Jan. 10, 2009
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Erica Williamson scored a career-high 21 points and No. 12/4 Notre Dame held Georgetown to 32 percent shooting to beat the Hoyas 84-63 on Saturday night.
Notre Dame (14-1, 3-0 BIG EAST), which has won seven straight games, led by double digits for much of the first half. The Hoyas (11-4, 1-1) used a 15-9 run to close to 32-25 at halftime and cut the lead to 32-27 when Adria Crawford made a pair of free throws a minute into the second period.
Moments later, though, the Irish went on a 10-0 run to take a 48-31 lead when Kellie Watson made a 3-pointer. The Hoyas never got closer than 12 again.
Williamson, who also had a season-high 10 rebounds, finished with a career-high for points for a second straight game. She had 20 against DePaul on Tuesday.
Monica McNutt scored 16 and Morgan Williams added 14 for the Hoyas.
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: Notre Dame is off to the second-best 15-game start in school history, exceeded only by a 15-0 debut in 2000-01 … the Irish also open BIG EAST Conference play at 3-0 for the sixth time in their 14-year conference membership, but the first time since 2001-02 … Notre Dame rises to 10-4 (.714) in BIG EAST home openers, including wins in eight of their last 10 tries … Notre Dame extends its home winning streak to 11 games, with its last loss at the Joyce Center coming on Jan. 27, 2008 (81-64 vs. Connecticut) … the Irish match their longest winning streak of the season, having also won seven in a row to open the year … Notre Dame’s 52 second-half points were one off its season-high total in a single half (53 in the 2nd half at Boston College on Nov. 23) … the 22 assists for the Irish were one off their season high, achieved twice before (last at Boston College) … Notre Dame improves to 23-2 all-time against Georgetown (12-0 at the Joyce Center), with the 23 series wins being the second-most against one opponent in school history (Marquette – 28) … since they joined the BIG EAST in 1995-96, the Irish are 19-1 against Georgetown and have held the Hoyas to less than 70 points in 18 of those 20 contests (18-0 record) … Notre Dame matched its season high with 23 turnovers (Dec. 10 in overtime loss at Michigan) … the Irish have held 14 of 15 opponents to 63 points or fewer this season (78-72 win over #24 Michigan State on Nov. 29 at the Joyce Center) … Notre Dame is 12-1 when leading at halftime this season, and 8-0 when fielding at least four double-figure scorers … junior center Erica Williamson re-set her career scoring high with 21 points and added a season-best 10 rebounds and three blocks on the way to her third career double-double (first since Feb. 16, 2008, at Syracuse, when she had 14 points and 11 rebounds) … Williamson is the first Irish player to log 20 points and 10 rebounds in a game since March 23, 2008, when Ashley Barlow chalked up 20 points and 12 rebounds in a 75-62 win over SMU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in West Lafayette, Ind. … for the third time this season and fourth time in her career, Barlow dished out a career-high-tying six assists, most recently hitting the mark on Nov. 29 vs. Michigan State.