Dec 31, 2002
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Jacqueline Batteast had 23 points and 11 rebounds as No. 13 Notre Dame beat Marquette 75-68 Tuesday.
Le’Tania Severe added a career-high 20 points, and Courtney LaVere scored 16 and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (8-2), who rallied from a 39-31 deficit early in the second half.
Marquette (6-3), which had its five-game winning streak snapped, was led by Katie Alsdurf with 18 points, Rachel Klug with 17 and Carolyn Kieger with 16.
Notre Dame trailed 43-37, but went on a 13-2 run to build a 50-45 lead. The Irish upped their lead to 67-53 with 3:12 to play, and then held off a spirited rally.
The deficit was reduced to five twice before Notre Dame wrapped it up with five free throws in the final 46 seconds. The Fighting Irish went 17-of-21 from the free-throw line, including 10-of-11 by Severe and 6-of-7 by LaVere.
Notre Dame had a 39-24 edge in rebounds and shot 54 percent (27-of-50) from the field. Marquette shot 41 percent (25-of-61).
Notre Dame’s Alicia Ratay converted a four-point play to make it 27-23 with 2:29 left in the first half. But Kieger’s 3-pointer and a layup by Klug just before the buzzer closed Marquette’s deficit to 29-28 at halftime.
The attendance was 3,686, the largest home crowd for a regular-season game in Marquette history.