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1977 – 1980
The first game: The varsity program opened on December 3, 1977, at home, with a 48–41 win over Valparaiso. Sharon Petro, the program's first head coach, took that first team 13–4 through a schedule of regional opponents, state association tournaments and a north district tournament — the postseason of the years before the NCAA sponsored a women's championship was run by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, and Indiana's by its state arm.
The three seasons: Petro's teams improved each year: 13–4, then 16–6 in 1978–79, then 20–10 in 1979–80 — a three-season mark of 49–20 that stands first in the university's all-time coaching table. Carol Lally and Marge Meagher captained the first team; the scoring of the early teams ran through players whose names head the program's first record lists.
The 1980 national tournament: The 1979–80 team carried the program to its first national postseason, the AIAW national tournament at La Crosse, Wisconsin, where Notre Dame beat Pacific Lutheran 57–48 and then lost to Wisconsin–La Crosse 57–80. It was the program's only AIAW national appearance; the NCAA era was one season away.
The first star: Shari Matvey of Youngstown, Ohio, arrived in 1979 and became the first Notre Dame player to score 1,000 points in a career. She set a school single-season freshman scoring mark of 529 points that the record book notes still stands, averaged double figures in rebounding in a season — still the program's only such season — and was a second-team Academic All-American in 1981. Her career spans this entry and the next: she is the thread between the AIAW years and Division I.
Sources:
- University of Notre Dame women's basketball media guide, year-by-year results — the December 3, 1977 opener and score; the three Petro seasons; the 1980 AIAW tournament results.
- University record book (2025–26 edition) — the all-time coaching table (Petro 49–20); the Matvey career sketch and her freshman scoring record.