Women’s basketball senior captain Madison St. Rose to spend graduate season at Notre Dame

A torn ACL cost senior guard and captain Madison St. Rose a season. It also bought her one. 

St. Rose — the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2023 and a first-team All-Ivy selection this past season — committed to the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sunday, as first reported by Talia Goodman, who covers women’s college basketball for On3.

St. Rose tore her ACL early in her junior season, appearing in just four games before her year was cut short. Per Ivy League rules, graduate students are ineligible to compete in athletic competitions, meaning the year of eligibility she preserved could only be used elsewhere. 

“My injury was a blessing in a way because nothing really got taken away from me, just that one year when I got hurt, unfortunately,” St. Rose told The Daily Princetonian.  

“But the fact that I’m able to play again, and now the hardest part was just finding the right school for me, because all the schools that were talking to me were really good.”

Her loss was felt immediately. Without St. Rose, Princeton failed to win the Ivy League regular season title or Ivy Madness, being the only season of former head coach Carla Berube’s tenure without either, though the Tigers still earned an NCAA at-large bid. 

St. Rose entered the portal at the conclusion of the Ivy League regular season, attaching a do-not-contact tag to her name as she finished out her career in the Orange and Black.

“I wanted to get my name out there so that people can watch me, but at the same time, I didn’t want all these schools to start talking to me while I was in the most important part of my season, which was during March,” St. Rose said of the decision to enter with a do-not-contact tag.

“[The portal] was a little bit overwhelming at times, but once I got the chance to finish my season out and wind down a bit, that’s when I was able to really, then just focus my time into, ‘what kind of school do I want?’” she continued.

The answer came down to Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, with St. Rose visiting South Bend, Ind. on April 16 and the decision coming quickly after.

“When I got there, it felt like home,” St. Rose said. “Notre Dame is a really high academic school, just like Princeton, and when I was looking through my choices, I really wanted to still find a way to get an education” at a highly academic school while playing basketball at a high level, St. Rose explained.

She went on to say that Notre Dame felt almost like a “copy and paste” from her experience at Princeton, adding the appeal of the campus, location, and the coaching staff’s welcomeness. 

“We are thrilled to welcome [St. Rose] to our Notre Dame women’s basketball family," Fighting Irish head coach Niele Ivey said in a statement. 

“She strengthens our backcourt with her experience, three-level scoring ability and leadership. Maddie brings size, defense and versatility on the wing, plus a high basketball IQ that fits perfectly with everything that makes Notre Dame special.”

A central draw for St. Rose was the opportunity to play alongside star senior Hannah Hidalgo, one of the nation’s top guards and a fellow Garden State native. 

“That was some familiarity with me, which made me feel comfortable knowing that I already know at least one person on this team,” St. Rose said. 

Hidalgo led Notre Dame to an Elite Eight appearance this past season in the NCAA tournament and a top five finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). With Hidalgo returning for her senior year, the fighting Irish will now lean on St. Rose to supplement a backcourt that lost key contributing guard Cassandre Prosper from that run.

The two were high school rivals, with St. Rose beating Hidalgo’s team on her way to a third consecutive state championship at St. John Vianney. However, the pair were also teammates on the AAU circuit for the Philly Rise, a team coached by current Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Doug West.

“I think that we are both really good scorers, and we can create for ourselves and each other,” St. Rose said. “Not having all the pressure on Hannah and allowing me to help her out, and also vice versa, no pressure on me, so then Hannah can also do her own thing. I think our solid play really complements each other.”

St. Rose credited former Tigers Kaitlyn Chen ’24 and Chet Nweke ’24 with helping her navigate the process. Both Chen and Nweke had a graduate season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Chen transferring to UConn and ultimately winning a national championship and Nweke heading to Georgetown University. 

“They told me not to rush and to really enjoy the moment, because I’m lucky to have an extra year and to play more basketball,” she said.

With St. Rose graduating, the Tigers will need someone to step up as their primary scorer. She led Princeton in scoring this past season at 15.8 points per game, adding 4.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.1 steals while shooting 47.9 percent from the field. She finished her career ranked 15th on the program’s all-time scoring list, scoring 1,215 points in just three full seasons. 

Those numbers were central to a 26–4 record, as well as an Ivy League regular season and tournament title in her final season as a Tiger, including a fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth for the program.

“I had an amazing four years here at Princeton,” St. Rose said. “It definitely wasn’t easy, but why would I ever want anything easy? I think I really grew a lot as a person, as an athlete. I made so many relationships.”

“The journey wasn’t easy here, but just being able to now look back and say that, ‘wow, I’m about to graduate next month’ and really reflect on all the growth that I had, it means a lot,” she continued.

In South Bend, St. Rose will pursue a one-year master’s program in digital marketing. On the court, she was candid about what the jump to the ACC demands. 

“The biggest thing for me is trying to translate my game from the Ivy League to the ACC, which the basketball play … it’s a little bit fast paced and a little bit more physical,” St. Rose said. “I might see a lot more height in the ACC as well. So now I’m finding ways to now prepare myself when I have to play against strong, athletic, taller people in the next year.”

Beyond the 2026–27 season, the goal remains to “get the most [she] can with basketball, whether that’s play pro or even trying to make it to the WNBA.”

“It’s not right around the corner, so that’s not like my main focus, but those are definitely the big goals that I definitely want to achieve at the end of next year,” she concluded.

St. Rose and the Fighting Irish will open the 2026–27 seasons with high expectations and an international game in Rome on Nov. 1 against Villanova University.

Hayk Yengibaryan is a head News editor emeritus and senior Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Glendale, Calif. and typically covers breaking news and profiles. He can be reached at hy5161[at]princeton.edu.

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