Jan. 31, 2006
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Freshman guard Lindsay Schrader (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett HS) scored a season-high 24 points and shared team-high honors with eight rebounds as Notre Dame snapped a two-game losing streak with a 67-55 victory over Syracuse on Tuesday evening at the Carrier Dome.
Senior forward Courtney LaVere (Ventura, Calif./Buena HS) tossed in 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and senior guard Megan Duffy (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne HS) chipped in with 12 points for the Irish, who picked up their second BIG EAST Conference road win of the year and improved to 13-7 overall (4-5 in the BIG EAST) and 7-4 away from South Bend.
Vaida Sipaviciute came off the bench to notch team highs of 19 points and seven rebounds for Syracuse. Tracy Harbut was the only other player to score in double figures for the Orange, finishing with 11 points, a game-high six assists and five rebounds.
Notre Dame used a sharp shooting second half (53.8 percent on 14-of-26 field goals) and better ball handling (one turnover) to overcome a five-point deficit in the opening moments of the final stanza. The Irish also forced 21 Syracuse turnovers, coming up with a season-high 14 steals, including a career-high-tying four thefts by sophomore guard Tulyah Gaines (North Las Vegas, Nev./Cheyenne HS).
The first half was a nip-and-tuck affair, with neither side leading by more than four points at any stage. There were a total of eight ties and five lead changes in the opening 20 minutes, with both teams struggling with their shooting touch and ball handling. Syracuse got the first two-possession lead of the night when Cintia Johnson put the hosts ahead 10-6 on a driving layup at the 13:10 mark. That lead lasted less than a minute, as jumpers by sophomore guard Charel Allen (Monessen, Pa./Monessen HS) and Gaines on consecutive trips down the floor erased the red ink for the Irish.
Notre Dame had a four-point lead of its own at 20-16 when Schrader canned a jumper with 5:41 to go before halftime. However, the Orange rallied with six points of their own, the last coming on Sipaviciute’s jumper in the lane at the three-minute mark. The Irish tied the game at 25-all, but Harbut made two free throws with 8.6 seconds left in the period to send SU to the locker room with a two-point advantage.
Syracuse (9-12, 2-8) seized its largest lead of the night in the opening minute of the second half, as baskets by Johnson and Harbut, sandwiched around a Schrader free throw, gave the Orange a 31-26 edge. LaVere answered with a pair of layups to trim the SU lead to a point at the 18:15 juncture, with the margin then bouncing between one and three points on both sides of the ledger for the next nine minutes. Sara Antolick’s layup pulled Syracuse even at 48-all with 9:30 to play and left the outcome very much in doubt.
The Irish then went to work on the defensive end, holding the Orange to just two field goals over the final nine and a half minutes of the contest. Notre Dame also put together an 8-0 run during a four-minute stretch, with LaVere draining a pair of jumpers to bookend the charge and put the visitors in front, 56-48 with 5:35 to go.
Sipaviciute gave the home fans one last hurrah, as her old-fashioned three-point play out of a Syracuse timeout drew the Orange back to within five points. That would be as close as SU would come, with Schrader posting half a dozen in the final 2:18 to seal the victory.
Notre Dame returns home for three of its next four games, beginning Saturday when the Irish play host to Providence at 1 p.m. (ET) inside the Joyce Center. Tickets remain available for that game (and all remaining Notre Dame women’s basketball games) and may be purchased through the Irish Athletics Ticket Office (574-631-7356) or on game days at the Gate 10 ticket windows in the Joyce Center.
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: Notre Dame improves to 19-2 all-time against Syracuse, including a 9-1 series record on the road, although Tuesday marked the first time the Irish have ever played in the Carrier Dome … Notre Dame also has won all 15 regular-season meetings with the Orange since joining the BIG EAST Conference in 1995-96 … Tuesday’s game also represented the third consecutive time in the series that an Irish guard set a new career high in scoring — Breona Gray had 17 on Jan. 5, 2005 in South Bend, Charel Allen had 17 on Jan. 19, 2005 in Syracuse, and Lindsay Schrader had 24 on Tuesday … Notre Dame is 37-3 (.925) all-time against New York schools, including an 18-3 (.857) record away from the Joyce Center … the Irish are 7-0 this season when holding opponents to less than 60 points and 157-9 (.946) in such games during the past 11 years … Tuesday was the second time this season Notre Dame has rallied from a halftime deficit to win, also doing so on Jan. 10 vs. Marquette (down 32-25 at half; won 67-65 in overtime) … the 10 Irish turnovers were one off their season low, set on Jan. 7 vs. Seton Hall … Notre Dame’s 14 steals were two more than their previous high of 12, set on two occasions (Nov. 18 vs. Michigan; Nov. 29 vs. Iona) … the Irish are 9-1 this season when they make more free throws than their opponents (15-9 on Tuesday) … Notre Dame had three double-figure scorers for the 14th time this season, going 11-3 in those games … the Irish tied a season high with 42 second-half points, matching the total they had on Dec. 18 vs. #22/21 Utah … Schrader is the third Notre Dame player to score at least 20 points in a game this season, joining Megan Duffy (six times) and Melissa D’Amico (once) … Schrader’s 24 points are the most by a Notre Dame freshman in a single game since Jan. 26, 2002, when Jacqueline Batteast had 26 points in a 64-57 victory over #16/17 Virginia Tech at the Joyce Center … LaVere’s 14 points were two shy of her season best, set on Nov. 27 against #24/21 USC; she now has 1,042 career points, jumping into 20th place on the Irish career scoring list past Mollie Peirick (1,034 from 1994-98).