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Monday, December 18, 2000
'Smart' Irish remain unbeaten
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- No. 4 Notre Dame smartened up quickly
against Purdue (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 5 AP).
After mental mistakes by Notre Dame (8-0) allowed Purdue to cut an eight-point lead to one in a span of just 1:44 at the end of the first half, the Irish made sure they didn't make the same mistakes at the end of the second half.
Instead, the Irish played intelligently while the Boilermakers (8-2) made the mental errors.
The Irish turned a missed free throw by the Boilermakers into a quick fast-break basket by Ericka Haney, who scored 16, and hit 6-of-8 free throws down the stretch to clinch a 72-61 victory for only their third victory in 12 tries against the Boilermakers.
"That's certainly not the best game we've played, but it may be
the smartest at the end of the game," said Ruth Riley, who had 15
points and seven rebounds.
What made it more surprising was that the Irish were able to do
it with floor leader Niele Ivey sitting on the bench because of leg
cramps.
"It's great to have a game like this where you have that opportunity to face adversity and see how your team responds," Irish coach Muffet McGraw said. "When Niele went out there was no letdown on the floor."
The Boilermakers had three straight possessions in the final five minutes where they missed a shot and failed to rebound. Riley then blocked shots on two of the next three possessions.
"I thought we took too many quick shots," Purdue coach Kristy
Curry said. "We were forcing things at the end. The last four
minutes we just did a poor job of execution. We never really did
anything we wanted to do."
With No. 3 Duke losing to Clemson 93-75, the Irish are on the
verge of their highest ranking.
"It really wasn't anything we're looking at because we're happy
to be where we are right now," McGraw said.
The Irish also extended their home non-conference winning streak
to 19. The Irish, who had never started the season with eight
straight wins, last lost at home to a non-conference team against
No. 19 Wisconsin on Dec. 9, 1996. They also have won six straight
against top-10, non-conference opponents.
The crowd of 7,330 was the third largest for a Notre Dame
women's home game.
The 61 points were a season low for Purdue, which had scored 80
or more points in five games this season. The Boilermakers were
hurt by poor free-throw shooting, making just 9-of-19. The Irish
made 11-of-18.
Alicia Ratay scored 19 points, including a pair of 3-pointers
late in the second half to spark a decisive 14-5 run. With the
Irish leading 58-56, Ratay hit a 3-pointer with 6:35 left. She
missed her next 3-point attempt, but the Irish got the rebound and
Ratay immediately hit another 3 to give Notre Dame a 64-57 lead.
"I'm sure they were keying on her," McGraw said. "She got a
lot of shots off broken plays. They were definitely guarding her,
but she did a good job of using some screens."
Kelley Siemon had 10 rebounds as the Irish had a 34-31
rebounding advantage.
Douglas led Purdue with 20 points, although she had eight
turnovers. Camille Cooper had 11 points and eight rebounds, before
fouling out with all five fouls coming in the second half.
"We came out strong in the second half and scored a couple of
quick baskets, then we went away from what we were doing," Douglas
said. "They made it really difficult to get it inside."
McGraw said the victory was big for the Irish.
"This one was kind of nice for recruiting," she said. "We
want to be the best team in Indiana."
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