Jan. 29, 1997
Milestones For Morgan and McGraw As Notre Dame Edges Miami
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Notre Dame senior Katryna Gaither made twofree throws with six seconds remaining as the No. 19 Notre Dame women’sbasketball team defeated Miami 72-71 on a night of milestones for theIrish.
Notre Dame senior Beth Morgan scored a game-high 21 points, on 8-of-11shooting from the floor, to pass the 2,000-point plateau in hercareer. The Bloomington, Ind. native is the all-time leading scorer inschool history with 2,016 points.
Morgan wasn’t the only one celebrating a milestone as Irish coach MuffetMcGraw posted her 200th career victory at Notre Dame. McGraw, who is inher 10th season at the helm of the Irish, has compiled a 200-69 (.743)mark at Notre Dame and 288-133 (.684) in her 14 seasons as a head coach.
But McGraw’s 200th win at Notre Dame was in jeopardy until the finalbuzzer.
Notre Dame led the entire first half and went up 32-20 on a layup byGaither with 5:31 left in the second half. Gaither scored 16 points andadded six rebounds for the Irish. The Hurricanes chipped away at thelead, trailing by five points at the half.
Miami kept the Irish within six points the first ten minutes of thesecond half before utilizing a 5-0 run to take its first lead, 59-58, with7:11 left.
The lead changed hands six times in the final 7:11 of the game andOctavia Blue made a driving layup with 16 seconds remaining to giveMiami a 71-70 advantage.
That set the stage for Gaither’s heroics. The 6-3 center, who is a 71percent free throw shooter on the season and had missed her only previousattempt in the game, sank both free throws to give the Irish a one-pointvictory.
Notre Dame plays at St. John’s on Saturday before returning home to hostSyracuse on Feb. 6.
NOTRE DAME (72) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tpBohman 35 8-11 0-0 3-9 5 3 16Morgan 36 7-12 4-6 1-3 1 1 21Gaither 28 7-14 2-3 3-6 4 4 16Augustin 25 0-1 0-0 1-4 5 3 0Peirick 32 4-5 1-2 0-2 8 2 10Mcmillen 27 3-7 0-0 0-4 2 1 9Henderson 14 0-2 0-0 2-3 0 1 0Hutchinson 3 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0_______________________________________________TOTALS 200 29-52 7-11 10-33 25 15 72_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.558, FT-.636. 3-Point Goals:7-14, .500 (Morgan 3-5, Peirick 1-2, Mcmillen3-7). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 2(Gaither, Henderson). Turnovers: 23 (Bohman 5,Augustin 4, Morgan 4, Mcmillen 3, Peirick 3,Hutchinson 2, Gaither, Henderson). Steals: 10(Gaither 3, Mcmillen 2, Peirick 2, Augustin,Bohman, Morgan).MIAMI FLA (71) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tpBlue 20 5-8 2-3 1-2 0 2 12Thomas 39 6-15 4-6 1-3 5 3 20Hope 37 7-10 1-2 2-4 1 3 15Barnhart 20 0-3 2-2 0-1 3 1 2Graziani 40 2-4 0-1 1-2 11 2 5Collinson 15 1-2 0-0 1-2 0 0 2Murray 21 4-11 0-2 2-4 1 1 10Drury 8 2-4 0-0 1-2 1 1 5_______________________________________________TOTALS 200 27-57 9-16 9-20 22 13 71_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.474, FT-.563. 3-Point Goals:8-19, .421 (Thomas 4-10, Graziani 1-3, Murray2-3, Drury 1-3). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots:4 (Murray 2, Hope, Collinson). Turnovers: 15(Barnhart 4, Graziani 4, Thomas 4, Collinson,Drury). Steals: 11 (Thomas 5, Hope 3, Barnhart,Blue, Graziani).__________________________________Notre Dame 35 37 - 72Miami Fla 30 41 - 71__________________________________Technical fouls: None. A: 658. Officials: RicFoxen, Mark Zentz, Bill Pickett.