Nov. 21, 2014
Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery 
Inside The Game: #3/2 Notre Dame 88, Chattanooga 53
November 21, 2014 – Notre Dame, Indiana (Purcell Pavilion)
It Was Over When: Freshman forward Brianna Turner hit a layup with five seconds left in the first half, capping off a 33-5 Fighting Irish run during the final 11:34 of the period. During that time, Notre Dame made 15 of 16 shots, while Chattanooga made only two of 13 field goal attempts. The Fighting Irish also forced six Moc turnovers and outrebounded Chattanooga, 11-2 in that span.
Game Ball Goes To: Freshman Mychal Johnson, who poured in 17 points on six of nine shooting, including a game-high five three-point field goals (on six attempts). Johnson’s five three-point baskets were one off the arena record for a Notre Dame player, set several times and most recently by current junior guard/tri-captain Michaela Mabrey on Feb. 9, 2014, vs. Syracuse.
Unsung Hero: Sophomore guard Lindsay Allen, who directed the offense to near perfection with 11 points (on five of five shooting) and a game high-tying six assists against only one turnover (her first giveaway of the season while recording 16 assists in that three-game span). Allen also played a solid game on defense with a team-high three steals.
Unofficial Play Of The Game: With Notre Dame leading 22-18 and 8:22 left in the first half against a feisty Chattanooga squad, freshman Mychal Johnson blocked a three-point attempt by Mocs’ guard Chelsey Shumpert in the deep right corner. Sophomore guard Lindsay Allen grabbed the rebound and raced up court before finding the equally speedy Johnson on the left wing for the first of her five three-point baskets on the night, highlighting a 33-5 Notre Dame run to close the first half.
Stat Of The Game: The game featured a matchup of two of the 10 winningest coaches in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history. Chattanooga head coach Jim Foster boasts 814 career wins, good for ninth place all-time, while Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw sits directly behind her mentor in 10th place with 754 career victories.
Additional Notes: Notre Dame shot 76 percent from the field in the first half (19 of 25), the third-best field goal percentage in the opening 20 minutes in program history (eighth for any half), and the best single-half shooting percentage since the Fighting Irish connected at an 80-percent clip (24 of 30) in the first half at Mercer on Dec. 30, 2011 … Notre Dame shot 60.3 percent from the field during the game, its best field goal percentage since March 7, 2014, when it made 60.4 percent of its shots (32 of 53) against Florida State in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship quarterfinals at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina … Notre Dame posted its 30th consecutive home win, extending the nation’s longest active Division I home winning streak … the Fighting Irish earned their 55th consecutive regular season victory (also the longest active run in the country) and 53rd consecutive win over an unranked opponent in the Associated Press poll (second-longest in the nation behind Connecticut’s 54 in a row) … Notre Dame has won 21 consecutive games against first-time opponents, rising to 45-3 (.938) against new foes since the start of the 2000-01 season … the Fighting Irish have won 34 consecutive home games against first-time opponents, a run that dates back to the 1995-96 season … this marked the eighth time Fighting Irish head coach Muffet McGraw has faced her mentor, Chattanooga head coach Jim Foster, with McGraw now leading the all-time series, 5-3, with all five wins coming since McGraw arrived at Notre Dame in 1987-88 … junior All-America guard Jewell Loyd quietly scored a game-high 20 points, giving her 68 points this season, the most by a Fighting Irish player in the opening three games of a season since 1996-97, when All-America forward Katryna Gaither piled up a combined 72 points in the first three rounds of the Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) against Kent State (25 points), at No. 6 Iowa (27 points) and against No. 3/2 Tennessee (20 points) … Loyd also moved up two more spots into 24th place on the Notre Dame career scoring list (now with 1,205 points), passing Krissi Davis (1,194 from 1987-91) and Heidi Bunek (1,202 from 1985-89) … freshman guard Mychal Johnson set a season high for points (17), while rookie forward Kathryn Westbeld nabbed a season-best seven rebounds … for the second time in three games, junior guard Hannah Huffman tied her career highs for points (8), field goals made (4) and field goals attempted (6) … junior guard/tri-captain Michaela Mabrey grabbed a career-high six rebounds.
Up Next For The Fighting Irish: Notre Dame welcomes Holy Cross, Harvard and Quinnipiac to Purcell Pavilion for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge. The Irish play Holy Cross at 5 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Harvard at 6 p.m. (ET) Monday and Quinnipiac at 6 p.m. (ET) Tuesday, all in the opener of doubleheaders with the other two teams (besides Notre Dame and its opponent) meeting in the nightcaps at 7 p.m. (ET) Sunday and 8 p.m. (ET) Monday and Tuesday. Every game in the Hall of Fame Challenge at Purcell Pavilion will be streamed live and free of charge on the official Fighting Irish athletics multimedia platform, WatchND (see the official tournament home page for broadcast links).
–Chris Masters Associate Athletic Media Relations Director
–Russell Dorn, Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director