Dec. 28, 2011
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SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – Longwood coach Bill Reinson could see the benefits of hiring former Notre Dame All-American Lindsay Schrader as an assistant. The coach also believes losing in a laugher to her alma mater will provide his players a valuable lesson.
Deveraux Peters scored 19 points and the No. 3 Fighting Irish opened with a 27-0 run before going on to beat the Lancers 92-26 on Wednesday.
The Irish forced turnovers on eight of Longwood’s first nine possessions and pushed the lead to 27-0 before Mieke Elkington scored Longwood’s first basket on a 15-footer with 11:37 to go in the opening half.
“For us, it was more of a chance for our kids to see how teams do it right, to see how teams recruit the right student athlete, how their coaches prepare them, and see how they compete,” said Reinson, who has said hiring Schrader was the best decision he’s made as a head coach. “It is nice to point to teams like Notre Dame and say that that is what we aspire to be.”
Brittanni Billups scored eight points to lead the Lancers (2-12).
Peters eclipsed 1,000 points for her career on a layup 3 minutes into the second half – and was innocently unaware of it.
“I didn’t even know what was going on,” said Peters, who joins teammates Skylar Diggins and Natalie Novosel, among others, in achieving the milestone. “I was confused when the crowd got all excited and Brittany (Mallory) yelled something to me as I went back upcourt, but I could not hear her. It is just an indication of how much support I get from my teammates.”
Diggins added 11 points and 10 assists, Novosel also scored 11 points and Fraderica Miller had 10 for the Irish (12-1), who converted 33 Longwood turnovers into 42 points.
Notre Dame took 87 shots, the sixth-most in team history, and pulled down 58 rebounds. The Irish scored 58 points in the paint and got 40 points from the reserves. Every player on Notre Dame scored.
“I was really happy with the game,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. “I thought we played with a lot of intensity in the second half. We came out of the locker room and played a good half-court man-to-man. I was pleased with our execution although we did not shoot it particularly well, but I thought we did a good job rebounding.”
The Irish, who led 45-14 at halftime, opened the second half with an 18-0 burst.
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: The Fighting Irish are off to a 12-1 start for the fourth time in five years and sixth time in school history … Notre Dame posted its largest margin of victory (66 points) this season while tying the third-largest margin in school history (record is 78, set on Nov. 24, 1989, in a 113-35 win over Liberty at the UCF Rotary Classic in Orlando, Fla.) … this was the fourth 60-point win for the Fighting Irish in the past 13 months (first since Jan. 2, 2011, when they defeated Southeast Missouri, 97-21 at Purcell Pavilion) after recording three 60-point margins in the program’s first 33 seasons of existence (1977-78 through 2009-10) … Notre Dame tied a school record with its third consecutive 90-point game, the first time the Fighting Irish have done that since Jan. 23-30, 1999, when they defeated St. John’s at home (99-60), and took road wins at Syracuse (94-61) and Providence (97-59) … the 26 points allowed were the third-fewest in Notre Dame history (second-fewest to a Division I opponent), exceeded only by the aforementioned win last year over Southeast Missouri, as well as a 68-25 win over Grace College on Jan. 31, 1978, at Purcell Pavilion (the fifth game in program history) … the Fighting Irish held an opponent to 40 points or fewer for the fifth time this year, tying the school record set last season … Notre Dame also has held the opposition to 23 points or fewer in 12 of the past 15 halves of basketball, starting with the second half in a win over No. 7/6 Duke on Nov. 26 … Notre Dame’s 27-0 game-opening run was a season best (it started the Nov. 13 win over Indiana State on a 23-0 march), but it’s not the best start to a game in school history — that came in the Jan. 2011 Southeast Missouri game, when the Fighting Irish scored the game’s first 36 points … this marked the eighth time this year Notre Dame has jumped out to a 20-point lead within the first 12:13 of the game, with the Fighting Irish going on to win those eight contests by an average of 47.3 points per game … Notre Dame’s 30 offensive rebounds are believed to be a school record, topping the previous high of 29 set on two occasions (most recently on Dec. 30, 1993, at Georgetown) — it should be noted offensive rebounds were not consistently kept as a box score statistic prior to the 1986-87 season … Notre Dame attempted 87 field goals on Wednesday, the sixth-highest total in school history and most since Feb. 19, 1991, when the Fighting Irish made 39-of-88 shots in an 87-47 win over Saint Louis at Purcell Pavilion … Notre Dame’s 38 made field goals were a season high and most since Dec. 11, 2010, when it also made 38 shots (on just 60 attempts) in a 91-54 win at home over Creighton … the Fighting Irish grabbed a season-high 58 rebounds, their highest total since they had 66 boards in the Jan. 2011 win over Southeast Missouri … Notre Dame committed a season-low 10 turnovers, while forcing at least 30 opponent turnovers for the fifth time this year … the Fighting Irish chalked up 26 steals, tying for sixth-most in school history (and marking the third 25-steal game of the year for the Notre Dame defense) … Notre Dame held Longwood to an opponent season lows of 11 made field goals and a .239 field goal percentage … the Fighting Irish dished out at least 20 assists for the fifth time in six games and eighth time this season … the Fighting Irish are 50-7 (.877) against first-time opponents since joining the BIG EAST Conference in 1995-96, including a 30-3 (.909) mark since the start of the 2000-01 season, and a 4-0 record this year … Notre Dame has won 27 consecutive home games against first-time opponents … the Fighting Irish are 24-11 (.686) in their first game after the Christmas break, including a 13-6 (.684) record at home and 18-7 (.720) record in the 25-year Muffet McGraw era, as well as an active nine-game winning streak in post-Christmas contests … for the second time in the past three games, Notre Dame had two players record double-doubles in the same contest, with Devereaux Peters (19p/10r) and Skylar Diggins (11p/10a) matching the feat they pulled off on Dec. 18 in a win over No. 8/7 Kentucky … Peters logged her third double-double of the season (all in the past four games) and the 14th of her career … Diggins picked up her second double-double this season (both of the points/assists variety) and the fifth double-double of her career (three of which have been points/assists) … Peters became the 30th player in school history to score 1,000 career points, reaching the mark on a layup with 16:52 to play in the game (she now has 1,003 points); Peters is one of three current Fighting Irish players to score 1,000 career points, joining Diggins (17th at 1,277) and Natalie Novosel (22nd at 1,186), and marking just the third time in school history Notre Dame has had three 1,000-point scorers on the same team at the same time (the others came in the final games of the 2000-01 and 2009-10 seasons when Kelley Siemon and Melissa Lechlitner, respectively, scored their 1,000th points in their final collegiate contests) — ironically, Lechlitner was in attendance at Wednesday’s game, as were two other members of the Fighting Irish 1,000-Point Club — assistant coach Niele Ivey (12th at 1,430 points) and Lindsay Schrader (13th at 1,429 points), who is in her first season as an assistant coach at Longwood … Novosel scored in double figures for the 20th consecutive game, good for the sixth-longest run in school history and longest since Ruth Riley’s 22-game streak from Dec. 3, 2000-Feb. 27, 2001 … Fraderica Miller tied her season high with 10 points while also posting the third double-digit scoring day of her career … Brittany Mallory collected four steals on Wednesday, moving her into a tie with Karen Robinson (1987-91) for fifth place on the school’s all-time steals list with 228 … Notre Dame piled up a season-high nine blocked shots, including a career-high-tying three swats from Ariel Braker (who also grabbed a career-best nine rebounds) … the Fighting Irish carded their 32nd all-time “Big Mac” game (and sixth this year) by topping the 88-point mark at home, with Markisha Wright doing the honors for the second time this season by making two free throws with 3:44 remaining … Wednesday’s game was a sellout, the second time this year and 13th time in the past three seasons (as well as the 19th time in school history) Notre Dame has played before a capacity crowd.