Feb. 2, 2005
By TOM COYNE
AP Sportswriter
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame’s Jacqueline Batteast wasn’t feeling well enough to play more than seven minutes in the first half.
She didn’t improve much after the break, but made Boston College do the suffering.
Batteast scored all 15 of her points in the second half, the sixth-ranked Irish beat the No. 16 Eagles 64-57 Wednesday night.
“She wasn’t feeling too good. She’d make a basket and she’d still have her head down,” teammate Megan Duffy said. “She wants to win more than anybody on the team.”
Batteast proved it by overcoming another obstacle. After scoring the first two baskets of the second half, she left briefly to have her left ankle retaped after injuring it.
The Eagles (15-4, 6-2 Big East) went ahead 54-53 when Lisa Macchia scored inside with 6:45 left. But the Irish (19-3 7-2) took the control with an 8-0 run, getting four of their points from baskets inside. It started with Batteast going around Macchia to score.
Batteast was double-teamed down low on Notre Dame’s next possession, but passed to Teresa Borton, who was wide open for a basket.
After Macchia was called for a travel, Courtney LaVere hit a 15-foot shot to put the game away as the Eagles went five minutes without scoring, going 0-for-6 during that stretch.
“Other than the last four or five minutes when we weren’t scoring, I thought we battled real well,” BC coach Cathy Inglese said.
Borton added 12 points for the Irish, who outscored the Eagles 44-18 inside despite being outrebounded 45-32.
Clare Droesch led BC with 14 points and 10 rebounds, Aja Parham had 13 points and 13 rebounds, Sarah Marshall added 11 points and Kindyll Dorsey, who entered the game with 10 points this season, added 10 points.
The Eagles, the nation’s best-shooting team, couldn’t overcome a season-low 34.5 percent or a season-high 22 turnovers.
But BC managed to make a game of it after falling behind by nine points early in the second half. The Eagles had a 19-6 run and led 49-45 on a layup by Parham midway through the half.
“That’s the one thing we can be happy with, that we didn’t give up,” Marshall said.
Boston College kept the score close throughout the first half despite missing its first 10 shots and losing leading scorer Jessalyn Deveny five minutes in with a reinjured right Achilles’ tendon. Deveny wasn’t planning on playing, but felt good during the shootaround and decided to give it a try.
Inglese said she would be re-examined in Boston.
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw was disappointed her team didn’t play with more energy, but knows she can use the performance as a motivational tool.
“When you win it’s good because you can be happy and still yell at them,” she said.
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: Notre Dame jumps to 9-4 all-time against Boston College, including a perfect 7-0 at the Joyce Center … Wednesday’s game was the first of two meetings between the Irish and Eagles, with the rematch scheduled for Feb. 15 in Chestnut Hill, Mass., and televised nationally on College Sports Television (CSTV) … Notre Dame earns its sixth victory in eight tries against a ranked opponent this season … the Irish also have defeated four Top 25 teams in their last six games (No. 20 Purdue, No. 6/7 Rutgers, No. 9/10 Connecticut and No. 16/13 Boston College) … the six wins over ranked opponents in the regular season is second-most in school history, topped only by the seven such victories Notre Dame recorded last season (13 wins over Top 25 teams in less than two years) … the Irish remain unbeaten this season (15-0) when leading at halftime … Notre Dame also is a perfect 14-0 this year when its bench outscores the opposition’s understudies (24-14 vs. BC) … for the second consecutive game and 10th time this season, the Irish registered double-digit steals, finishing the night with 14 thefts … the Notre Dame defense also caused 22 BC turnovers, marking the 11th time this year the Irish have come up with at least 20 takeaways … Notre Dame is 13-1 this season when limiting opponents to less than 60 points … despite an ongoing bout with a stomach virus (which began over the weekend), senior All-America forward Jacqueline Batteast posted a game-high 15 points and became the fifth player in school history to amass 1,700 career points (now at 1,710) … junior guard Megan Duffy had her streak of five-assist games snapped at eight in a row; however, she did grab a season-high six rebounds, tying for team-best honors … both freshman guard Tulyah Gaines and sophomore guard Breona Gray tied their career highs with three steals, which they had most recently set vs. Seton Hall on Jan. 2 … freshman guard Charel Allen came off the bench to score at least eight points for the seventh consecutive game.