Feb. 3, 2001
BOSTON (AP) – Notre Dame’s second week as the No. 1 team gave little indication it would relinquish that spot soon.
Ruth Riley escaped a swarming defense to score 24 points, and three teammates reached double figures as the unbeaten Fighting Irish beat Boston College 81-65 Saturday.
“Just about everybody double-teams me,” Riley said. “If I’m patient and look for the open person” the team will do well.
Notre Dame, which beat Providence 64-44 Wednesday, played its second straight strong defensive game. And it tied a 16-year-old school record with only nine turnovers.
The 6-foot-5 Riley added 13 rebounds for her second double-double in four days as Notre Dame (21-0, 10-0 Big East) set a school record with its 21st straight win and remained the only unbeaten team in Division I.
“We’ve got a great inside-outside game,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. “You have to come out and guard us and you have to guard our inside game.”
Niele Ivey scored 16 points and Alicia Ratay and Jeneka Joyce added 11 each as Notre Dame led by at least six points throughout the second half. Ivey and Joyce each hit three 3-pointers, but the Eagles knew their defensive focus had to be on Riley inside.
“If it’s one-on-one, she’ll score 50 points,” Boston College coach Cathy Inglese said. “You really have to do some things, when you double down. … When you do that, they have some really nice scorers on penetrations and from the perimeter.”
“That,” Inglese said, “is what makes them No. 1.”
Boston College (8-13, 2-8) suffered its eighth loss in nine games.
“I personally don’t think we were scared to play them. We typically play well against the better teams,” said Becky Gottstein, who had 16 points for BC. “Some of us said before the game we really had nothing to lose.”
Nicole Conway also scored 16 for the Eagles – and BC trailed by just 62-54 with 6:52 left – but they lacked Notre Dame’s firepower as the Fighting Irish got the next eight points, four each by Riley and Ratay.
“We’re a hard-to-guard team,” McGraw said. “We’ve still got some tough games on the road but we’re playing pretty well at home.”
The Fighting Irish have six regular-season games left, only one against a ranked team when they visit No. 14 Rutgers on Feb. 17.
Riley, the Big East leader in points, field-goal percentage and blocks, is their main weapon.
Notre Dame led 46-40 with 15 minutes left, but Riley got the next two baskets on turnarounds, and Notre Dame led by at least eight the rest of the way.
The Fighting Irish trailed only once at 6-4 and took their biggest lead, 79-60, on Riley’s last point, a free throw with 1:28 to go.
“We were trying to go inside as much as we could and take advantage of the mismatches we had in there,” McGraw said.
Notre Dame broke its record of 20 straight wins set last season and became only the seventh team in NCAA history with 20-win streaks in consecutive seasons.
Trailing 39-30 at halftime after being outscored 10-4 in the last six minutes, the Eagles started strong in the second half. Conway’s basket from the left corner cut the lead to 46-40 with 15:02 left.
Boston College had stayed close for most of the first half, using a collapsing defense to control Riley as it trailed by only 29-26 with six minutes left.
But a turnaround by Riley with 5:20 remaining began a 10-2 run that made the score 39-28 with 31 seconds to go.
Boston College suffered its fourth straight loss. It has lost to the Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 teams this season.