Notre Dame Fighting Irish will take on the California Bears in the first-ever women’s college basketball game, airing on NBC and Peacock.
Taking place on November 12th at 4pm ET, the game will be part of the City Shamrock Classic. City and Notre Dame have teamed up for an event that includes more than games. The day before the competition, Notre Dame will host a luncheon with “marquee speakers from the fields of business and women’s sports.” The two-day event will focus on holding conversations addressing “gender equity and women’s athletics.”
City and Notre Dame have committed to future events aimed at improving women’s sport and closing the gender gap in collegiate athletics with a new partnership facilitated by the Notre Dame Global Partnership. Ed Schuyler, Citi’s head of global public relations, said the company was thrilled to support women’s basketball, which has been “underrepresented for too long.”
Notre Dame looking for more success after making Sweet 16 last season
Notre Dame coach Neil Ivey is looking to lead her team to victory after surging to the Sweet 16 in last season’s NCAA Tournament. Ivey posted her 10-10 record in her first season as coach, leading Notre Dame to her 24-10 record last year. The team upset Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to No. 1 seed North Carolina State in the third round. NC State lost to UConn in her Elite 8.
Charmin-Smith and the Bears are looking to top .500 after an 11-13 record last season.
The match, which will take place at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, will be homecoming for Ivey and Smith, who both grew up in St. Louis. Ivey, who attended her Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis, called this a “perfect circle moment” in her basketball career.
“Thank you City for giving us the opportunity to showcase our women’s basketball program on this prime stage of the inaugural City Shamrock Classic,” Ivy said. “This is the perfect moment to return to St. Louis, where my basketball journey began. We hope to continue to inspire and empower athletes.”
After attending Cor Jesu Academy, Ivey went to Notre Dame and became a member of the women’s basketball team. Ivey was selected by the Indiana Fever in the second round of her 2001 WNBA Draft. She spent her five seasons in the WNBA before becoming a coach. Ivey was named assistant her coach at the University of Notre Dame in 2007. She also spent one season as an assistant to Muffet at the Grizzlies in Memphis before she was named coach at the University of Notre Dame after McGraw retired.
City Shamrock Classic tickets Released on September 23rd.
