McGraw says starter Reimer taking time off to think

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw says she hopes starting forward Taya Reimer will play against Boston College on Sunday after sitting out a game for personal reasons, but says she's taking time off to think "about things."

WSBT-TV had reported that Reimer had told the team she planned to transfer. McGraw said Saturday that she doesn't know whether Reimer is considering a transfer. She says she's been talking with the 6-foot-3 sophomore all week and she hopes to have her back.

"I don't know what she's thinking about. We've been talking all week and we're hoping to have her back," McGraw said. "She's taking some time off to think about things personally."

The 6-foot-3 sophomore from Fishers, a suburb of Indianapolis, had started the first 15 games for the Irish (14-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) before missing the game Thursday at Miami, a 78-63 loss, for what the school said was for personal reasons. She is fourth in the team in scoring, averaging 9.9 points a game, and second in rebounding at 6.1 a game. She was averaging 21.7 minutes a game, fourth on the team in playing time.

As a high school senior, Reimer won the Morgan Wootten Player of the Year award and she also played on a gold-medal U.S. under-17 world championship team. She's played solidly for the Irish, but has yet to be dominant.

She scored a career-high 21 points in a 92-72 win over then-No. 15 Maryland on Dec. 3 in a game where Brianna Turner injured her right shoulder and didn't play much. Reimer also 15 points and 11s in a 93-92 overtime victory at DePaul a week later.

McGraw said Reimer "wants to play better and we want her to play better."

"I don't think when you're an All-American caliber player you're ever happy with where you are because you see where you want to get to. She's done some great things this year," McGraw said.

McGraw said Reimer's status for Notre Dame's game Sunday against Boston College (8-7, 0-2) is uncertain, but she is hopeful she will play. McGraw said Reimer was at home Saturday.

McGraw said she didn't think Reimer not playing against Miami was the reason Notre Dame's 30-game road winning streak, tying Connecticut for the Division I record, came to an end.

"I don't think there's any excuse for why that happened except that we just weren't ready to play," she said.