Brianna Turner: "I wanted to come to Notre Dame so I could have the opportunity to compete for national championships."

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Posted: April 6, 2019 -- 4:26 p.m. CDT

TAMPA BAY, FL (Amalie Arena) -- In Friday night's 81-76 win over UConn, Notre Dame senior Brianna Turner was a force on defense with 5 blocked shots and 15 rebounds.

Turner tied her season high of five blocks and as a result, broke Ruth Riley's all-time Notre Dame block record of 370. Turner now has 371 blocks in her Notre Dame career.

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Many of Turner's blocked shots happen with her left hand. She doesn't know when nor why she began blocking shots with her left hand instead of her right hand.

"Yeah, I don't really know. My dad kind of pointed it out to me. He was like, 'Why don't you use your right hand to block a shot?' And, I was like, 'I don't really know.' So, I don't know. It's kind of random. I'm not sure."

Turner enjoys playing defense because it leads to Notre Dame's vaunted transition offense.

"I think just getting into our transition game because, obviously, we score a lot of our points in transition," Turner said. "So, if I can get a block and secure the rebound or Jess (Jessica Shepard) can get the rebound and outlet it - full length court like a quarterback - it really ignites our offense."

Turner continued, "We're best in transition. Getting a stop and getting it down the court in five seconds is where we at our best."

Turner becomes the second Irish player in program history to reach the 2,000-point, 1,000-rebound milestone. Turner now boasts 2,005 career points and 1,036 career rebounds.

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Producing stellar numbers and reaching milestones are nice; but, neither is the reason why she chose to attend Notre Dame.

"I wanted to come to Notre Dame so I could have the opportunity to compete for national championships," Turner commented. "I didn't want to, necessarily, go to a school that was like winning the conference tournament is the biggest moment of our season.

"I wanted to be able to go postseason where I can be in the NCAA Tournament and compete in Final Fours; so, definitely, why I chose Notre Dame."

Notre Dame will face Baylor Sunday afternoon / evening in the NCAA championship. Baylor is led by 6'7" Kalani Brown and 6'5" Lauren Cox. Turner says the size of Baylor's frontcourt won't change the way we she plays.

"I don't think it's going to change the way I play," Turner mentioned. "Obviously, they have two great players - in Cox and Brown. Just make sure I really move my feet. Not getting into foul trouble early. And, definitely, just contesting their shots and making it harder for them to get the ball."

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