Dec. 4, 2005
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Megan Duffy scored 20 points to lead No. 11 Notre Dame to a 77-72 victory over Wisconsin on Sunday.
Lindsay Schrader added 13 points and Melissa D’Amico and Tulyah Gaines each scored 11 for the Irish (6-0), who won their first six games for the fourth time in school history.
Duffy shot 6-for-6 from the foul line and scored eight points in the final two minutes as Notre Dame pulled away from the Badgers (4-3).
D’Amico fed Breona Gray for a 3-pointer and then hit a jumper as the Irish broke a 62-62 tie, the seventh tie of the second half.
Wisconsin pulled within 67-65, but Duffy and Gaines countered with baskets. The Badgers closed within three points twice in the last 30 seconds, but Duffy answered with a pair of free throws each time.
Jolene Anderson scored 16 points for the Badgers, who got double-figure scoring by four players.
Notre Dame was without coach Muffet McGraw, who was ill and did not make the trip from South Bend.
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: Notre Dame is off to a 6-0 start for the second consecutive season and the third time in the past six seasons (23-0 in 2000-01; 7-0 last year) … the Irish have won 14 of their last 16 road games, dating back to the start of the 2004-05 season … Notre Dame has scored 70-or-more points in its last five games, the first time the Irish have pulled off that feat since Jan. 9-24, 2001, when they also had five consecutive 70-point outings … Sunday’s 77-point total was a season-high for Notre Dame and the most for the Irish since they defeated West Virginia, 82-57 on Feb. 26, 2005 at the Joyce Center … Notre Dame improves to 5-2 all-time against Wisconsin, including a 3-1 record in Madison; the Irish also are now 3-0 all-time at the Kohl Center, having defeated UW twice (2000 and 2005) and also Georgia (finals of 2000 Coaches vs. Cancer Challenge) … for the first time in the 29-year history of the program, Notre Dame has defeated three Big Ten Conference opponents in the regular season; the Irish actually downed four Big Ten teams in 2000-01, but two of those victories (Michigan and Purdue) came in the NCAA Tournament — the school record for consecutive wins vs. Big Ten opponents is five (1999-00 through 2000-01) … the Irish shot a season-best .551 vs. Wisconsin, the second time this season Notre Dame has topped the 50-percent mark … the Irish also won the battle on the boards, 34-27, marking the first time all season Wisconsin had been outrebounded … Notre Dame led 42-39 at the half on Sunday, and has been ahead (five times) or tied (once) at the break in all six games this season … for the third time this season, every Irish player who saw court time wound up scoring (also vs. Western Michigan and USC) … Notre Dame had four players score in double figures for the third consecutive game and has had at least three double-digit scorers in all six outings this season … freshman guard Lindsay Schrader’s 6-of-6 shooting performance was one make shy of matching the school record for field goal percentage by a freshman (7-of-7 by Alicia Ratay at Rutgers, 2/19/00 and Teresa Borton vs. Seton Hall, 1/9/02) … sophomore guard Tulyah Gaines posted her second career double-digit scoring game with 11 points, just missing her personal high of 12, set at Northern Illinois on Dec. 30, 2004 … senior guard Megan Duffy has scored 19-or-more points in her last five games (three 20-point nights) and is averaging 21.0 ppg. in that span … sophomore center Melissa D’Amico cracked double digits for the fourth time this year after doing so just once all of last year; she has been particularly strong in her last three games, averaging 11.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game with a .520 field goal percentage … among those faces in the crowd at Sunday’s game was former Irish associate head coach Carol Owens, who is in her first season as the head coach at her alma mater, Northern Illinois.