Feb. 17, 2009
Box Score 
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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Lindsay Schrader scored 26 points and Becca Bruszewski added 20 to help No. 24 Notre Dame rally past South Florida 86-79 on Tuesday night.
Notre Dame (18-6, 7-5 BIG EAST) scored the first five points of the game, but a 15-2 run enabled South Florida (18-8, 5-7) to lead by as many as 14 midway through the first half.
Janae Stokes paced South Florida with 16 points, and Jazmine Sepulveda scored all of her 15 points before the Bulls took a 52-44 advantage into the half.
Porche Grant (14), Jessica Lawson (12) and Shantia Grace (11) also scored in double figures for the Bulls.
Schrader was one of three Notre Dame players to reach double digits before halftime with 14 points. Bruszewski and Ashley Barlow each chipped in 11.
Barlow finished with 16 and Erica Solomon had 10.
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: For the second time in less than two months, Notre Dame comes back from a deficit of 14 points or more to claim victory, having staged a school-record 18-point rally for a 59-57 win at #20/19 Vanderbilt on Dec. 30; prior to this season, the Irish standard for the biggest comeback win in school history had been 15 points (vs. Connecticut at the 2001 NCAA Women’s Final Four in St. Louis) … Notre Dame improves to 5-2 all-time against South Florida (2-1 in Tampa) … since the Bulls joined the BIG EAST in 2005-06, four of the five series games with the Irish have been decided either in overtime (twice, both won by USF) or by seven points or fewer (twice, both won by ND) … Notre Dame has scored at least 70 points in six of the seven series games with USF, while the Bulls reached that mark for the second time against the Irish on Tuesday night … Notre Dame moves to 14-3 (.824) all-time when playing in the state of Florida … the Irish are 21-5 (.808) all-time against Florida schools (11-2 on the road) … speaking of which, Notre Dame now is 19-8 (.704) in true road games during the past two seasons, including a 9-4 record this year … Notre Dame wins for the second time in six games this season when trailing at halftime (the Irish were down at Vanderbilt, 36-24, on Dec. 30) … Notre Dame’s 86 points were the most it has scored since Jan. 6 in an 86-62 win at DePaul … the Irish rise to 122-4 (.968) in their 14-year BIG EAST membership when scoring at least 80 points, including a 9-0 record this year … Notre Dame’s 30 free throws were the most the Irish have made in a single game since Feb. 4, 2007, when they knocked down a school-record-tying 33 foul shots (on 39 attempts) in a 77-67 win over West Virginia at the Joyce Center … the Irish had two players score at least 20 points in the same game for the first time since Dec. 6, 2006, when Breona Gray (22) and Tulyah Gaines (20) both hit the mark in a 67-58 win over #10/9 Purdue at the Joyce Center … senior guard Lindsay Schrader’s 26 points were not only a season high, but the most by an Irish player since Charel Allen’s memorable 35-point outing against #14/13 Oklahoma in the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament (March 25 in West Lafayette, Ind.) … it also was Schrader’s highest scoring night since a career-best 29 points (12-23 FG) vs. Boston College in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament (March 19, also in West Lafayette) … Schrader is the first Notre Dame player to post a 25-point, 10-rebound game since Feb. 11, 2007, when Allen chalked up 25 points and 13 rebounds in a 78-70 win over DePaul at the Joyce Center … Schrader picked up her fourth double-double of the season, two shy of Danielle Green’s single-season school record for guards, a mark she set in 1998-99 … Schrader also collected her eighth career double-double, three away from the school record for guards set by current Irish assistant coach Niele Ivey from 1996-2001 … Schrader also creeps closer to becoming the 25th player in school history to score 1,000 career points, currently having tallied 954 points … junior guard Ashley Barlow moved into 23rd place on the Notre Dame career scoring list with 1,016 points, passing Kelley Siemon (1,006 from 1997-2001) … sophomore forward Becca Bruszewski posted her fifth consecutive double-figure scoring game with a career-high 20 points, two more than her previous high set three times this season (most recently six days earlier vs. #10/12 Louisville at the Joyce Center) … Bruszewski also set a new career high by going 8-for-8 at the foul line, the best free throw shooting night by any Irish player this season … freshman forward Erica Solomon posted her seventh double-digit scoring game of the year and also tied her personal best with 24 minutes played (a mark she previously hit at Seton Hall on Jan. 2) … among the sizeable contingent of Notre Dame supporters in attendance on Tuesday night were former Irish players Ericka Haney (now an assistant coach at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Fla.) and Le’Tania Severe (a native of Pembroke Pines, Fla.), both of whom were teammates with Ivey on the 2001 Irish national championship team … in addition, two notable Notre Dame graduates and professional sports team owners were on hand, as Tampa Bay Rays’ managing general partner/CEO Vincent J. Naimoli (ND ’59) and former San Francisco 49ers’ owner Edward J. DeBartolo, Jr. (ND ’68) cheered the Irish to victory; both men and their families continue to be generous benefactors to the University, with the Naimoli family recently donating $5 million towards the Joyce Center arena renovation project, while the DeBartolo family has been behind the construction of several buildings on the Notre Dame campus, including its most recent endeavor, the Marie P. DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts.