Nov. 23, 2008
| BOSTON (AP) — Becca Bruszewski scored 18 points to lead six players in double figures and No. 15 Notre Dame shot 65 percent from the field to cruise to a 102-54 win over Boston College on Sunday.
Erica Solomon added 15 points for Notre Dame (3-0), while Brittany Mallory had 14 and Lindsay Schrader 13. Ashley Barlow and Erica Williamson each finished with 10.
Carolyn Swords led the Eagles (3-1) with 16 points and seven rebounds.
Notre Dame led 49-25 at halftime and never had its lead fall below 20 points in the second half.
The Irish used an 8-0 run early in the contest to open their first double-digit lead of the game (20-10) on Bruszewski’s jumper. They closed the first half by outscoring the Eagles, 15-3, over the final 4:13. Mallory scored five points and Williamson had a pair of baskets in the run as Notre Dame used a tight defense on the perimeter that lead to a number turnovers and easy transition baskets.
The Irish shot 59 percent in the opening 20 minutes. BC committed 17 of its 28 turnovers in opening half.
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: Notre Dame is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since the 2005-06 season … after going 30 seasons without scoring in triple digits on an opponent’s home floor, the Irish have now done it in consecutive seasons, also winning at Georgetown, 104-86, on Jan. 19, 2008 … Notre Dame’s 48-point margin of victory is its largest since a 53-point win (94-41) at Central Michigan on Nov. 20, 2007; it’s also the third-largest winning margin ever on an opponent’s home floor (second-largest of the 22-year Muffet McGraw era) behind the CMU game and an 84-27 win at Valparaiso on Jan. 21, 1982 … the Irish post consecutive 95-point games for the first time in school history and back-to-back 90-point games for the first time since Jan. 23, 26 & 30, 1999, when they reeled off a school-record three in a row (99-60 vs. St. John’s, 94-61 at Syracuse, 97-59 at Providence); it’s also the eighth time in school history Notre Dame has posted consecutive 90-point outings, all in the McGraw era … the combined 198 points in the past two games are the most for the Irish since Jan. 2 & 7, 1999, when they chalked up 204 points in wins at Georgetown (93-61) and home vs. West Virginia (111-90) … Notre Dame hands Boston College its largest margin of defeat ever at home, eclipsing a 43-point loss to Central Connecticut State on Feb. 26, 1976 (a game played at BC’s original home, the Roberts Center); BC’s previous largest loss at its current home, Silvio O. Conte Forum (which opened in 1988), had come on Dec. 12, 1992, a 104-65 loss to Ohio State … Notre Dame registers the second-highest point total ever by a visitor at Conte Forum, topped only by OSU’s 104 points in that 1992 victory … the six double-figure scorers are the most for the Irish since Jan. 19, 2008, when they had seven reach double digits in that 104-86 win at Georgetown … the Irish earn their first victory in an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) arena since Nov. 30, 1996, when they logged a 76-69 win at Georgia Tech in the title game of the Comfort Inn Downtown Classic … Notre Dame improves to 12-6 all-time against Boston College and earns back-to-back wins at Conte Forum for the first time in series history … since the teams split the first six games in the series, Notre Dame has won nine of the past 12 … Sunday’s 102 points and 48-point victory margin both were series highs; the previous highs were 91 points scored (91-64 win at home on Feb. 12, 1997) and a 30-point margin (88-58 on Nov. 24, 2007, also at the Joyce Center) … Notre Dame narrowly missed reaching the seemingly-unreachable school record for field goals made in a game (44), which has been set three times, but not since Dec. 21, 1990, in a 109-56 home win over Marquette (44-of-73 that night) … the Irish post their best field goal percentage in a single game since Feb. 12, 1997, when Notre Dame shot .680 from the floor (34-of-50) in the aforementioned 91-64 win over Boston College at the Joyce Center … the Irish were red-hot from the three-point line, going 7-of-8 (.875) from distance for their best long-range shooting performance (minimum of five attempts) since Nov. 17, 2004, when Notre Dame tallied a school-record 5-for-5 outing in a 76-65 win over sixth-ranked Duke in the Preseason WNIT semifinals at the Joyce Center … for the fourth time in six games (dating back to last season), sophomore forward Becca Bruszewski tied or broke her career-high scoring total, with Sunday’s 18 points matching the freshly-minted mark she had set four days earlier at home against Evansville … freshman forward Erica Solomon turned in a “point-a-minute” effort in just her third collegiate game with a season-high 15 points in 14 minutes, the first for an Irish player (with a minimum of 10 minutes played) since Nov. 9, 2007, when Lindsay Schrader had 20 points in 17 minutes of a 98-50 win over Miami (Ohio) in the first round of the Preseason WNIT at the Joyce Center … sophomore guard Brittany Mallory finished with 14 points, one away from the career high she set in the only other 100-point road game in school history (Jan. 19, 2008 at Georgetown); Mallory also almost duplicated Solomon’s “point-a-minute” performance, ringing up her total in 15 minutes … junior guard Ashley Barlow had a career-high seven steals, the most for an Irish player since Jan. 16, 2008, when Devereaux Peters also had seven thefts in a 69-58 win over Villanova at the Joyce Center … Barlow also matched her career best with six assists, a mark she established twice at home last season (against Canisius on Nov. 27, 2007, and Marquette on Feb. 13, 2008) … in addition, Barlow extended her streak of double-digit scoring games to eight in a row, stretching back to the end of last year.