Notre Dame women's hoops transfer Anaya Peoples lands at DePaul
Six days after junior guard Anaya Peoples and two other key reserves on the Notre Dame women’s basketball team hit the transfer portal on March 30, The Athletic — in its way-too-early top 25 for next season — projected the Irish as the nation’s seventh-best team for 2022-23.
That was when center Maya Dodson’s status was in limbo, with the NCAA eventually denying her another season of college eligibility.
As head coach Niele Ivey looks for roster additions to add to four returning starters and incoming freshman guard KK Bransford, next year’s ND team will likely be tested by two of its former players.
The 5-foot-10 Peoples announced on Friday that she’ll play out her college eligibility at DePaul, an annual non-conference opponent on the ND schedule. Classmate and forward Sam Brunelle earlier landed at Virginia, an ACC opponent.
Both have potentially two seasons of eligibility remaining with the COVID exemption still in play.
Still weighing her options is senior guard Abby Prohaska. All three announced their intentions to transfer within hours of each other. The Irish finished this past season 24-9 overall, 13-5 in the ACC.
They reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament this spring after staying home with a 10-10 record in Ivey’s first season. The fifth-seeded Irish were seconds away from an upset of Bridgeport Regional No. 1 seed NC State and an Elite Eight berth before succumbing.
Peoples was cast as a defensive specialist this past season but didn’t have plentiful opportunities to show that off. She averaged 3.8 points a game after scoring at a 12.6 per-game clip as a freshman two seasons ago.
She also averaged a team-high 8.1 rebounds as a freshman, along with 1.9 steals and 1.8 assists per game, earning a spot on the ACC All-Freshman team despite an early end to her season due to a shoulder injury.
The former Danville (Ill.) Schlarman Academy standout committed to Notre Dame as a high school sophomore, three years after receiving her first scholarship offers. ESPNw ranked her as the No. 7 player in his class at the time.
Her final ranking as a five-star prospect following her senior season was 18th.
DePaul went 22-10 last season and made the NCAA Tourney as an 11 seed.
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