Hurricanes Women’s Basketball Uses Week Off to Prepare for the Rest of ACC Play

The Miami Hurricanes Women’s Basketball team will return to the court for the first time since December 20 when they take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this Thursday. The Hurricanes struggled in their last time out against N.C. State, losing 78-47 on the road.

Miami will hope for a stronger performance against Notre Dame on Thursday before a tough game against Clemson on Sunday. The Irish are 3-4 this year and have struggled to find consistency despite being ranked in the preseason.

However, Notre Dame will still be a tough matchup for the Hurricanes. They are led by one of the best players in the conference in Maddy Westbeld who averages 17.1 points per game, good enough for fourth best in the ACC. Anaya Peoples is another excellent player for the Irish who averages 11.4 points per game to go along with 6.3 rebounds.

Miami will finish out this week with a game against Clemson. The Tigers have been excellent so far this season and are 8-1 so far. They are led by Gabby Elliott who averages 13.2 points per game and 6.1 rebounds and Kendall Spray who adds another 13.0 points per game on offense. Clemson will be an extremely tough test for the Hurricanes who need a big win after losing to NC State.

There was a significant off the court development this week in the ACC as well. Duke, a program which had paused activities due to positive cases within their program, decided to opt-out of the 2020-2021 season entirely. Miami had been scheduled to play Duke earlier this season but the game was postponed due to the Blue Devils’ pause of activities.

A big week lies ahead for the Hurricanes who are in need of some big conference wins to build on in the second half of the season. A 2-0 week would be tremendous for Miami though it will be difficult to accomplish.