Feb. 24, 2013
Box Score
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CHICAGO (AP) – The way Skylar Diggins was scoring and distributing was impressive enough. The real eye-opener, though? That was the rebounding.
Diggins finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and No. 2 Notre Dame won its 20th straight, beating DePaul 84-56 on Sunday.
“I think the rebounding was the most amazing thing,” coach Muffet McGraw said. “The double-double for Sky is nothing out of the ordinary. She can get 10 assists and 10 points in a game, but to get in there and get 10 rebounds, that takes a lot of effort. That was tremendous intensity and determination on her part.”
Her teammates were locked in, too.
Jewell Loyd added 19 points. Kayla McBride scored 16, and the Fighting Irish (25-1, 13-0 BIG EAST) cruised to another easy victory. Their only loss was to Baylor in early December, and DePaul (18-9, 7-6) never had a chance in this one.
Notre Dame took control right from the start, winning by 20 or more for the fourth straight game while sending the Blue Demons to their second straight blowout loss. The Fighting Irish still have some big hurdles to clear if they’re going to stay unbeaten in conference play, with Syracuse up next and Connecticut looming in the finale after a trip to Providence. But they sure are looking good at the moment.
The Irish forced 21 turnovers and held DePaul to 33.3-percent shooting.
Diggins, Notre Dame’s second-leading all-time scorer, came through with her second career triple-double and the fourth in school history. She also had one against Maryland in the Elite Eight last season, the first for the Fighting Irish since 1990, and the 10 rebounds were one shy of her personal best.
“The assist part, I had the easy part,” Diggins said. “We got out in transition well and a lot of times we just played off of each other. … A lot of (the rebounds) kind of bounced to me.”
Loyd hit 8 of 15 shots. McBride was 7 of 13 from the field. Natalie Achonwa added 14 points and eight rebounds, and Notre Dame beat DePaul for the eighth time in nine games to tie the all-time series at 19 apiece.
It was another rough day for DePaul, which has been hit hard by injuries this season and was coming off an 81-55 loss to Louisville.
“Notre Dame has great athleticism and quickness,” coach Doug Bruno said. “There’s no doubt about that. … If the answer is they’re better than us, why are we selling tickets and showing up? It’s our jobs to figure out how to beat people that have all this talent and athleticism. That’s the beauty and joy of coaching this great game of basketball, because it can be done. It’s not like our players weren’t fighting. I’m not trying to say they didn’t fight. It’s just been a blah bunch of games. We’re not about blah.”
Brittany Hrynko scored 15 points but shot just 4 of 19, and the Blue Demons lost for the fourth time in six games.
It was clear right from the start that Notre Dame was simply too quick, too athletic, and by the time the half ended, it was 40-17. It didn’t help DePaul that leading scorer Anna Martin missed her eighth straight game because of a left knee injury.
“There’s no question they’re not the same without her,” McGraw said.
Even so, the Fighting Irish were simply on another level.
They smothered DePaul on defense, turning nine turnovers by the Blue Demons into 14 points, and had their way on offense. Diggins scored 13 in the half, while McBride and Loyd poured in 12 apiece.
The Irish jumped out to a 14-4 lead with DePaul coughing it up four times and ended the half on a 10-0 run that Loyd capped by burying a 3 at the buzzer after some neat ball movement.
That’s how it was for Notre Dame. The Irish clicked all afternoon, and there was Diggins leading a balanced charge with one of her most impressive all-around performances.
“Skylar’s such a great player,” Bruno said. “She’s a great player when she scores and shoots well. The reason she shoots well is because she’s talented. She’s a great player when she’s having an off night scoring and she turns to just managing the game; she becomes a great player as a game manager. And those are traits that are very unique. … The country’s waiting for another (Diana) Taurasi and (Sue) Bird to take the baton from and that player’s going to emerge. And Skylar has a chance to take it to that level. She’s just a smart basketball player. You talk about the triple-double, but you don’t talk about the quadruple-double and that’s the intelligence factor.”
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: Notre Dame matches its best 26-game start in school history (25-1), duplicating the mark first set in 2000-01 … the Fighting Irish are 13-0 in BIG EAST Conference play for the second time since joining the league in 1995-96, and the first time since they started 15-0 in 1999-2000 … Notre Dame posts its 20th consecutive victory, tying for the third-longest winning streak in program history with a run from Dec. 11, 1999-Feb. 22, 2000 (it’s also the fourth winning streak of 20 or more games in school history and second in as many seasons after last year’s 21-game run from Nov. 25, 2011-Feb. 7, 2012) … the Fighting Irish earn their 17th consecutive BIG EAST win, one shy of the program record set from Feb. 17, 1999-Feb. 22, 2000 … Notre Dame registers its 21st consecutive regular-season road victory, extending the school record in that category … the Fighting Irish pick up their 15th consecutive conference road win, tying the school record set from Feb. 25, 1989-Feb. 14, 1991, when they were playing in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League) … Notre Dame reaches the 25-win mark in four consecutive seasons for the first time in program history, after stringing together three 25-win seasons in a row from 1998-99 through 2000-01 (it’s also the 10th 25-win campaign in school history, all within the past 17 seasons) … senior guard/co-captain Skylar Diggins collects the second triple-double of her career (and fourth in Notre Dame women’s basketball history), having also logged a triple-double on March 27, 2012, against No. 5 Maryland in the NCAA Raleigh Regional final (Elite Eight) at Raleigh, N.C., with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists … Diggins is the second BIG EAST player this season with a triple-double in a conference game — Georgetown’s Sugar Rodgers did likewise against Providence on Jan. 5 … Diggins’ triple-double is the 17th ever recorded by a BIG EAST women’s basketball player since the conference began sponsoring the sport in 1982-83, and only the 12th in a BIG EAST regular season game … Diggins becomes the fifth BIG EAST women’s basketball player with multiple triple-doubles in her career, joining an elite group that includes Sabrina Johnson (St. John’s – 3), Tasha Pointer (Rutgers – 4), Laine Selwyn (Pittsburgh – 2) and Angel McCoughtry (Louisville – 2) … Diggins’ 10 rebounds were a season high and one off her career high (Dec. 29, 2010, vs. Gonzaga at the State Farm Holiday Hoops Classic in Seattle) … Diggins hands out double-digit assists for the third time this season and ninth time in her career … freshman guard Jewell Loyd turned in her highest scoring day since Dec. 5 when she tallied a career-high 24 points against third-ranked Baylor … with wins in eight of its last nine games against DePaul, Notre Dame has leveled the all-time series (which is tied for the most frequent in school history at 38 games) at 19-19, winning at McGrath-Phillips Arena for the first time since Jan. 6, 2009 (an 86-62 victory) … Sunday’s 28-point margin was one shy of the largest by either side in the series (DePaul did it twice, most recently with a 79-50 win on Feb. 12, 2006, in Chicago; Notre Dame also won by a 79-50 count on Dec. 31, 2001, at Purcell Pavilion) … the Fighting Irish have held DePaul to 70 points or fewer in the past nine series games after holding the Blue Demons to that mark just once in the previous seven contests (including the first six after DePaul joined the BIG EAST in 2005-06) … in 14 of the past 19 series games between Notre Dame and DePaul, the winning team has scored at least 75 points … Sunday’s game was an advanced sellout (4,001 fans), marking the 13th time in 26 games this season the Fighting Irish played before a capacity crowd (and the fourth time away from home).