Ivey, Riley, Leahy, Siemon and Dunbar lead Notre Dame into Storrs
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Assistant Sport Editor
It was a sunny morning in Washington, D.C, four years ago when roommates Imani Dunbar and Meaghan Leahy awoke in their hotel room. Perhaps a little too sunny.
The two then-freshmen looked at the clock and realized that they had missed the team bus to the airport. Unfortunately, they didn't even know which airport —Dulles or Reagan.
They quickly packed, used their daily meal money to catch a cab, and headed out alone into the city in search of the team. All ended well as they actually beat the team bus to the airport.
"I think Meaghan turned down the volume [of the alarm.] Meaghan thinks I set the alarm for p.m. instead of a.m.," Dunbar said. "We just missed the bus."
Four years later Dunbar and Leahy are regarded as two of the unsung leaders on an Irish team rated No. 1 in the conference, and No. 2 in the country, headed into this weekend's Big East Championships.
Although neither player starts or is part of the team's seven-player rotation, Irish coach Muffet McGraw doesn't discount their value.
"Imani is one who hasn't played a much but the younger players look at how she leads from the bench," McGraw said.
Leahy has impressed teammates and coaches with a unique ability to laugh at herself.
"Meaghan is just a lot of fun to be around," McGraw said. "She might be one of my favorites of everybody on the team. She doesn't feel sorry for herself. She likes being a member of the team."
Friendships form
Since coming to Notre Dame, the two bench players have forged a bond with an athlete who sees much more time on the floor — All-American center Ruth Riley.
The bond between Leahy and Riley was forged almost immediately in the fall of 1997. The two centers struggled to learn the offense, and the frustration showed.
"Ruth and I were two of the more emotional freshmen," Leahy said. "We cried a couple of times."
Soon Riley grasped the offense, and along with it a starting spot. But before the 6-foot-5 center stepped off the bench and into stardom, she was able to generate quite a reaction on the bench.
"She has this really high-pitched voice and she used to yell so loud," Dunbar said. "She was the loudest cheerleader the first five games."
While the struggle to grasp the offense helped forge the bond between Leahy and Riley, Dunbar bonded with Leahy in the struggle to get on the court.
"Imani and I used to come in freshman year for the last couple of minutes of the game," Leahy said. "We totally bonded with that."
Leahy and Riley worked together at adidas camp over the summer of 2000. Dunbar has visited Leahy at home in Massachusetts.
Both players traveled to tiny Macy, Ind. to watch as Riley's high school jersey was retired.
"Ruth lives in the middle of nowhere," Leahy said.
While the quieter and more laid-back Leahy, Dunbar and Riley were quickly noticing their similarities and becoming friends, the other member of their incoming class, Kelley Siemon, was making a new friend of her own.
On her recruiting visit at Notre Dame, Siemon stayed with then-freshman Niele Ivey and then-sophomore Julie Henderson. It was a friendship that remains strong today.
"I love all the seniors but I think Niele is the one that I have the most fun with," Siemon said. "Our personalities are pretty similar and we just end up laughing and just talking a lot about anything. We're probably the closest of the five."
The friendly senior remembers being the first member of the group to fully immerse herself in the Notre Dame Community.
"Coming in they had always kind of called me the characteristic ÔNotre Dame Girl,'" Siemon said. "I was really excited to be in college and I took advantage of a lot of the things college had to offer where many of my teammates didn't."
"I went to SYR's and formals. They hesitated a little bit moreÉ Not that I've grown out of that at all."
The friendship between Siemon, Ivey and Henderson was put to the test last season. After starting as a freshman and a sophomore, Siemon was sent to the bench in favor of Henderson. Despite not starting, Siemon still averaged close to 20 minutes per game.
"That was something that at first was tough," Siemon said. "But last year was really a breakout year for Julie. It was great watching her succeed, so it wasn't too hard."
Leaders on and off the court
Each of the Irish seniors has faced adversity at some point in her career.
All of the seniors credit one another in working through their problems.
Siemon has played since Jan. 13 with a fractured bone in her hand. Watching Ivey battle back from her two knee injuries proved to be an inspiration.
"I think that Niele has been just the model of fighting through adversity," Siemon said. "She's helped me and I know that she's helped other people."
When Ivey suffered a torn ACL for the second time in her career in a game against Rutgers in the 1999 Big East Tournament, her teammates were visibly shaken.
"I think the first thing I saw was the team standing on the sidelines crying," Ivey said. "I felt very touched because I realized that they looked at me more than just their teammate. They saw me as a sister and a friend."
As for her free-throws, Siemon has seen her teammates support her throughout the ordeal
"It's completely a mental thing for me," Siemon said. "When I'm in practice I'm shooting something like 90 percent every single day. They're always supportive. We just really support each other."
Ivey is widely regarded as the emotional leader of the team. She is never shy about showing happiness and sadness, both on and off the court.
"I show a lot of emotion off the court sometimes and definitely on the court," Ivey said. "The team looks at me more as the person who's going to talk and get the team pumped up. After the Rutgers game I had to shed a tear."
Riley is less the vocal leader and more the leader by example. After the team's first loss this season at Rutgers, Riley was in the weight room the next day.
"She's such a hard worker," Siemon said of Riley. "That is the one thing that she helps all of us with. She's not a vocal person but she's definitely a leader that leads by example."
Siemon provides a balance, combining her physical toughness with a pleasant personality.
"Kelley just has a positive outlook on life," McGraw said. "She's just always upbeat."
Not only has Siemon played through injury and illness, she has excelled. In Notre Dame's Jan. 15 upset over Connecticut, Siemon scored 15 points just two days after fracturing her hand. Tuesday night, she battled a stomach virus and led the Irish with 17.
"I love the game of basketball and I love my team, so I just want to be out there," Siemon said. "I hope that that attitude can rub off on the younger players."
Chemistry
Having played so many minutes together on the floor over the years, Siemon, Ivey and Riley seem to have a natural connection on the court. Riley and Siemon have shown an ability to find one another through double- and even triple-teams. Ivey can always be counted on to find Siemon on the fast break.
"I think I really know exactly where they're going to be at all times on the court," Ivey said. "I think we've built that type of chemistry with each other over the past couple of years."
Siemon credits her chemistry with Ivey on the fast break to their common enjoyment of running the floor.
"I feel like we've had pretty good chemistry ever since we came in as freshmen," Siemon said. "Niele and I both like to run and get the ball up the floor. She likes it when somebody just gets ahead and in front of the break so that she can do what she likes to do best."
Riley has gained an ability to judge her teammates' strengths and weaknesses, an ability that she feels has helped the team succeed.
"I think after four years you just know about any of your teammates," Riley said. "You know their strengths and pretty much what they're going to do."
Not to be forgotten, Dunbar and Leahy claim to have a bond of their own on the court, a bond rarely seen by those other than their teammates.
"I think me and Meaghan have a lot of chemistry at practice," Dunbar said. "Our chemistry shows but a lot of people don't get to see it."
Heading down the road
With the Big East tournament at the forefront, the NCAA tourney is just beyond the horizon.
Ivey was a freshman on the 1996-1997 team that made it all the way to the Final Four. Despite suffering her first knee injury early in the season, Ivey's experience as a part of that team helps her in leading the 2000-2001 squad.
"I think that's really important because she was able to watch Beth Morgan and some of the other great players that year," McGraw said. "Even though she wasn't playing, she was coming to practice, being part of the team and going to the Final Four."
Siemon expects Ivey to help the Irish maintain composure through the rounds of the tournament.
"That year they had about seven players that were healthy to play and they made it," Siemon said. "Niele will help a lot with setting the tone and keeping people in the right state of mind. Obviously we don't want to be burned out by the time that the NCAA tournament comes."
Ivey has been on a mission since the year started to take her squad to the Final Four in St. Louis, her hometown. The memory of being on the bench for her only trip to the elite tournament still sticks in her mind.
"That was a great year for Notre Dame and I didn't get a chance to go out there and play," Ivey remembered. "I was involved but I didn't get out there and play."
With teammates like Riley, Siemon, Dunbar and Leahy, Ivey fully expects to return.
"I feel like I have the right ingredients with this team to do it," she said.
All Sports Stories for Friday, March 2, 2001
