Three of 10 WNBA All-Star starters are from Notre Dame women's basketball
You can’t tell the story of the 2023 WNBA season without mention Notre Dame. Three of 10 starters in July 15’s All-Star Game are former Fighting Irish players.
The Las Vegas Aces’ Jackie Young, the Seattle Storm’s Jewell Loyd and the Dallas Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale were named All-Star starters on Sunday. Young will be starting in her home gym at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Vegas.
Here is the full list of All-Star starters and the colleges they played for.
- Jackie Young, Las Vegas Aces (Notre Dame)
- Jewell Loyd, Seattle Storm (Notre Dame)
- Arike Ogunbowale, Dallas Wings (Notre Dame)
- A’Ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces (South Carolina)
- Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever (South Carolina)
- Satou Sabally, Dallas Wings (Oregon)
- Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles Sparks (Stanford)
- Brittney Griner, Phoenix Mercury (Baylor)
- Chelsea Gray, Las Vegas Aces (Duke)
- Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty (UConn)
Wilson and Stewart are the two teams’ captains. It’s Notre Dame’s Loyd, though, who leads the league in scoring with 25.4 points per game. Stewart is second at 22.9, and Ogunbowale is third with 22.7. Young rounds out the top five at 20.2. So not only does Notre Dame have three of 10 All-Star starters, but the Fighting Irish also have three of the league’s top-five scorers.
Ogunbowale was the All-Star Game MVP in 2021. She scored 26 points in a game that was played against the United States’ Olympic team. Ogunbowale was the first player from Notre Dame to win the All-Star Game MVP award. She and Loyd and Young give the Irish a better than decent shot at claiming a second.
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Notre Dame is on its way to putting more players in the WNBA with the way head coach Niele Ivey is crafting her current team. Junior guards Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron seem poised to be future stars at the next level. Notre Dame also just welcomed two five-star talents to South Bend this summer in Hannah Hidalgo, the McDonald’s All-American Game MVP in March, and Emma Risch.
Ogunbowale, Young and Loyd are joined by fellow former Irish players Brianna Turner, Jessica Shepard, Kayla McBride, Lindsay Allen and Marina Mabrey as current WNBA players.
South Carolina was the only other school to have multiple All-Star starters this year. The Irish and Gamecocks get the 2023-24 season going with a game in Paris on Nov. 6.
