Dec. 21, 2007
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Charel Allen had 12 points and five steals and No. 17 Notre Dame defeated IUPUI 67-44 on Friday night for its eighth straight win.
Devereaux Peters had 11 points and four blocks, Lindsay Schrader scored 10 points and Tulyah Gaines tied a career high with nine assists for the Irish (10-1).
Jernisha Cann led IUPUI with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Julia Whitted added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Jaguars (3-9), who have lost six straight.
Notre Dame forced 28 turnovers in IUPUI’s second-ever home game against a ranked opponent. The Irish held the Jaguars to 24 percent shooting in the second half.
The first half was close throughout before Notre Dame finally asserted itself with a 9-0 run that gave the Irish a 34-27 halftime lead. IUPUI shot 50 percent in the first half, but committed 15 turnovers.
The Irish opened the second half on an 8-0 run to push the lead to 42-27. Notre Dame’s Ashley Barlow, playing in her hometown for the first time as a college player, scored her first points on a bucket with 16:33 to play, sparking a loud cheer. A section of about 200 fans held up light green signs that read “Go Ashley.”
Notre Dame’s biggest lead was 28 points in the second half.
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: Notre Dame is off to a 10-1 start for the third time in school history, matching its 11-game record in 2004-05 and one game back of its 11-0 debut in the 2000-01 national championship season … the Irish reach the 10-win mark faster than any team in school history except the ’04-05 club, which got its 10th victory two days earlier on Dec. 19 (the ’00-01 squad also earned win #10 on Dec. 21) … Notre Dame held an opponent to 50 points or fewer for the sixth time in 11 games this year … the Irish limited IUPUI to an opponent-season-low 17 points in the second half, the fewest points by an Irish opponent in any half since Feb. 4, 2007, when West Virginia only managed 17 first-half points in a 77-67 ND win at the Joyce Center … Notre Dame now has won 20 consecutive games coming off its final exam break, and wins its 12th consecutive contest going into the Christmas holiday … for the fifth time this season (and second consecutive game), the Irish forced at least 25 opponent turnovers … Notre Dame has registered double-digit steals in each game of its current win streak … the Irish bench has outscored the opposition’s reserves in every game this season, averaging nearly 33 points per night … senior guard Tulyah Gaines tied her career high with nine assists, matching the mark she set twice before (most recently at home against Syracuse on Jan. 20, 2007) … senior guard Charel Allen tied her career high with five steals, a mark she’s reached four times previously, including Nov. 24 vs. Boston College at the Joyce Center … Allen also moved into 16th place on the Notre Dame career scoring list with 1,203 points, passing both Krissi Davis (1,194 points from 1987-91) and Heidi Bunek (1985-89) with her team-high 12 points at IUPUI; next up for Allen is Letitia Bowen, who scored 1,219 points from 1991-95 … freshman forward Devereaux Peters scored in double figures for the fifth time in six games and also recorded at least three blocks for the sixth time this season … sophomore center Erica Williamson scored a season-high nine points.