibility.
Notre Dame will return four starters from last season — freshman guard Olivia Miles (13.7 points per game), freshman guard Sonia Citron (11.8), sophomore forward Maddy Westbeld (11.8) and senior guard Dara Mabrey (10.3) — but will need more roster reinforcements than McDonald’s All-America guard KK Bransford, its lone signee in the 2022 recruiting class.
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