Feb. 12, 2005
TOM COYNE
AP Sports Writer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Jacqueline Batteast had 20 points and eight rebounds as No. 6 Notre Dame recovered from nearly squandering a 17-point lead, beating Georgetown 72-58 Saturday for its ninth straight win.
Georgetown (9-13, 4-7 BIG EAST), which trailed 31-14 with 5 minutes to go in the first half, cut the lead to 35-30 early in the second half on a basket by Varda Tamoulianis. Later in the half the Hoyas closed to 42-39 when Mary Lisicky hit a 3-pointer. Lisicky closed the gap to 43-41 when she made a pair of free throws with 12:41 left.
But Batteast dribbled around a crowd in the lane and drove the baseline to spark a 17-4 run by the Irish (22-3, 10-2). Batteast and Charel Allen scored six points each during the spurt. Megan Duffy, who had 17 points and seven assists, capped the run with a pair of free throws to give the Irish a 60-45 lead with 6:34 left.
Batteast moved into fourth place on Notre Dame’s all-time scoring list with 1,765 points, two points ahead of Alicia Ratay. Ruth Riley, who led the Irish to a national championship in 2001, is third with 2,072 points.
Teresa Borton added 14 points and had a career-high 12 rebounds for her fourth career double-double as the Irish outrebounded Georgetown 42-21. The Irish dominated inside, outscoring the Hoyas 30-22. Allen added 14 points for Notre Dame.
Lisicky led Georgetown with 16 points. Kate Carlin added 11 points and Bethany LeSueur had 10. Kieraah Marlow, Georgetown’s leading scorer at 13.2 points a game, was held to six points.
Notre Dame outshot the Hoyas 47 percent to 41 percent.
The Irish used an 18-6 run to open a 31-14 lead when Batteast scored on a running 10-foot jumper down the lane. But the Hoyas, who made just five of their first 20 shots, made their last five of the first half during a 12-4 run.
A 3-pointer by Kristin Heidloff from a step across halfcourt just before the buzzer cut Notre Dame’s lead to 35-26 at the break.
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: Notre Dame’s nine-game winning streak is its longest since another nine-game run from Jan. 26-Feb. 23, 2002 … The 22 wins this season are the most for the Irish since they won 34 times in 2000-01 … Saturday’s victory also was Notre Dame’s 10th in BIG EAST play, marking the 13th consecutive season that the Irish have posted double-digit conference wins (10 in the BIG EAST, three in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference) … Notre Dame is 19-2 all-time against Georgetown, including a 10-0 record at home … the Irish have scored at least 70 points in 16 of 21 career games vs. the Hoyas … Notre Dame improves to 17-0 this season when leading at halftime, 10-0 when it shoots 45 percent or better from the field, 12-1 when scoring at least 70 points and 16-1 when limiting the opposition to less than 60 points … the Irish had four double-digit scorers for the ninth time this year and is 12-1 when at least three players wind up in double figures … for the second consecutive game, Notre Dame held its opponent to a season-low rebounding total (45 total rebounds allowed in past two games) … during their current winning streak, the Irish have shot better than 40 percent in all nine games, while keeping the opposition under that figure seven times … in addition to moving into fourth place on Notre Dame’s career scoring list (1,765 points), senior All-America forward Jacqueline Batteast collected her 10th 20-point game of the season (31st career), her 22nd double-figure scoring game of the year (94th career) and fifth five-assist game of the season (14th career) … senior center Teresa Borton notched her second double-double of the year (fourth of her career) with 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, the latter mark breaking the old standard of 11 she had set on four occasions (most recently at Connecticut on Jan. 30) … Borton has scored in double figures 11 times this season (35 career), including four consecutive games and five times in the past six outings … junior guard Megan Duffy matched her season-high totals at the foul line, going 9-for-10 (also vs. Duke on Nov. 17) .. Duffy dished out at least five assists for the 11th time in the past 12 games, recording 7.0 apg. with a 2.40 assist/turnover ratio (84 assists, 35 turnovers) in that stretch; Duffy has 17 five-assist games this year (34 career) … freshman guard Charel Allen delivered a career-high four assists, one more than her previous best which she had set on five occasions (most recently at Pittsburgh on Feb. 5) … Allen posted her seventh double-digit scoring game of the season and third in the past five contests.