Notre Dame Set To Take On West Virginia Wednesday

Feb. 21, 2006

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-10 / 5-8 BIG EAST) vs. West Virginia Mountaineers (12-12 / 4-9 BIG EAST)

Storylines

• Notre Dame can virtually assure itself of a berth in the BIG EAST Championship with a victory at West Virginia Wednesday night. The Irish currently are in 11th place in the conference standings, two games off the 12-team cut line, with three games remaining.
• The Irish have taken good care of the ball of late, averaging just 11.8 turnovers in the past six games.

With the BIG EAST Conference Championship a little more than a week away, Notre Dame will aim to build some momentum for the postseason when it travels to West Virginia Wednesday for a 7 p.m. (ET) contest against the Mountaineers.

Notre Dame (14-10, 5-8 BIG EAST) is in the midst of a three-game losing streak following a hard-fought 79-64 loss to No. 8/6 Connecticut on Sunday night. The Irish battled the Huskies from tip to buzzer and led by a point twice in the second half before succumbing. Still, Notre Dame shot 44.2 percent from the field, only the fourth team to top 40 percent against UConn all year.

The Irish had four players score in double figures, and three – sophomore guard Charel Allen, freshman guard Lindsay Schrader and junior guard Breona Gray – sharing team-high honors with 12 points.

Rankings
* Notre Dame is not ranked.
* West Virginia is not ranked.

Web Sites
* Notre Dame: http://www.und.com
* West Virginia: http://www.MSNSportsNet.com
* BIG EAST: http://www.bigeast.org

Setting The Standard
Under the guidance of 19th-year head coach Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame has evolved into one of the country’s leading women’s basketball powers. The Irish have appeared in 12 NCAA Tournaments (including the past 10 in a row) and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 six times in the past nine years. Notre Dame also has reached the NCAA Women’s Final Four twice, winning college basketball’s ultimate prize with the 2001 national championship.

In its history, Notre Dame has developed eight All-Americans, eight WNBA players (including five draft picks in the past five years) and four USA Basketball veterans (eight medals won). Now in their 29th season in 2005-06, the Irish own an all-time record of 589-264 (.691).

Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw

• Saint Joseph’s ’77
• 19th season at Notre Dame
  • 425-165 (.720) at Notre Dame.
    • 513-206 (.713) in 24 years as head coach.

NOTES

• 2001 consensus National Coach of the Year
• Four-time Naismith Coach of the Year finalist
• Four-time conference Coach of the Year
  • BIG EAST Conference (2001)
    • Midwestern Collegiate Conference (1991)
      • North Star Conference (1988)
        • East Coast Conference (@ Lehigh) (1983)

A Quick Look At The Fighting Irish
One of the more famous movie quotes of the past 20 years came from a simple Alabama man named Forrest Gump, who recalled his mother’s advice that “life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get.”

In some ways, that philosophy would be appropriate when it comes to describing the 2005-06 season for Notre Dame. Despite losing two of their top three scorers and two primary rebounders from a year ago, the Irish bolted to a 9-1 record, highlighted by two wins over Top 25 teams (USC and Utah) as well as the championship at the Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas.

Since that time, Notre Dame has seen its fortunes turn south, losing nine of its last 14 games, including the program’s first three-game losing streaks in eight seasons. However, the Irish also did log an key third win over a ranked opponent (78-75 vs. #10 DePaul on Jan. 17) and were ranked in every AP and ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll for the first two months of the season.

One of the critical elements for the Irish to be successful this season has been offensive balance. On 18 occasions, Notre Dame has had at least three players scoring in double figures (going 12-6 in those games), and eight separate players have cracked double digits at least twice this year. Additionally, six different players have led the team in scoring at some point.

The Irish also have the benefit of strong leadership in senior All-America point guard and two-year team captain Megan Duffy. The 5-foot-7 Dayton, Ohio, native spent last summer as a co-captain and starter on the United States World University Games Team that rolled to the gold medal with a 7-0 record. Duffy herself directed an American offense that averaged 97.4 points per game and set a USA World University Games record with a scoring margin of +43.1 ppg.

Back stateside, Duffy continues to make improvements in her game each night out and has been a strong all-around contributor and leader for Notre Dame once again this year. The veteran floor general is averaging a team-best 15.3 points, 4.33 assists and 2.0 steals per game, with a 1.86 assist/turnover ratio, ranking among the top 10 in the BIG EAST in all four categories. In addition, she leads the league and among the top 20 in the nation in foul shooting (.892). She also has led the team in scoring 12 times and in assists 18 times this year.

Among her many honors this year, Duffy is one of 11 nominees for the Nancy Lieberman Award (top point guard in the nation), a mid-season candidate for the Naismith Trophy, a first-team academic all-district honoree, a BIG EAST Player of the Week selection (Jan. 23), a three-time BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll choice, and was named to the Duel in the Desert (Gray Division) All-Tournament Team. She has scored in double figures in her last nine games, the longest such streak of her career.

Freshman guard Lindsay Schrader has shown tremendous promise in her first season with the Irish. The former McDonald’s All-American already has been named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week once (Nov. 21) after turning in an impressive 10-point, 14-rebound effort in her debut outing against Michigan, becoming just the second player in school history (first since 1979) to record a double-double in her first game. She also earned a spot on the Dec. 5 BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, the first freshman to appear on that list this season. Schrader is second on the team in scoring (9.3 ppg.) and tops in rebounding (5.6 rpg.), and has scored in double figures four times in the past six games, including a season-high 24 points at Syracuse on Jan. 31.

Senior forward Courtney LaVere has shown signs of being a dependable force in the post for the Irish. She ranks third on the team in scoring (8.5 ppg.), and first in both field goal percentage (.500) and blocks (1.33 bpg.), tying for fifth in the BIG EAST in the latter category. LaVere was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Feb. 6, and has come alive in her last five games, scoring in double figures four times. In that span, she is averaging 12.2 ppg. with a .580 field goal percentage (29-of-50).

Potent Notables About The Fighting Irish

• Notre Dame’s departure from the Jan. 30 Associated Press poll snapped a string of 30 consecutive appearances for the Irish in that survey, dating back to the start of the 2004-05 season. All told, Notre Dame has appeared in 139 Associated Press polls since the balloting debuted 30 years ago, with their first AP ranking (No. 25) coming on Dec. 31, 1990.
• With its No. 10 AP ranking on Dec. 5, the Irish have appeared in the top 10 of the media balloting at some point in seven of the past 10 years (including three of the past four seasons). Notre Dame has spent a total of 73 weeks in the AP top 10 during the program’s 29-year history and owns a 110-21 (.840) record when it’s ranked in the top 10.
• The Irish have won 57 of their last 61 non-conference home games, dating back to the 1994-95 season. Three of the losses in that span have come against Big Ten Conference opponents (Wisconsin in 1996, Purdue in 2003, Michigan State in 2004), with the other coming back on Dec. 31 vs. No. 1 Tennessee.
• The Irish defense continues to be its calling card. In each of the past six seasons, Notre Dame has held its opponents to an average of less than 62 points per game, including a 56.8 ppg. mark last year, which ranked as the third-lowest opponent scoring average in school history and second-best of the Muffet McGraw era (55.8 ppg. in 2000-01). Thus far in 2005-06, the Irish are slightly over their six-year average, allowing opponents to score 62.9 ppg.
• The Irish are 3-5 against ranked teams this season and have posted 40 wins over Top 25 opponents in the past eight seasons (1998-99 to present), most recently knocking off No. 10/10 DePaul, 78-75 on Jan. 17 at the Joyce Center. In each of the past two years, Notre Dame has set a school record with seven regular-season wins over ranked opponents. Furthermore, since the start of the 2003-04 season, the Irish are 12-4 (.750) at home against Top 25 competition (2-2 this year).
• Drawing 8,193 fans to Sunday’s game vs. Connecticut (the 13th-largest crowd in school history and second-biggest of the season), the Irish now have welcomed crowds of 5,000 or more fans to 77 of their last 79 home games. The only two blemishes on that mark came in the semifinals and finals of last year’s Preseason WNIT, because tickets for those games could not be included in the Notre Dame season ticket package and had to be purchased separately.
• The capacity crowd of 11,418 for the Dec. 31 home game vs. top-ranked Tennessee was the third sellout in program history and the 19-day advance sellout was the quickest in the 29-year history of Irish women’s basketball. As of Feb. 20, Notre Dame ranks 11th in the country in average home attendance with 6,682 fans per game.
• Senior guard Megan Duffy was named a preseason All-American by three sources, was cited on the preseason watch lists for both the State Farm/WBCA Wade Trophy and the John R. Wooden Women’s Award, and was tabbed as one of the top five point guards in the nation by ESPN.com. Duffy also was a preseason all-BIG EAST Conference selection, following up her first-team all-league citation last year.
• With a 55-45 victory over Michigan on Nov. 18, Irish head coach Muffet McGraw became the 27th coach in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history to reach the 500-win mark. She also is the 10th Division I coach to earn her 500th victory prior to age 50. McGraw reached another milestone on Nov. 29 vs. Iona with her 700th career game as a head coach.

A Quick Look At West Virginia
When looking at the 2005-06 season for West Virginia, the comparison to Notre Dame seems inevitable. Like the Irish, WVU started the season in strong fashion, winning seven of its first nine games, including an impressive 25-point win at Houston. However, the Mountaineers then lost their next two games in overtime (when both Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Seton Hall hit desperation shots at the end of regulation to keep the game alive) and it’s been a battle ever since.

Currently, West Virginia (12-12, 4-9 BIG EAST) has lost five in a row and eight of its last 10 games during the past month. Matters weren’t helped for the Mountaineers on Jan. 29, when junior sharpshooting guard Meg Bulger was lost for the season with a knee injury. Bulger, a first-team all-BIG EAST selection last season, was among the league leaders in scoring (19.8 ppg.) and three-point percentage (.432) when she was hurt.

WVU is coming off a 62-58 loss at home to Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon. The Mountaineers shot the ball very well (.472) and won the rebounding battle, 31-29, but the difference came at the foul line – Pittsburgh went 20-of-24 (.833) at the stripe, while West Virginia was 6-of-15 (.400). Sophomore center Olayinka Sanni had a team-high 17 points and sophomore guard Chakhia Cole turned in a solid all-around effort with 13 points, six rebounds and seven assists for the Mountaineers.

In Bulger’s absence, Sanni is West Virginia’s top active scorer at 13.1 ppg., while shooting a blistering .629 from the floor. Cole is also scoring in double figures (10.6 ppg.) and leads the team with 7.3 rebounds a night. Another player to watch will be sophomore guard LaQuita Owens, who is filling Bulger’s spot in the lineup and has averaged 14.2 ppg. in the six games she has started this season.

Head coach Mike Carey is in his fifth season at West Virginia with a record of 83-63 (.568) at the school. Including his 13-year run as the men’s coach at Salem International (W.Va.), Carey has a career coaching mark of 371-165 (.692). He is 1-5 all-time against Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-West Virginia Series
Notre Dame and West Virginia had never crossed paths on the basketball court prior to 1995-96, when both teams joined the BIG EAST Conference. Since then, the Irish and Mountaineers have squared off 14 times, with Notre Dame holding a 13-1 advantage in the series (12-1 in the regular season). The Irish also have won five of the previous six matchups in Morgantown.

Notre Dame had the upper hand for the first eight seasons of the rivalry, winning each of its first 11 games against West Virginia. However, when Mike Carey took over as head coach of the Mountaineers in 2001-02, the margin of victory for the Irish began to shrink, with three consecutive single-digit wins in 2002 and 2003.

West Virginia broke through for its first win over Notre Dame on Jan. 17, 2004, leading wire-to-wire in a 64-51 victory at WVU Coliseum. That was the last time the Irish visited Morgantown prior to Wednesday night’s game.

Last season, Notre Dame and WVU met twice, with the Irish winning on both occasions. Late in the regular season, Notre Dame registered an 82-57 victory at the Joyce Center behind a sharp .582 field goal percentage. The teams then met a little more than a week later in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Championship at the Hartford Civic Center, with the Irish picking up a 70-59 win.

Other Notre Dame-West Virginia Series Tidbits

• Notre Dame scored at least 70 points against West Virginia 11 times in the 14-game series. On the other hand, West Virginia has reached the 70-point plateau just twice against Notre Dame and has been held under 60 points by the Irish seven times.
• In their last nine games against Notre Dame, the Mountaineers have scored exactly in a 10-point window (54-64 points), including two 54-point games and three 64-point nights.
• On their first four trips to Morgantown, the Irish averaged 82.3 points per game. However, on its last two visits, Notre Dame scoring only 58.5 points per contest.
• The Irish have scored 100 points in a game twice against WVU, making the Mountaineers the only BIG EAST opponent to see Notre Dame crack triple digits more than once.
• Notre Dame won the first eight games in the series by an average of 23.0 ppg., with only one of those contests decided by single digits (86-78 on Jan. 14, 1998 at the Joyce Center).
• The winning margin in the next four series games had been just 8.5 ppg., with WVU getting steadily closer to Notre Dame in the first three outings before winning its first game vs. the Irish in 2004.
• However, Notre Dame has rebounded with double-digit victories in its last two matchups with West Virginia, with an average winning margin of 18.0 ppg.
• Last year’s contest in the BIG EAST Championship quarterfinals was the first neutral-site game played between the two squads.
• Jim Bulger, the father of West Virginia junior guard Meg Bulger, was a two-year monogram winner as a quarterback at Notre Dame (1970-71), and was part of ND’s 1970 Cotton Bowl championship squad. That year, the elder Bulger served as an understudy to All-American signal-caller (and future Super Bowl champion) Joe Theismann.

T

he Last Time Notre Dame And West Virginia Met
Missing her first four shots didn’t shake up Jacqueline Batteast.

The BIG EAST Conference Player of the Year found other ways to help No. 10 Notre Dame early in the Fighting Irish’s 70-59 BIG EAST Championship quarterfinal win over West Virginia on March 6, 2005 at the Hartford Civic Center.

Batteast grabbed a couple of defensive rebounds and stole the ball until she found her shot. When she finally did, the South Bend native scored 16 points, including seven in a row during a late second-half run to help the Irish reach the semifinals for the sixth time in nine years.

Yolanda Paige led the Mountaineers (17-12) with 23 points.

The game pitted the conference’s top scorers in Batteast, the BIG EAST Player of the Year, and West Virginia’s Meg Bulger, who was averaging a league-high 19.6 points. Batteast was second at 17.4 ppg.

However, Bulger struggled all night, making just three of 15 shots and finishing with eight points.

The second-seeded Irish were in control from the start and led by as many as 14 in the second half, shooting 61 percent in the period. Batteast made sure they kept the cushion, scoring seven points in a two-minute stretch.

The Mountaineers would get no closer than eight the rest of the way.

Sherell Sowho added 11 points for West Virginia, and Olayinka Sanni grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Notre Dame controlled the boards, outrebounding West Virginia 32-23. The Irish also got 20 points from its backup players. Freshman guard Charel Allen led the Notre Dame reserves with 11 points.

Don’t Count Us Out
While Notre Dame has gotten into an unfortunate habit of falling behind by double-digit margins this season, the Irish have also found a way to claw back into the contest with dramatic second-half rallies.

In 12 games this season, Notre Dame has used a significant second-half run to either take control or battle back into contention. Included in that total are four games against Top 25 opponents (USC, Utah, Tennessee and DePaul), with three of those second-half charges leading to Irish wins (all but Tennessee).

What’s more, six times the Irish have been tied or trailed at some point in the final 11 minutes, but on the strength of their second-half run, they rallied to take the win.

Spine-Chiller Supremes
Former Oakland Raiders cornerback (and noted quote machine) Lester Hayes used to refer to close, exciting games as “spine-chiller supremes.” Lester probably would have used the same phrase to describe Notre Dame’s season to date.

The Irish have played eight games decided by five points or less, going 5-3 in those contests. Three games have gone into overtime (tying a school record set in 1995-96), and all three losses were in doubt heading into the final minute of regulation (two defeats occurring in OT).

A History Lesson
With one steal vs. South Florida on Jan. 28, senior All-America guard Megan Duffy became only the fifth player in school history to record 1,000 points and 200 steals in her career. Duffy has 1,189 points and 209 steals since arriving in South Bend in 2002.

Duffy joins Karen Robinson (1987-91), Krissi Davis (1987-91), Katryna Gaither (1993-97) and Niele Ivey (1996-2001) as the only Irish players in that elite 1,000-point/200-steal club.

What’s more, Duffy has 480 career assists, putting her just 20 handouts short of pairing with Robinson and Ivey as the only Notre Dame players ever to amass 1,000 points, 500 assists and 200 steals in their careers.

Among The Best In The Business
Senior All-America guard Megan Duffy has been selected by a panel of national sportswriters as one of 11 nominees for the seventh annual Nancy Lieberman Award, which is presented annually by the Rotary Club of Detroit to the nation’s top point guard.

The award is named after Hall of Famer and two-time Wade Trophy winner Nancy Lieberman, who guided Old Dominion to the 1978 and 1980 AIAW national titles and now serves as a broadcaster for ESPN. The trophy goes to the player who possesses the floor leadership, play-making and ball-handling skills that personified Lieberman during her career.

This year’s ballot of 11 nominees includes three from the BIG EAST Conference: Duffy, Marquette’s Carolyn Kieger and Rutgers’ Cappie Pondexter. The others on the list include: Nikki Blue (UCLA), Lindsey Bowen (Michigan State), Dee Davis (Vanderbilt), Erin Grant (Texas Tech), Lindsay Harding (Duke), Alexis Hornbuckle (Tennessee), Ivory Latta (North Carolina) and Leilani Mitchell (Idaho).

The sportswriters who determined the nominees also will choose three finalists and the award winner, which will be announced during the NCAA Women’s Final Four weekend (April 2-4). The trophy then will be presented to this year’s winner on April 12 during a luncheon at the Detroit Athletic Club.

Past winners of the Nancy Lieberman Award include three-time recipient Sue Bird and two-time honoree Diana Taurasi, both of Connecticut, as well as 2005 winner Temeka Johnson of LSU.

Duffy On Naismith Mid-Season List
Senior All-America guard Megan Duffy is one of 30 players who have been designated as mid-season candidates for the Naismith Trophy, it was announced Feb. 17 by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. The award is presented annually to the nation’s top women’s college basketball player, with the top 30 mid-season candidates chosen from a preseason group of 50 based upon player performance during the season. The selections were made by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selectors, which is comprised of leading basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from around the country. Next month, the Board will determine the four Naismith Trophy finalists that will appear on the award’s ballot – former Notre Dame great Ruth Riley won the honor in 2001.

The announcement marked the second time in a week Duffy has been mentioned for a major national honor. On Feb. 10, she was tapped as one of 11 nominees for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is given to the nation’s top point guard. In addition, Duffy is expected to be a prime candidate for the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, which is presented annually at the NCAA Women’s Final Four by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) to the nation’s top senior player standing 5-foot-8 or under. Renowned former Irish point guard Niele Ivey was the 2001 winner of the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award.

Duffy is one of seven BIG EAST players on this year’s Naismith Trophy mid-season candidate list, joining Jessica Dickson (South Florida), Charde Houston (Connecticut), Cappie Pondexter (Rutgers), Khara Smith (DePaul), Ann Strother (Connecticut) and Barbara Turner (Connecticut). The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) was the only other league to have seven candidates on the Naismith mid-season list.

More Than A Passing Grade For Duffy
Senior guard Megan Duffy was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V First Team, it was announced Feb. 9. It’s the second consecutive year that Duffy has been chosen for academic all-district honors (she was a second-team pick in 2004-05), and with her selection to the first team, Duffy now is eligible for Academic All-America honors, becoming the first Irish women’s basketball player to make the national ballot since Ruth Riley did so in three consecutive years (1999-2001). In 2000 and 2001, Riley earned first-team Academic All-America citations, in addition to being named the ’01 Academic All-America Team Member of the Year.

Duffy currently holds a 3.555 cumulative grade-point average in the College of Arts and Letters, where she is pursuing a double major in psychology and computer applications. She has earned Dean’s List honors in each of the past four semesters, including a 3.917 GPA in the spring 2005 term and a 3.821 GPA in the recently-completed fall 2005 semester.

When The Game Is On The Line…
The Irish have posted a .657 free throw percentage (69-of-105) in the final two minutes and overtime of games this season.

Leading the way are junior forward Crystal Erwin, who made her only two late-game free throws of the year with 41 seconds left in regulation Jan. 28 vs. USF, and senior guard Megan Duffy, who has made 30 of her 32 foul shots (.938) in crunch time.

Beasts Of The BIG EAST
Notre Dame is 142-39 (.785) in regular-season competition against the rest of BIG EAST Conference, owning the best conference winning percentage of any current member of the BIG EAST (minimum of one year membership) since joining the circuit for the 1995-96 campaign. The Irish also have finished among the top three in the BIG EAST nine times in their 10-year membership, and claimed a share of their first-ever regular-season conference championship in 2001.

When including postseason competition (BIG EAST and NCAA tournaments), Notre Dame is 156-49 (.761) vs. league opponents – factoring in 23 postseason tilts, the Irish are 79-12 (.868) at home, 63-30 (.677) on the road and 14-7 (.667) at neutral sites all-time vs. BIG EAST foes.

Game #24 Recap: Connecticut
Ann Strother scored 11 of her 19 points during a decisive run midway through the second half to lead No. 8 Connecticut to a 79-64 victory over Notre Dame on Sunday night at the Joyce Center.

UConn led 52-48 when Strother made a pair of free throws and a pair of three-pointers to give the Huskies a 60-51 lead. Strother added another trey during the run to give the Huskies a 15-point lead. UConn stretched the lead to 18 points twice before winning by 15.

The Huskies (24-3, 12-1 BIG EAST) clinched the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.

Strother was 5-for-8 from three-point range. Renee Montgomery had 15 points, Charde Houston 14 and Barbara Turner scored 11 of her 13 in the second half. She also grabbed nine rebounds. The Huskies, who outrebounded the Irish 36-31, shot 45 percent while Notre Dame shot 44 percent.

Sophomore guard Charel Allen, freshman guard Lindsay Schrader and junior guard Breona Gray each had 12 for the Irish, and senior guard Megan Duffy added 11.

The Irish, who trailed by nine late in the first half, opened the second half with a 5-0 spurt to take a 38-37 lead on a basket inside by senior forward Courtney LaVere. The teams traded leads, with Notre Dame moving ahead 42-41 on a basket inside by junior forward Crystal Erwin.

But Montgomery hit a three to spark a 7-0 run to make it 48-42. The Irish had one last 6-2 spurt before the Huskies went on their decisive run.

The Irish were able to keep the score close until then. They started the game by making eight of 12 shots and took a 21-18 lead when sophomore center Melissa D’Amico made a pair of free throws. The Huskies defense finally slowed the Irish, holding them to 1-of-7 shooting, using a 17-5 spurt to open a 35-26 lead when Houston scored inside.

The Huskies then made just one basket the rest of the half, turning the ball over twice, missing two shots and a pair of free throws as Notre Dame closed to 37-33 at halftime.

Noting The Connecticut Game

• Notre Dame is 3-5 against ranked opponents this season, but in four of those losses, the Irish were within striking distance in the second half, owning the lead once (Connecticut), tying once (at DePaul), and getting within six points or less twice (four at Rutgers; six vs. Tennessee).
• Connecticut takes an 18-4 lead in the series with Notre Dame (6-2 in South Bend), with its 79 points being the most for the Huskies vs. the Irish since Jan. 21, 2002 (an 80-53 UC win in Hartford).
• UConn tied a Notre Dame opponent season high with 79 points, equalling DePaul’s total from Feb. 12.
• The Irish had four double-figure scorers for the seventh time in 24 games this season, falling to 5-2 in those contests (12-6 with three or more double-digit scorers).
• Notre Dame’s 16 turnovers snapped a string of five consecutive games in which the Irish had 15 or fewer giveaways (16 in previous two games vs. Villanova and DePaul).
• Notre Dame shot better than 43 percent for the fourth time in five games, and the .442 mark vs. UConn represented just the fourth time all season an opponent had shot 40 percent or better vs. the Huskies.
• Senior All-America guard Megan Duffy scored in double figures for the ninth consecutive game, extending the longest such run of her career (previous: six from Nov. 17-Dec. 2, 2004).
• Duffy also notched her 11th game this season with 5+ assists (47th of her career).
• The UConn game marked just the second time all season (and fourth time in the past 57 games over two seasons) that Duffy has missed more than one free throw in a game (also this year on Jan. 28 vs. South Florida when she went 10-of-13 from the line).
• Duffy posted her 12th complete game of the season (includes two OT contests).
• Junior guard Breona Gray chalked up her sixth double-digit scoring game of the season and most points since a similar 12-point outing vs. Arkansas State on Dec. 17 in her hometown of Las Vegas.
• Sophomore guard Charel Allen posted her career-long fourth consecutive double-figure scoring game and fifth in the past six outings.
• Senior forward Courtney LaVere had her four-game double-digit scoring streak end with seven points vs. UConn.
• The crowd of 8,193 was Notre Dame’s second-largest of the season (11,418 vs. Tennessee on Dec. 31), as well as the 13th-largest crowd in school history.

Peaking When It Counts
When the regular season enters its stretch run in the month of February, Notre Dame historically seems to raise its level of play. Since joining the BIG EAST Conference in 1995-96, the Irish are 62-17 (.785) in February games, including a 36-3 (.923) mark at home. Two of those February home losses for the Irish in the past 11 seasons came against Villanova (48-45 on Feb. 26, 2002; 69-65 in overtime on Feb. 7, 2006), with the other coming at the hands of Connecticut on Sunday (79-64). In the 19-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-present), the Irish are 110-32 (.775) in the month of February, including a 58-9 (.866) home record. In that time, Notre Dame has not had a losing February, and only once did the Irish end the month at .500 (4-4 in 1988-89, McGraw’s second season in South Bend).

Duffy, LaVere Joins ND 1,000-Point Club
Senior co-captains Megan Duffy and Courtney LaVere became the 21st and 22nd members of Notre Dame’s 1,000-Point Club earlier this season. Duffy did so at St. John’s on Jan. 4, with LaVere following suit 10 days (and three games) later on Jan. 14 at Louisville.

Duffy currently has 1,189 career points, good for 17th on the Irish career scoring chart. LaVere is 19th all-time with 1,088 points.

The Duffy-LaVere 1,000-point tandem marks just the fifth time in school history have teammates reached the 1,000-point plateau in the same season, with Niele Ivey and Kelley Siemon the last to do so in 2000-01.

Duffy and LaVere also have recorded the shortest span between hitting the mark (three games). The previous school record was eight games, the term between Mary Beth Schueth and Carrie Bates scoring their 1,000th points in the 1984-85 season.

Give Her Five (Hundred)
With Notre Dame’s 55-45 victory over Michigan on Nov. 18, head coach Muffet McGraw became the 27th women’s basketball coach in NCAA Division I history to reach the 500-win mark. McGraw now has a career record of 513-206 (.713) in 24 years of coaching, including 19 seasons at Notre Dame (425-165, .720).

Here’s a closer look at how that milestone victory breaks down for McGraw:

• She is the 10th NCAA Division I women’s basketball coach to register her 500th victory before turning 50 (her birthday was Dec. 5).
• McGraw is the fourth active coach in the BIG EAST Conference to reach the career 500-win mark, joining Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer, Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma and Villanova’s Harry Perretta.
• She is the third BIG EAST coach in as many seasons to celebrate her 500th win. Auriemma hit the milestone late in the 2002-03 campaign, while Perretta joined the club with his landmark victory midway through last season.

Half And Half
During the past six seasons, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Irish are 108-10 (.915) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 36 of their last 40 such contests. Notre Dame has won 11 games this season when it led at the break (the Irish were tied at halftime of their win over No. 24/21 USC).

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense…
During the past 11 seasons, Notre Dame has discovered that a solid defensive effort can almost certainly guarantee a victory. In fact, since the beginning of the 1995-96 season (Notre Dame’s first in the BIG EAST Conference), the Irish have an amazing 158-9 (.946) record when they hold their opponents to less than 60 points in a game. Notre Dame is 8-0 in such games this season.

…But Sometimes You Have To Score If You Want To Win
Not resting solely on its defensive laurels, Notre Dame also seemingly has found the magic mark when it comes to outscoring its opponents. During the past decade (1995-96 to present), the Irish are 91-3 (.968) when they score at least 80 points in a game. The only blemishes on that record are a pair of overtime losses to Texas A&M (88-84) and Michigan State (87-83) in 1995 and a 106-81 loss to Connecticut in 1998.

Sweet Success
Notre Dame is one of nine schools in the country to have appeared in the NCAA Sweet 16 six times in the past nine seasons (1997-2005). The others are Connecticut and Tennessee (nine times), Duke (eight times), Louisiana Tech (seven times), and Georgia, LSU, North Carolina and Texas Tech (six times).

The Gold Standard
The Irish are one of six teams nationwide to have an active streak of 12 consecutive 20-win seasons. The others in this club are Tennessee (29), Texas Tech (16), Louisiana Tech (14), Old Dominion (14) and Connecticut (12).

Now That’s A Home Court Advantage
One of the hallmarks of Notre Dame’s success has been its stellar play at home. In fact, the Irish have been virtually untouchable at home in recent years, winning 134 of their last 150 games (.893) at the 11,418-seat Joyce Center, including winning streaks of 51 and 25 games in that span. Notre Dame also has a 79-12 (.868) record in BIG EAST Conference play at the Joyce Center, sporting a 31-game league winning streak at home before it ended with a 48-45 loss to Villanova in the ’02 home finale.

The Irish have been particularly strong when it comes to non-conference games at home, winning 57 of their last 61 non-BIG EAST contests (.934) at the Joyce Center, dating back to the 1994-95 season. The only three losses in that span all came at the hands of Big Ten Conference opponents – Wisconsin in 1996 (81-69), Purdue in 2003 (71-54) and Michigan State in 2004 (82-73 OT). The Purdue loss snapped a 33-game non-conference home winning streak which began after the UW setback.

Since its inaugural season in 1977-78, Notre Dame has played all of its games at the Joyce Center, posting a 284-77 (.787) record at the venerable facility. In three of the previous six seasons (1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2003-04), the Irish were a perfect 15-0 at home, setting a school record for home wins in a season.

Jammin’ The Joyce
Beginning with its national championship season of 2000-01, Notre Dame has ranked among the top 20 in the nation in attendance each of the past five years, including a No. 16 rating in 2004-05 (5,830 fans per game). Notre Dame has averaged 6,682 fans in its 12 home games this season, and is 11th in the latest unofficial national attendance rankings, released each Monday by the University of Wisconsin Sports Information Office.

What’s more, each of the top 20 women’s basketball crowds in Joyce Center history have occurred during the 19-year tenure of head coach Muffet McGraw (1987-present), with 19 of those 20 occurring in the past six seasons (2000-01 to present). Lastly, the Irish have attracted at least 5,000 fans to 77 of their last 79 home games, including 14 contests with at least 8,000 fans and the first three sellouts in the program’s history.

The most recent sellout in Notre Dame women’s basketball history took place on Dec 31, when 11,418 fans packed the Joyce Center for the Irish matchup with No. 1 Tennessee. The game sold out 19 days in advance, the fastest sellout in the 29-year history of the program.

Oh Captain, My Captain
Notre Dame’s two seniors – guard Megan Duffy and forward Courtney LaVere – are serving as team captains for the 2005-06 season. Duffy is in her second year as a captain (making her the 16th two-time captain in school history, and 12th in the Muffet McGraw era), while LaVere is a first-time captain. Both players received the captain’s honor following a vote of their teammates prior to the season.

They’ve Got The Know-How
Notre Dame is one of only two schools in the country that have two or more WNBA veterans on their coaching staffs. Associate head coach Coquese Washington played six seasons (1998-2003) in the league with three different clubs, and also served as the first-ever president of the WNBA Players Association. Meanwhile, assistant coach Angie Potthoff spent the 2000 season as a starter with the Minnesota Lynx after two years in the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL) with the two-time champion Columbus Quest.

Besides Notre Dame, Virginia Commonwealth is the other school with multiple WNBA veterans on its staff. VCU assistant coach Wendy Palmer-Daniel currently plays for the San Antonio Silver Stars, while the Rams’ head coach is a familiar name to Irish women’s basketball fans – Beth (Morgan) Cunningham, who played for the WNBA’s Washington Mystics in 2000 after an All-America career at Notre Dame from 1993-97.

Notre Dame On The Small Screen
Notre Dame will have nine of its regular-season games televised during the 2005-06 season. Highlighting this year’s television docket are six nationally-televised Irish women’s basketball contests, including three consecutive games on the ESPN family of networks (which has shown 27 Notre Dame games in the past six seasons).

This year’s TV slate continues a recent trend that has seen the Irish become a regular fixture on television. Beginning with the NCAA championship season of 2000-01 (and including games to date this year), Notre Dame has played in 68 televised games, including 43 that were broadcast nationally. Last year, the Irish had 17 games televised, with 10 being national broadcasts.

The Irish will play their final televised game of the regular season Saturday at Cincinnati, with the 2 p.m. (ET) contest slated to air as part of the BIG EAST-Regional Sports Network (RSN) package. Among the outlets that will televise the game live are WHME-TV (Channel 46 in South Bend), Comcast Chicago, Comcast Local and Madison Square Garden Network.

Riley Named One Of ESPN.com’s Top 25 Players Of The Past 25 Years
Former Notre Dame All-America center and 2001 consensus National Player of the Year Ruth Riley has been selected as one of the top 25 women’s college basketball players of the past 25 years, according to ESPN.com. The list of all-time greats was released Jan. 10 in conjunction with the silver anniversary celebration of the inaugural NCAA women’s basketball season in 1981-82.

A native of Macy, Ind., Riley was tapped as one of the legends of the sport in part because of her contributions in the NCAA Tournament, where she led Notre Dame to three NCAA Sweet 16 appearances and the 2001 national championship. In the ’01 NCAA title game vs. Purdue, Riley tallied 28 points (on 9-of-13 shooting), 13 rebounds and seven blocks, not to mention the two game-winning free throws with 5.8 seconds remaining which snapped a 66-66 tie. It was an effort that ESPN.com termed as “the third-best all-time championship game performance in NCAA history.” That outing capped a six-game NCAA tourney stretch in which the 6-foot-5 post averaged 23.2 points and 9.0 rebounds per game while shooting at a .632 clip (48-of-76).

Riley was a two-time first-team Associated Press All-America selection and two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America choice, earning Academic All-America Team Member of the Year honors in 2001. In addition, she was a three-time first team all-BIG EAST selection, earning the league’s Player of the Year award in 2001 and the conference Defensive Player of the Year hardware three consecutive years. The only player in school history to amass 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career (2,072 points/1,007 rebounds), Riley also is the Irish all-time leader in seven statistical categories, including blocked shots (370 – fifth in NCAA history) and field goal percentage (.632 – 11th in NCAA history).

Next Game: Cincinnati
Notre Dame returns to the site of one of the great moments in the program’s history on Saturday, when the Irish venture to Cincinnati for a 2 p.m. (ET) game with the Bearcats. The game, which will be broadcast live on a regional basis as the BIG EAST Game of the Week, marks Notre Dame’s first visit to the Queen City since March 28, 1997, when the Irish made their first-ever NCAA Final Four appearance, dropping an 80-66 decision to eventual national champion Tennessee at Riverfront Coliseum.

Like Notre Dame, Cincinnati (16-8, 6-7 BIG EAST) is battling for a potential NCAA Tournament berth and will be playing its final home game Saturday vs. the Irish. The Bearcats played at Georgetown Tuesday night before returning home to prepare for its first game against Notre Dame since 1982 (second all-time).