Notre Dame's Taya Reimer ready to step in for injured Natalie Achonwa
Final Four No. 4 wasn't supposed to be like this for Natalie Achonwa.
With 4:50 to play in Notre Dame's Elite Eight matchup against Baylor on Monday night, Achonwa landed hard under the basket and went down holding her left knee. She was taken to the locker room — not before giving her teammates an impassioned speech — and came back to cut down the nets. But an MRI on Tuesday showed a torn ACL and she's been ruled out for the Final Four.
She will be missed on the court — she's the Irish's top rebounder (7.7 a game) and No. 3 scorer (14.9 points a game) — but her presence will be important in the locker room and on the bench.
"Natalie Achonwa sets the tone for our team in everything that we do," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said this week on a conference call with Final Four coaches. "We talked about it in the locker room. There were no tears, there was no mourning. We are ready to move on, and Natalie is going to be on the sidelines doing everything she can to help us win."
Achonwa's likely replacement is freshman Taya Reimer, who started for the senior forward earlier in the season when Achonwa missed a few games with a different knee injury. Reimer has averaged 4.6 rebounds and 7.4 points and leads the team with 48 blocks.
She lacks Achonwa's experience but has been waiting for a big stage to showcase her talent.
"I think that she would be a starter for most other programs in the country," McGraw said. "I think she's been waiting for this opportunity all season long to break into the starting lineup."
The main story line surrounding this Final Four is a potential championship of unbeatens: Connecticut (38-0) and Notre Dame (36-0). But will the Fighting Irish be able to take care of Maryland (28-6), a team they beat earlier in the season, without Achonwa?
They've done it before.
In January, Notre Dame beat Maryland on the road, 87-83. Achonwa played just half the game due to foul trouble, and other players stepped up. Sophomore Jewell Loyd and senior Kayla McBride took more shots and combined for 51 points.
"I don't think Notre Dame is just Natalie Achonwa," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "I think they're a whole lot more than that. And if anybody thinks that that's all they are, they haven't played them enough times. … Losing her really, really, really hurts. I guess we'll see this weekend how much."
The Irish have studied film of their previous meeting with Maryland. The main issue will be containing Terrapins star senior Alyssa Thomas.
"That helped us a little bit," McGraw said. "But it does present some problems when you lose your best rebounder against a team like Maryland, who is just big and terrific on the boards, and a player like Alyssa Thomas, it creates ... a couple more problems for us."
Thomas, named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year three consecutive seasons, leads the Terrapins in scoring (19.1), rebounding (11), assists (4.2 and steals (1.5). She's a 6-2 forward, but her versatility allows her to play point guard in different situations. She's coming off a 22-point, 13-rebound performance against No. 3-seeded Louisville that propelled Maryland to its first Final Four since 2006.
Before Maryland's Elite Eight matchup against Louisville, Cardinals coach Jeff Walz joked he was going to put all five of his players on her, leaving the others wide open and hoping they'd miss open shots.
Thomas will present a difficult matchup inside for the Irish.
"I think her strength is rebounding," McGraw said. "That girl is relentless. She plays so hard, it's really, really hard to guard her because she's so active going after the ball. I think you need somebody strong to try to guard her, and we really did a poor job of that last time."
Thomas had 29 points and 12 rebounds against Notre Dame last time. Seniors Ariel Braker and Markisha Wright guarded Thomas with Achonwa in foul trouble.
"You have to be physical and keep her off the glass," McGraw said, "and that is not an easy task."
Neither is playing without Achonwa.
