Beating five ranked teams including top-ranked Stanford allowed the UConn women's basketball team to head into 2013 with an unblemished record and No. 1 national rankings.

Both of those could be tested with perennial nemesis Notre Dame coming to town on Saturday.

The sold-out nationally-televised showdown between the two dominant forces in the world of Big East women’s basketball will be followed by road games against perennially rugged Georgetown and Marquette squads.

“We have a few days to prepare for it and I think we are ready,” UConn senior guard Caroline Doty said. “It is always intense playing them. It is always a great game. It is a new year so it is going to be interesting to see which team comes out but we are going to prepare for them like we always have and keep working hard.”

It will be a different Notre Dame team than the one which ended the Huskies’ five-year run as Big East regular-season champions and knocked the Huskies out in the national semifinals for the second straight year. Three starters have graduated including first-round WNBA picks Natalie Novosel and Devereaux Peters. The Fighting Irish do return reigning Big East Player of the Year Skylar Diggins as well as athletic wing Kayla McBride and post Natalie Achonwa. Dynamic freshman Jewell Loyd as well as vastly improved junior Ariel Braker round out the normal starting five for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame has hit triple digits in points in three of its last six games including scoring a season high 128 points against St. Francis (Pa.) on Monday, a scoring outburst made all the more impressive considering that Diggins only attempted four shots.

“I think it is kind of like when Maya (Moore) graduated and other players step up and make some contributions,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “When freshmen step in like Stefanie (Dolson) and Bria (Hartley) did as freshman, when they step into your program and have to play a lot, they surprise you with the number of things they can do and do well.

“Natalie (Achonwa) got a lot of experience playing in the Olympics (for Canada). She is a lot better than she was two years ago and it better than she was last year. Jewell Loyd has really made a huge difference on their team. She is one of the best freshmen in the country in my mind and she has added an awful lot because Notre Dame did lose a lot obviously. Everybody knew that McBride is a great player in high school and played great for them during their run (to the Final Four) so they have a lot of pieces in place. Their depth is going to depend on how well their freshmen keep improving but I am not surprised.”

UConn had a long trip home from Oregon so Auriemma isn’t going to rush into preparations for the Notre Dame game.

“(Tuesday) is a day to recover,” Auriemma said. “Wednesday we will probably just get back into our normal routines that we do for game days and really Thursday the real work will start. Thursday and Friday we will spend two days on the court getting ready for Saturday.”