There were a few two-word phrases that came to mind when Niele Ivey described her Notre Dame seniors.

“Special group,” “generational talents” and “amazing humans” were some of the ones that she quickly rattled off.

A 71-62 loss to a surging TCU team ended Notre Dame’s season, but one of the most talent-rich core groups in the country went out with a performance to remember.

Among the strong senior group for Notre Dame includes an ultra-talented pack of Olivia Miles, Sonia Citron, Liatu King and Maddy Westbeld, with the first two expected to be top-five picks in the upcoming WNBA Draft.

Miles averaged 15.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game this year, while Citron added an average of 14.1 points and 5.4 rebounds along with 62 steals and 29 blocks.

King claimed second team all-conference honors as she averaged 11.4 points and 10.4 rebounds a game after transferring from Pittsburgh this offseason.

Westbeld missed half the year due to injury and averaged 12.1 points and 6.7 rebounds for her five-season career at Notre Dame.

“They’re very caring, nurturing, they understand at some point it’s bigger than basketball,” Ivey said of her senior group. “They love each other, they love this group, they love this university and I wouldn’t want to coach anyone else that didn’t recognize the beauty that is Notre Dame. They understand it. They understand that it’s bigger than the basketball piece, but talent-wise they’re just so gifted.

“I’m excited to be able to watch them in their professional careers, but, again, they’re just special. They’re special young women outside of basketball.”

When asked about the legacy she hopes to leave behind at Notre Dame, Westbeld was quickly brought to tears when reflecting on one of the most storied careers in the program’s rich basketball history.

“There’s truly no place on earth that I would want to play with,” she said. “There’s no people that I would want to play with other than these two, other than Coach Niele, other than to play for this university.

“When you go around the locker room, it’s not about basketball. It’s not about anything other than the people, and that’s why you do it. You do it for each other, and throughout my entire career I have done it for them.”

The manifestation of talent across the board, which also included sophomore star and ACC Player of the Year Hannah Hidalgo, was what came to mind when the group was asked about what this year’s group will be remembered for.

“We just had so much talent,” Citron said. “Sometimes too much talent, you know? We didn’t even know what to do with it. We got Liv, we got everybody, so I think this year was just how talented we were.”

With plenty of basketball ahead of the group, all three echoed the same sentiment in leaving behind a legacy: they wanted to leave Notre Dame better than they found it.

“I love all my teammates in that locker room,” Miles said. “We’ve stayed together. We’ve grown so much through this entire season. We are very proud of the work we’ve done, and ultimately we have had fun. That’s really what this is all about. You sign up as a kid because it’s fun to throw a ball in a hoop and look where it’s gotten us to at this point.”