#13 Irish Back In BIG EAST Play Wednesday At Marquette

Jan. 4, 2011

Full Notes Package in PDF Format

2010-11 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 16
#13/14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12-3 / 1-0 BIG EAST) vs. Marquette Golden Eagles (12-2 / 0-1 BIG EAST)

DATE: January 5, 2011
TIME: 7:00 p.m. CT/8:00 p.m. ET
AT: Milwaukee, Wis. – Al McGuire Center (4,000)
SERIES: ND leads 29-6
1ST MTG: MU 66-41 (2/3/78)
LAST MTG: ND 82-67 (2/23/10)
WEBCAST: gomarquette.com (live)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) / UND.com (live) (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
LIVE STATS: UND.com
TWITTER: @ndwbbsid/@UND_com
TEXT ALERT: Sign up at UND.com

Storylines

• The Notre Dame-Marquette series dates back to the first season of Fighting Irish women’s basketball (1977-78), with this marking the 36th meeting between the schools.
• Notre Dame is aiming to break a two-game losing streak at the Al McGuire Center, having not won at Marquette since 2004.

No. 13 Notre Dame Returns To BIG EAST Play Wednesday At Marquette
Fresh off a record-setting defensive performance in its final non-conference game of the season, No. 13 Notre Dame jumps back into BIG EAST play Wednesday night when it travels to Milwaukee for a 7 p.m. CT (8 p.m. ET) contest against Marquette at the Al McGuire Center.

The Fighting Irish (12-3, 1-0 BIG EAST) earned their seventh consecutive win on Sunday with a 97-21 victory over Southeast Missouri State at Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame opened the game on a 36-0 run en route to a 46-6 halftime lead and held the Redhawks to a .125 field goal percentage for the contest, including a 58-0 scoring edge in the paint.

Sophomore guard Skylar Diggins paced four players in double figures with a game-high 18 points and seven assists, while senior forward Devereaux Peters chalked up her second double-double (11 pts/13 rebs) in three games.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is No. 13 in latest Associated Press poll and was tied for No. 14 in last week’s ESPN/USA Today poll.
• Marquette earned votes in last week’s ESPN/USA Today poll (new poll released Tuesday).

Quick Hitters

• With its No. 13 ranking in the Jan. 3 Associated Press poll, Notre Dame now has appeared in the AP poll for a school-record 67 consecutive weeks, extending the program standard that began with the 2007-08 preseason poll.
• The Fighting Irish have posted a school-record eight wins this season by at least 35 points, topping the old program standard of four 35-point victories set in 2008-09.
• Notre Dame has scored at least 90 points in eight games this season, surpassing the school record of seven set in three separate seasons (1996-97, 1998-99 and 2007-08).
• Notre Dame has won nine games by 30 points or more, putting the Fighting Irish one away from the school record of 10 30-point victories established in 2000-01.
• The Fighting Irish rank among the top 10 in the country in eight statistical categories, according to the Jan. 3 NCAA statistics report. Notre Dame leads the nation in steals (15.8 spg.), assists (20.3 apg.) and field goal percentage (.506), while placing third in three-point defense (.222), fourth in scoring margin (+32.6 ppg.), seventh in both scoring offense (85.3 ppg.) and rebound margin (+11.1 rpg.) and ninth in turnover margin (+8.2). The Fighting Irish are the only school that currently leads the nation in three categories, ironic for a team that has no player ranking higher than 75th in any individual category.
• Notre Dame became the 32nd NCAA Division I program to record 700 wins, earning the landmark victory (91-47) against Loyola Marymount on Dec. 30 at the State Farm Holiday Hoops Classic in Seattle. The Fighting Irish are 701-305 (.697) in 34 seasons of varsity competition.
• Notre Dame celebrated another program milestone on Dec. 5 with its 1,000th all-time game (a 72-51 win over Purdue at Purcell Pavilion).
• Part of Notre Dame’s success thus far can be traced to the improvement in two of its veterans, both of whom have exceeded her scoring output from last season by at least 50 percent. Junior guard Natalie Novosel (5.0 to 15.1) and senior forward Devereaux Peters (6.7 to 9.8) also are currently logging career-high scoring averages this year.
• The Fighting Irish freshman class also has made significant contributions early on this season, led by guard Kayla McBride and forward Natalie Achonwa. McBride (who started four games around Thanksgiving when senior guard Brittany Mallory was slowed with an ankle injury) is averaging 9.3 points per game and is eighth in the BIG EAST with a .547 field goal percentage. Meanwhile, Achonwa is averaging 8.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, and leads the BIG EAST with a .612 field goal percentage. Between them, they have scored in double figures 12 times this season — McBride tossed in a career-best 20 points vs. Loyola Marymount on Dec. 30, while Achonwa had a career-high 14 points against Creighton on Dec. 11.

Other Notre Dame Notables

• Notre Dame is among the nation’s winningest programs during the past 15 seasons (1996-97 to present), ranking sixth with 355 victories.
• Notre Dame has ranked among the top 20 in the nation in attendance each of the past 10 seasons. Last year, the program finished fourth in the final NCAA attendance rankings with 8,377 fans per game, both setting new school records in the process. The Fighting Irish also have drawn 5,000-or-more fans to 150 of their last 152 home games, logging 13 Purcell Pavilion sellouts (most recently on Dec. 5 vs. Purdue).
• The Fighting Irish have become a regular fixture in the WNBA Draft in recent years, as seven Notre Dame players have been selected in the past decade. Charel Allen was the most recent Fighting Irish player to be chosen, going to the Sacramento Monarchs in the third round (43rd overall pick) of the 2008 WNBA Draft. Ruth Riley (San Antonio) was active in the league during the ’10 season, helping the Silver Stars return to the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. Three of Notre Dame’s eight WNBA alums have won a total of four league championships — Riley won a pair of crowns with the Detroit Shock (2003 Finals MVP, 2006), Coquese Washington toiled for the 2000 Houston Comets, while Jacqueline Batteast was Riley’s teammate on the ’06 title-winning squad in Detroit.
• For the fifth year in a row, the Fighting Irish posted a perfect 100-percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), according to figures released by the NCAA in October. What’s more, since Muffet McGraw became head coach in 1987, every Notre Dame women’s basketball player who has completed her athletic and academic eligibility at the University has earned her bachelor’s degree (a 62-for-62 success rate), with all three members of this year’s senior class on target to earn their diplomas.

A Quick Look At Marquette
Marquette has a veteran core group returning this season, with six seniors among the seven returning letterwinners (and three starters) from last year’s Golden Eagles’ squad that went 17-16 and advanced to the second round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

That experience level has paid off this season for Marquette (12-2, 0-1 BIG EAST), which is receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll and comes into Wednesday’s contest on a five-game winning streak. The Golden Eagles most recently won the FIU Sun & Fun Classic in Miami on Dec. 29-30 with victories over Florida International (73-67) and Louisiana Tech (83-75), shooting a blistering .653 from the field and posting five double-figure scorers in the latter contest.

Senior all-BIG EAST guard Angel Robinson leads Marquette in scoring (13.4 ppg.), assists (4.9 apg.) and steals (3.1 spg.), leading the conference in the latter category. Senior forward Paige Fiedorowicz is second in scoring (11.0 ppg.) and tops in field goal percentage (.543), while sophomore forward Sarina Simmons is third in scoring (9.5 ppg.) and adds a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game.

Head coach Terri Mitchell is in the midst of her 15th season at Marquette, with a 284-164 (.634) record at the school. She is 2-9 all-time against Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-Marquette Series
Notre Dame’s series with Marquette is the longest-running rivalry in school history, with the teams preparing to meet for the 36th time on Wednesday night. The Fighting Irish lead the all-time series, 29-6 (not counting two MU wins recorded before Notre Dame elevated to varsity status in 1977-78), with a 10-5 record in Milwaukee.

The Fighting Irish seized control of the series with 26 wins in 27 tries from 1982-2006, but the recent series history (since Marquette joined the BIG EAST) has been much closer, with the teams splitting the past four contests, both winning twice on their home court.

The Last Time Notre Dame And Marquette Met
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw sat down at her post-game news conference and let out a sigh of relief.

“Welcome back Lindsay Schrader,” she said.

The Fighting Irish (24-3, 11-3 BIG EAST), who had lost two straight road games against ranked opponents with Schrader sitting out with a sprained left ankle, beat visiting Marquette 82-67 on Feb. 23, 2010, as Schrader had 17 points and six rebounds in 20 minutes of play and Melissa Lechlitner had a career-high 23 points. McGraw said Schrader was only allowed to play 20 minutes by the team trainers.

“We squeezed every second we could get out of her,” McGraw said. “She had a fantastic game.”

McGraw was concerned when Marquette hit 3 of 4 shots to open the game and the Fighting Irish defense looked like it did in the losses at St. John’s and Georgetown last week.

“I thought, `Well, gosh, we look like we’ve looked the last couple of games where our feet were in mud defensively,'” she said.

Lechlitner, though, helped Notre Dame get going. After turning the ball over on their initial possession and then missing their first three shots, the Fighting Irish made eight straight during an 18-2 run that gave it an 18-6 lead.

Lechlitner made back-to-back baskets during the run, hitting a three, then a jumper to give the Fighting Irish a 12-6 lead. She later drove inside for another score during the run. The Golden Eagles narrowed the lead to 24-19 when Courtney Weibel made a three-pointer. But a three-point play by Lechlitner and another three-pointer by her helped spark a 15-3 spurt, giving the Fighting Irish a 41-24 lead at halftime.

An 11-2 run by the Golden Eagles early in the second half cut the lead to 48-37, but the Fighting Irish quickly answered with a 10-2 spurt that included another three-pointer by Lechlitner.

“She shot the ball extremely well,” McGraw said. “She just did some really good things to get us going.”

Marquette coach Terri Mitchell said the Golden Eagles lost track of Lechlitner at times.

“She made us pay for it,” she said.

Lechlitner was 8 of 13 shooting, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. She credited Skylar Diggins, who had a career-high nine assists, with getting her open looks.

She said she wasn’t surprised the Fighting Irish struggled without Schrader even though they are a veteran team.

“Lindsay’s been our go-to player all year,” McGraw said. “I was disappointed, honestly that other people haven’t stepped up in her absence.”

Ashley Barlow added 11 for the Fighting Irish. Weibel and Jessica Pachko had 15 points each for Marquette and Angel Robinson had 11.

McGraw wasn’t totally happy with her team’s play, especially about being outrebounded again and with Notre Dame’s defense.

“We were up 20 and they got back in the game,” she said. “We just needed to settle down a little bit. I think it was a good win for us.”

The Last Time Notre Dame And Marquette Met In Milwaukee
Marquette coach Terri Mitchell has been waiting for a signature win over a top team for her program. She finally got one on Jan. 13, 2009, when Marquette upset No. 10/4 Notre Dame 75-65 in Milwaukee.

The victory was the first over a Top 10 opponent in school history.

Angel Robinson scored 19 and Krystal Ellis added 18 to help Marquette snap the Fighting Irish’s seven-game winning streak.

The game was tied at 52 with 10:18 remaining. Marquette closed the game on a 23-13 run. Ellis sparked the surge with two three-pointers and Robinson added seven points for the Golden Eagles (11-5, 2-1 BIG EAST).

Melissa Lechlitner and Ashley Barlow led the Fighting Irish (14-2, 3-1) with 15 points each.

Other Notre Dame-Marquette Series Tidbits

• From 1982-2006, Notre Dame won 26 of 27 games in the series after Marquette won three of the first four meetings (twice in Milwaukee, once in South Bend). However, the teams have split the past four series matchups, with each side successfully defending its home court twice.
• Six of the past eight games in the series have been particularly close (10 points or fewer), with a winning margin of just 6.5 points per game. Yet, only once in the 35-game series has a contest gone to overtime — a 67-65 Notre Dame victory in 2006 (won on a Megan Duffy layup at the horn).
• The 29 victories and 35 series games both are school records. Valparaiso is second on the series wins list (24), while Notre Dame has played DePaul 33 times for second on that list.
• With Marquette’s arrival in the BIG EAST for the 2005-06 season, the Fighting Irish and Golden Eagles have been members of the same conference three times. Previously, the teams shared affiliations for two-year periods in the North Star (1986-88) and Midwestern Collegiate (1989-91) conferences. The NSC now is defunct, while the MCC was renamed the Horizon League. Notre Dame is 11-2 against Marquette in conference play, going 4-0 in both the NSC and MCC, and 3-2 in the BIG EAST.
• Marquette has topped the 70-point mark five times against Notre Dame. Conversely, the Fighting Irish have scored at least 70 points against the Golden Eagles 23 times, all in the past 29 meetings.
• Five of Marquette’s six series wins have come in Milwaukee, including the past two times the Golden Eagles have played host to Notre Dame. MU is 2-1 against the Fighting Irish all-time at the Al McGuire Center, which opened in October 2003, with the last Notre Dame victory at Marquette pre-dating the Golden Eagles’ admission to the BIG EAST Conference (50-47 on Dec. 19, 2004, courtesy of Jacqueline Batteast’s three-pointer at the horn).
• The MU record books include two additional Golden Eagle victories over the Fighting Irish, both of which came in 1976 (52-47 on Feb. 4 in Milwaukee; 45-41 on Feb. 28 in South Bend), and both of which were played prior to Notre Dame’s program elevating to varsity status (as an AIAW Division III entity) in 1977-78.
• Notre Dame freshman forward Natalie Achonwa and Marquette freshman guard/forward Katherine Plouffe are two of the top young talents in the Canadian national team program (and both have been chosen as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week this season – Achonwa on Dec. 13, Plouffe on Monday). Achonwa currently plays for Canada’s Senior National Team (most recently in the 2010 FIBA World Championships when her country placed 12th), while Plouffe presently is a member of the Canada Junior National Team. What’s more, Achonwa and Plouffe’s twin sister, Michelle (a freshman at Utah), were teammates on the 2009 Canada Junior National Team that finished fourth at the FIBA U19 World Championships for Women in Thailand — a tournament won by the United States, which was led by current Notre Dame associate coach Carol Owens and current Fighting Irish sophomore guard Skylar Diggins.
• For the past two years, Marquette freshman forward Courtney Thomas was a teammate of 2011-12 incoming Notre Dame point guard Whitney Holloway at Montini Catholic High School in suburban Chicago. Last year, Holloway and Thomas helped MCHS win its first state championship.
• Marquette freshman guard Gabi Minix hails from Grovertown, Ind., only 30 miles south of the Notre Dame campus. Minix enjoyed a successful prep career at tiny Oregon-Davis High School, playing for her father Terry and alongside her sisters Aubrey and Kelsey, and helping the Bobcats to the 2007 Class A title (the same year Notre Dame sophomore guard Skylar Diggins led South Bend Washington High School to the Class 4A state championship).

The Five-Finger Discount
Notre Dame comes into Wednesday’s game leading the nation in steals with 15.8 thefts per game. The Fighting Irish also have recorded double-digit steals in 12 of 15 games this season, including four contests with 20-plus steals.

Highlighting this year’s takeaway brigade for Notre Dame was a school-record 36-steal performance in the season-opening victory against New Hampshire on Nov. 12 at Purcell Pavilion. The Fighting Irish followed that up three days later with 26 thefts in a win over Morehead State, and also logged 24 steals at Valparaiso (Dec. 2) and 23 steals against IUPUI (Nov. 26).

Prior to this season, Notre Dame had posted 23 steals in a game just seven times in the first 33 years of the Fighting Irish women’s basketball program (and only three games with 25-plus steals in that time, none since a then-record tying 29 steals at Saint Louis on Jan. 31, 1991).

Individually, Notre Dame has 10 different players with double-digit steals this season, led by junior guard Natalie Novosel, who has registered 32 thefts (2.1 per game, 13th in the BIG EAST), and senior guard Brittany Mallory, who has collected a team-high 2.4 steals per game (sixth in the BIG EAST).

Helping Hands
Notre Dame also enters Wednesday’s game as the nation’s leader in assists (20.3 apg.), having dished out at least 20 assists in 10 games this season.

Further illustrating the Fighting Irish giving spirit, Notre Dame has assisted on 62.6 percent of its baskets this season, with 305 assists on 487 field goals.

At the head of the Fighting Irish assist company is sophomore Skylar Diggins, who has adapted well to her role as Notre Dame’s primary point guard, tying for seventh in the BIG EAST Conference at 4.5 assists per game (while flirting with the top 15 in the league with a 1.36 assist/turnover ratio). She also has handed out at least five assists in nine games this season, after tallying seven five-assist games during her entire freshman campaign.

Sharp Shooters
They say good things happen in threes, and Notre Dame also leads the nation with a .506 field goal percentage, shooting 50 percent or better from the floor in 11 games this season, and at least 45 percent in 13 outings.

The Fighting Irish have been particularly efficient during their current seven-game winning streak, posting a .543 field goal percentage (236-of-435), including a season-high .633 mark against Creighton on Dec. 11 at Purcell Pavilion.

Notre Dame also has seen a recent rise in its three-point shooting numbers. During the past six games, the Fighting Irish are connecting at a 44.4 percent clip (24-of-54) from beyond the arc. Compare that with the first nine contests of the season, when Notre Dame had a .269 (29-of-108) three-point percentage.

National Leaders
Notre Dame is the only Division I school that currently leads the nation in three statistical categories (steals, assists and field goal percentage), according to Monday’s latest NCAA statistics report — see previous three notes for details on those specific areas.

The Fighting Irish also rank among the top 10 in the nation in eight categories — third in three-point defense (.222), fourth in scoring margin (+32.6 ppg.), seventh in scoring offense (85.3 ppg.) and rebound margin (+11.1 rpg.) and ninth in turnover margin (+8.2).

In addition, Notre Dame ranks in the top 20 in the NCAA in 11 of a possible 17 categories (not counting won-loss percentage), adding in assist/turnover ratio (12th, 1.16), field goal percentage defense (15th, .338) and scoring defense (18th, 52.7 ppg.).

Yet for all of these high statistical marks, only one Fighting Irish player ranks higher than No. 100 in any single category — sophomore guard Skylar Diggins is 75th in the nation in assists (4.5 apg.).

High Octane Offense
Behind one of the nation’s top 10 scoring offenses (85.3 ppg., seventh as of Monday), Notre Dame is moving into uncharted territory in the school’s record books.

The Fighting Irish have scored 90 points in a game in more than half (8) of their 15 contests this season, setting a new school record for 90-point games in a season (the previous mark was seven, set on three occasions – 1996-97, 1998-99 and 2007-08).

Notre Dame also has set a new school record with eight wins by at least 35 points, doubling the previous program standard of four 35-point victories set in 2008-09.

What’s more, the Fighting Irish have won nine games by at least 30 points, just one shy of the school record of 10 30-point victories, which was set during the program’s 2000-01 national championship season.

Last year, Notre Dame averaged 77.2 points per game, the fifth-highest single-season scoring average in school history, and best since the Fighting Irish logged a school-record 81.0 ppg. mark in 1998-99.

Everyone Gets Into The Act
The Fighting Irish have spread the wealth so far this season, with five different players leading the team in scoring in at least one game thus far, with four different 20-point scorers along the way. That includes freshman guard Kayla McBride, who came off the bench to score a career-high 20 points in the Dec. 30 win over Loyola Marymount, the highest point total by a Fighting Irish reserve since Dec. 12, 2009, when current senior guard/co-captain Brittany Mallory dropped in a career-high 22 points in a win over Valparaiso at Purcell Pavilion.

Notre Dame also has seen no fewer than seven different players claim team-high rebounding and assist honors this season.

Peters Named To BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll
For the third time this season, a Notre Dame women’s basketball player has earned a spot on the BIG EAST Conference Honor Roll, as senior forward Devereaux Peters was tapped for this week’s squad, the league office announced Monday. Peters was one of five players chosen for this week’s honor (the first of her career), which recognizes outstanding weekly achievements by conference players who are not chosen as the BIG EAST Player of the Week.

In three games last week, Peters averaged 12.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game with a .581 field goal percentage (18-of-31) and two double-doubles in just 54 total minutes of action (18.0 per game) as Notre Dame recorded victories over Gonzaga (70-61) and Loyola Marymount (91-47) at the State Farm Holiday Hoops Classic in Seattle, Wash., before returning home to defeat Southeast Missouri State (97-21) on Sunday.

Peters also was named the Most Valuable Player of the State Farm Holiday Hoops Classic, the first MVP selection of her career and her second all-tournament team honor of the season, after she was recognized for her efforts at the WBCA Classic back in November.

Against Gonzaga, Peters posted her first double-double of the season (second of her career) with 10 points and 10 rebounds in just 22 minutes of action. She then chalked up 16 points (on 8-of-9 shooting), a game-high six rebounds and a game-best five steals (also a season high) in only 18 minutes against Loyola Marymount. She capped the week with her second double-double in three games (third of her career), ringing up 11 points and a season-high (and game-best) 13 rebounds in just 14 minutes against Southeast Missouri State.

A member of the 2008 BIG EAST All-Freshman Team, Peters currently ranks third on the team in scoring at 9.8 points per game, while leading the squad in rebounding (6.1 rpg.) and blocked shots (1.4 bpg.), and placing second in field goal percentage (.548), free throw percentage (.840) and steals (tied-2.1 spg.). She also ranks among the BIG EAST leaders in field goal percentage (seventh), blocked shots (11th) and steals (15th).

Peters is the latest Notre Dame award recipinent in a group that now features at least one BIG EAST weekly honoree this season from each class. Junior guard Natalie Novosel and sophomore guard Skylar Diggins also have been selected for the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll this season — Novosel was chosen on Nov. 29 and Diggins was cited a week later on Dec. 6. In addition, freshman forward Natalie Achonwa was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Dec. 13.

Novosel Is Just Plain Nasty
Nicknamed “Nasty” for her playmaking abilities, junior guard Natalie Novosel is rapidly making a strong case as one of the most improved players in the BIG EAST Conference, if not the entire country.

The Lexington, Ky., native currently leads the Fighting Irish (and ranks 10th in the league) in scoring at 15.1 points per game, more than tripling her offensive output from a season ago. She also has scored at least 20 points in a game four times this year (after coming into the campaign with a career single-game high of 19 points) and has scored in double figures 12 times after doing so a combined total of 14 times in her first two seasons at Notre Dame.

In addition, Novosel is 13th in the BIG EAST in field goal percentage (.533) and ranks second on the team with a career-high .359 three-point percentage. She has added some hardware to her personal trophy case as well, taking home Most Valuable Player honors at the WBCA Classic, and earning a spot on the State Farm Holiday Hoops Classic All-Tournament Team.

Thus, it’s no surprise that ESPN.com’s Graham Hays tweeted the following comment after Novosel’s career-high 27 points (8-11 FG, 2-2 3FG, 9-9 FT) vs. Gonzaga in a 70-61 Fighting Irish win on Dec. 29 in Seattle:

“Is Natalie Novosel the most improved player in the nation? Gotta be on the short list.”

Game #15 Recap: SE Missouri State
Notre Dame raced out to a huge lead by putting on a defensive clinic.

The 16th-ranked Fighting Irish scored the first 36 points of the game and easily beat Southeast Missouri State 97-21 on Sunday at Purcell Pavilion. They set numerous school records, including allowing the fewest points in a game, eclipsing the mark of 25 points they gave up to Grace College in 1978.

Even as the early point spread grew, the Fighting Irish dug in defensively.

“You don’t want to be the first one scored on,” said Notre Dame guard Skylar Diggins, who led the team with 18 points. “Then after they scored we wanted to improve our execution.”

Southeast Missouri State (5-9) missed its first 18 shots and got its first basket, a three-pointer by Katie Norman with 5:20 to go in the first half.

“Everybody knows that the BIG EAST is not a joke and that every team is a good one,” Diggins said. “You can never take anyone lightly. So when you get up on a team like we did today, you have to focus on what is coming next and you can’t let up.”

Senior forward Devereaux Peters had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Her improvement over the last few games has really helped the Fighting Irish, who outscored Southeast Missouri State 58-0 in the paint.

“Dev has just come alive in the paint,” Diggins said. “She has such great hands that we are not afraid to throw anything to her.”

Freshman guard Kayla McBride added 17 points and senior forward Becca Bruszewski had 12.

“We are shooting the ball really well now,” Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said. “Our field goal percentage is really good and I think that shows that speaks to the growing maturity of the team. We work really hard on defense and our transition game is good. We are definitely on a steady upswing.”

Noting The SE Missouri State Game

• Notre Dame set six school records in the victory — fewest points allowed in a game (21), fewest points allowed in a half (6 – first half), lowest opponent field goal percentage (.125), largest rebound margin (+42, 66-24), most consecutive points scored at any time (36) and most consecutive points scored at the start of the game (36).
• Notre Dame also posted the second-largest margin of victory in school history (76 points), topped only by a 78-point margin in a 113-35 win over Liberty on Nov. 24, 1989, at the UCF Rotary Classic in Orlando.
• The Fighting Irish pulled down 66 rebounds, the fifth-highest total in school history and most since Nov. 21, 1998, when they had 67 boards against Duke in an 84-57 home win.
• Southeast Missouri State was the seventh different first-time opponent for Notre Dame this season; the Fighting Irish are 5-2 against new foes this season, as well as 26-3 (.897) since the start of the 2000-01 season and 46-7 (.868) since joining the BIG EAST in 1995-96.
• Notre Dame also now has won 23 consecutive home games against first-time opponents, dating back to Jan. 18, 1996.
• The Fighting Irish are 10-1 all-time against schools from the state of Missouri and 3-0 all-time against current members of the Ohio Valley Conference.
• Notre Dame is 14-2 (.875) in its first game of a new calendar year, having now won five in a row and seven of their last eight January openers.
• Peters recorded her third career double-double and second this season (both in the past three games).
• Junior guard Fraderica Miller pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds.

Tournament Tested
Notre Dame has felt right at home in tournament situations during the past 15 years. Starting with the 1996-97 season, the Fighting Irish have won 26 of their last 29 regular-season tournament games (multi-game events only), including three-game runs to the title at last year’s Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and this year’s WBCA Classic at Purcell Pavilion, as well as a two-game sweep at this past week’s State Farm Holiday Hoops Classic in Seattle (which did not officially crown a champion because of its pre-determined matchups).

The only Notre Dame losses during this current stretch were a pair of defeats to third-ranked teams in the Preseason WNIT semifinals (72-59 vs. Tennessee at Ruston, La., in 1996; 75-59 at Maryland in 2007) and a 67-63 overtime setback at No. 20 Colorado on Nov. 15, 2003 in the finals of the WBCA Classic — a game that saw the Buffaloes sink a desperation 30-footer at the end of regulation to force the extra session.

Notre Dame played two regular-season tournaments this year, the first time the Fighting Irish have competed in multiple tourneys in the same season since 1996-97 (third place at Preseason WNIT; champion of Georgia Tech Comfort Inn Downtown Classic).

Only twice in school history has Notre Dame won two regular-season tournament titles in the same year, and both occurred during the program’s Division III era. In 1978-79, the Fighting Irish won the Huntington (Ind.) University Tournament and the Northern Illinois Huskie Invitational. The following season, Notre Dame claimed top honors at the Taylor (Ind.) University Invitational and repeated as the champion of the Northern Illinois Huskie Invitational.

Polling Station
Notre Dame is ranked 13th in the Jan. 3 Associated Press poll. That marked the 67th consecutive AP poll appearance for the Fighting Irish, extending the program record that started with the AP preseason poll in 2007-08 (the old record was 59 consecutive weeks from 1998-2001).

This year’s No. 12 preseason ranking (currently a season high) also represented the 11th time in the past 12 years (starting with the 1999-2000 campaign) that Notre Dame has appeared in the preseason AP poll, something only eight schools in the nation have done — Connecticut, Duke and Tennessee have shown up in all 12 during that span, while Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Stanford join the Irish with 11 preseason AP poll berths.

Notre Dame has been ranked in the AP poll for 206 weeks during the program’s 34-year history, with every one of those appearances coming in the Muffet McGraw era (since 1987-88). McGraw ranks 13th among all active NCAA Division I head coaches for weeks in the AP poll, and also is 22nd all-time in that category.

In addition, the Fighting Irish were tied for 14th in the Dec. 28 ESPN/USA Today/WBCA coaches’ poll (new poll was released Tuesday after press time). Notre Dame now has been ranked in the coaches’ survey for 66 of the past 67 weeks, falling just outside the Top 25 in the final poll of the 2008-09 season. Nevertheless, the Fighting Irish have appeared in the coaches’ poll for a total of 197 weeks during their history (all coming during McGraw’s tenure).

More Polling Data
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw is one of 30 people in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history who have both played for and coached a team that has appeared in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Besides her 206 AP poll appearances while coaching at Notre Dame, McGraw was the starting point guard at Saint Joseph’s (Pa.) as a senior in 1977, helping the Hawks rise to No. 3 in the nation.

Of the 30 people on this list, 16 currently are NCAA Division I head coaches (see accompanying chart), including former Fighting Irish point guard and assistant coach Coquese Washington (’92), who helped Notre Dame to its first-ever AP poll ranking in 1990-91, and is in her fourth season as head coach at Penn State, guiding the Lady Lions into the AP poll at No. 23 on Jan. 25, 2010.

Six of the 16 active coaches in this group — including McGraw — led their teams to this year’s NCAA Championship, while McGraw and Baylor’s Kim Mulkey are the only active skippers to play for and coach a team in the AP poll, and also coach that team to a national title (McGraw in 2001, Mulkey in 2005).

The 700 Club
With a 91-47 win over Loyola Marymount on Dec. 30 at the State Farm Holiday Hoops Classic in Seattle, Notre Dame became the 32nd NCAA Division I program to record 700 victories — the Fighting Irish now own an all-time record of 701-305 (.697).

Notre Dame is one of six Division I programs to reach the 700-win milestone this season, joining Duke, Kansas, Missouri State, Saint Joseph’s (Pa.) and Middle Tennessee in that club (MT became the 33rd school on that list on Jan. 2).

Ironically, SJU (the alma mater of Fighting Irish head coach Muffet McGraw) earned its 700th win one day before Notre Dame, edging out the Fighting Irish as the first Catholic Division I program to hit the mark.

A Grand Occasion
The Dec. 5 game against Purdue marked a significant milestone in Notre Dame women’s basketball history, as the Fighting Irish played their 1,000th all-time game, defeating the Boilermakers, 72-51. Notre Dame has an all-time record of 701-305 (.697) in 34 seasons of varsity competition, including a 347-87 (.800) record at Purcell Pavilion.

The Fighting Irish played their first game on Dec. 3, 1977, defeating Valparaiso, 48-41 at Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame would play its first three seasons as a Division III program in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) before moving up to the Division I level in 1980-81. The following season, the Fighting Irish would begin competing under the NCAA banner.

Peters Adds Griner To SWAT Team
Senior forward Devereaux Peters has made a living as a shot blocking presence in the paint for Notre Dame throughout her career, with her 6-foot-2 frame and 77-inch wingspan. However, on Dec. 1 at No. 2/3 Baylor, she added another notch to her belt in historic fashion.

At the 10:22 mark of the second half, the Lady Bears threw an entry pass in to their 6-foot-8 sophomore All-America center Brittney Griner, but as she turned to shoot, Peters rotated perfectly from the weak side and rejected Griner’s shot out of bounds. It was one of the highlights in a 17-2 Fighting Irish run that pulled Notre Dame within six points of Baylor with five minutes left.

It’s believed to be the first time in Griner’s two-year college career that she has had a shot blocked. A video clip of Peters’ block has been posted on the Notre Dame Women’s Basketball YouTube channel (search for “notredameirishhoops” or click the link through the sidebar on the women’s basketball page at www.UND.com).

Half And Half
During the past decade, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Fighting Irish are 199-17 (.921) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 127 of their last 138 such contests, and 36 in a row since a 58-47 loss to Villanova on March 8, 2009, in the BIG EAST Championship quarterfinals at Hartford’s XL Center (Notre Dame led 25-21 at intermission).

The Fighting Irish have been up at the break in 11 games this year, including their Jan. 2 win over Southeast Missouri State when they led 46-6 through the first 20 minutes.

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense…
During the past 16 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 Fighting Irish have an amazing 218-15 (.936) record when they hold their opponents below 60 points in a game, including victories in 10 contests this season (New Hampshire, Morehead State, IUPUI, Butler, Purdue, Providence, Creighton, Valparaiso, Loyola Marymount, SE Missouri State).

…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 16 seasons (since 1995-96), the Fighting Irish are 149-5 (.968) when they score at least 80 points in a game. The only blemishes on that record are three overtime losses to Texas A&M (88-84) and Michigan State (87-83) in 1995 and UCLA (86-83 in double OT) in 2010, as well as a 106-81 loss to Connecticut in 1998, and an 81-80 loss to DePaul in 2008.

Notre Dame has topped the 80-point mark in 10 games this year (9-1 record) after going 17-0 last season when it scored at least 80 points.

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 Fighting Irish have been virtually untouchable at home in recent years, winning 197 of their last 223 games (.883) at the 9,149-seat Purcell Pavilion, including winning streaks of 51 and 25 games in that span. Notre Dame also has a 106-18 (.855) record in BIG EAST Conference play at the former 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 Fighting Irish have been particularly strong when it comes to non-conference games at home, winning 93 of their last 101 non-BIG EAST contests (.921) at Purcell Pavilion, dating back to the 1994-95 season. Five of the eight losses in that span came at the hands of Big Ten Conference opponents (four by 12 points or less) — Wisconsin in 1996 (81-69), Purdue in 2003 (71-54), Michigan State in 2004 (82-73 OT), Indiana in 2006 (54-51) and Minnesota in 2009 (79-71) — with the other defeats coming to Tennessee in 2005 (62-51) and 2008 (87-63), and to UCLA in 2010 (86-83 in 2OT). The Purdue loss also 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 former Joyce Center, posting a 347-87 (.800) record at the venerable facility. Three times (1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2003-04), the Fighting Irish went a perfect 15-0 at home, which was the school record for home victories in a season prior to last year, when Notre Dame went 16-1, capped by an 84-66 triumph over Vermont on March 23, 2010, in the second round of the NCAA Championship.

Irish Are The Hottest Ticket In Town
The 2009-10 season saw an unprecedented surge in fan support for Notre Dame women’s basketball, as the Fighting Irish set new program records for the highest year-end NCAA attendance ranking (fourth), highest average attendance (8,377 fans per game) and most sellouts (six) in a single season. And, as the old saying goes — “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

For the second consecutive preseason, Notre Dame fans have all but exhausted the program’s season ticket packages (close to 7,500) and are snapping up single-game ducats at a rate that will have the Fighting Irish challenging their freshly-minted single-season average attendance record in 2010-11.

Notre Dame has wasted little time in getting started with that challenge, averaging 8,475 fans for its nine home games this season, including a sellout crowd of 9,149 for the Dec. 5 win over in-state rival Purdue.

Part of the appeal of Notre Dame women’s basketball can be traced to the renovated Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center, which has yet another new feature this season with the addition of a four-sided LED video scoreboard high above center court, as well as LED auxiliary scoreboards above all four court-level entrance ramps and at the scorer’s table.

Notre Dame Picked Fourth In 2010-11 BIG EAST Coaches’ Preseason Poll
Notre Dame was selected to finish fourth in the BIG EAST Conference in 2010-11, according to a preseason vote of the league’s 16 head coaches released on Oct. 21 during the annual BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Media Day at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City.

The Fighting Irish picked up 177 points in the balloting (coaches may not vote for their own teams), placing behind only two-time defending national champion Connecticut, which was a unanimous choice to win the conference title with 225 points, West Virginia (207 points, one first-place vote) and Georgetown (186 points) — St. John’s rounded out the top five with 173 points.

McGraw Is Simply Legendary
The announcement on July 10, 2010, may have made it official, but it really only confirmed what Notre Dame fans have known for a very long time — head coach Muffet McGraw is a Hall of Famer.

McGraw, the 2001 consensus national coach of the year and winner of more than 600 games in her illustrious career, was one of six people — and the lone coach — named to the 2011 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class, as announced in Uncasville, Conn., during the “WNBA vs. USA Basketball: The Stars at the Sun Game” that was televised live nationally on ESPN from Mohegan Sun Arena.

The others in McGraw’s Hall of Fame class include former Olympic gold medalists Ruthie Bolton (Auburn) and Vicky Bullett (Maryland), as well as Val Ackerman, the first WNBA president (1996-2005) and first female president of USA Basketball (2005-08), and a pair of three-time All-America players from the pre-NCAA era, Pearl Moore (Frances Marion) and Lometa Odom (Wayland Baptist).

The ’11 class offically was introduced at the 2010 State Farm Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 16 at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., before the Connecticut-Baylor game. The group will be enshrined June 10-12, 2011, during the 13th annual Induction Weekend at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn.

McGraw becomes the first Notre Dame selection for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The Irish skipper also is the third BIG EAST Conference coach chosen for the honor, joining Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer (2001) and Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma (2006) in that elite company. First-year Seton Hall head coach Anne Donovan also was a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inaugural class in 1999, going in primarily for her accomplishments as a player at Old Dominion.

McGraw also will be the ninth active college head coach to enter the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame on the basis of her success on the sidelines. Besides Stringer and Auriemma, the others on this notable list are: Pat Summitt (1999 – Tennessee), Van Chancellor (2001 – LSU), Tara VanDerveer (2002 – Stanford), Sylvia Hatchell (2004 – North Carolina), Andy Landers (2007 – Georgia) and Debbie Ryan (2008 – Virginia).

Irish On Your Radio Dial
Beginning with the 2008-09 athletics year, the Notre Dame athletics department announced it had partnered with the LeSEA Broadcasting Network, making Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) the new radio home of Notre Dame women’s basketball in the South Bend market.

LeSEA originates all Notre Dame women’s basketball games, with those events carried on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1), marking a return to the FM side of the dial for the first time since the 1998-99 season. Combined, these two stations blanket the nation’s No. 91 media market (South Bend-Elkhart), covering a 21-county area in northern Indiana and southwest Michigan that contains more than 1.35 million listeners (better than 800,000 in the greater South Bend area alone). All told, Notre Dame’s women’s basketball network stretches from Kalamazoo, Mich., to the north, North Judson, Ind., to the west, Macy, Ind., (home of former Irish All-America center Ruth Riley) to the south, and LaGrange, Ind., to the east.

Women’s basketball game broadcasts also continue to be streamed live and free of charge on Notre Dame’s official athletics web site (www.UND.com) through the Fighting Irish All-Access multimedia package.

Bob Nagle, the voice of Notre Dame women’s basketball from 1996-97 through 1998-99 (including the program’s first NCAA Final Four berth in 1997), returns for his third season in his second stint as the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame On The Small Screen
Notre Dame will have at least 26 regular season games televised during the 2010-11 season. Highlighting this year’s broadcast schedule are seven nationally- or regionally-televised Fighting Irish women’s basketball contests, including the program’s fourth-ever appearance on network television (Jan. 8 vs. Connecticut on CBS), two showings on the ESPN family of networks, and three others on CBS College Sports.

In addition, Notre Dame continues to expand its broadcast reach globally on the Internet. All Fighting Irish regular-season home games not selected for commercial TV coverage will be webcast live on the official Notre Dame athletics web site, www.UND.com, via the site’s free multimedia package, Fighting Irish All-Access.

This year’s TV slate continues a trend that has seen the Fighting Irish become a regular fixture on television. Beginning with the NCAA championship season of 2000-01 and continuing through the Jan. 2 Southeast Missouri State contest (webcast live on UND.com), Notre Dame has played in 180 televised games, including 126 that were broadcast nationally.

Oh Captain, My Captain
Senior forward Becca Bruszewski and senior guard Brittany Mallory are serving as Notre Dame’s team captains for the 2010-11 season. Both players received the captain’s honor for the first time in their respective careers following a preseason vote by their teammates.

Notre Dame Pink Zone Efforts Underway
Following last year’s wildly-successful fundraising efforts for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Pink Zone breast cancer initiative, Notre Dame is aiming even higher this season, as it draws closer to the Feb. 12 Pink Zone game vs. Rutgers. For that game, the Fighting Irish will wear unique white and pink uniforms, with Notre Dame also holding special events during the game in honor and memory of those touched by breast cancer.

In 2009-10, the Fighting Irish collected more than $103,000 for the global unified effort by the WBCA’s membership to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.

Notre Dame’s local Pink Zone drive is led by primary sponsor Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center, with donations raised from the Pink Zone being divided between the Foundation for Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center’s Women’s Task Force and the Kay Yow Cancer Fund (named in honor of the legendary late North Carolina State head coach).

This year, Notre Dame is bringing back some of its more popular fundraising activities, including the Fighting Irish Three-Point Pledge (fans donate a certain amount for every three-pointer made by Notre Dame this season) and the Notre Dame Pink Zone Store (sales of various Pink Zone items, including t-shirts, buttons, tote bags, etc., in the Joyce Center’s Heritage Hall at all Fighting Irish home games). The Notre Dame Gameday Silent Auction also returns in 2010-11, with bids being taken in the Monogram Room at the Joyce Center on Feb. 12 from 12:30 p.m. (ET) to 30 minutes following the Pink Zone game against Rutgers.

Some new events added for this year include the Pink Zone Treadmill Campaign (walk on a treadmill during the Jan. 23, Feb. 1, 8 and 12 games) and the Notre Dame Women’s Basketball SPIN-A-THON (a 24-hour event to ride stationary bikes at South Bend’s Knollwood Country Club).

For more information, or to make a donation, please visit the Notre Dame Pink Zone web page at www.UND.com/pinkzone.

Irish Fans Crave Another Big Mac Attack
It’s year four of Notre Dame’s wildly-successful “Big Mac” promotion, offering fans a coupon for a free Big Mac from South Bend-area McDonald’s restaurants if the Fighting Irish score at least 88 points in a home game.

In the four-year history of the promotion (and counting exhibition games), Notre Dame has hit the 88-point mark 25 times, including wins this year over Michigan Tech (exhibition), New Hampshire, Morehead State, IUPUI, Wake Forest, Creighton and Southeast Missouri State.

It should come as no surprise that in the short history of the promotion, the Notre Dame player with the most “Big Mac” baskets shares the same initials with the tasty burger — senior guard Brittany Mallory, who sent the crowd home happy (and presumably with full bellies) four times during the promotion’s inaugural run in 2007-08.

And for those tracking such things (or perhaps falling under the heading of “media relations director has too much time on his hands”), 15 different players have converted the “burger ball”, including eight current members of the Fighting Irish roster.

What’s more, of the 25 Big Mac games to date, 13 have been reached on two-point baskets, eight on free throws, and four on three-pointers.

Next Game: Connecticut
The Fighting Irish return home Saturday for the first of two matchups this season with BIG EAST rival Connecticut. This weekend’s 2 p.m. (ET) contest will be televised live on CBS from Purcell Pavilion, marking the fourth time Notre Dame will play on CBS, and the first since a 2008 non-conference game against Tennessee.

At this point, it’s no secret Connecticut recently had its NCAA Division I-record 90-game winning streak snapped with a 71-59 loss at Stanford on Dec. 30. The Huskies (12-1) return to action Wednesday night, playing host to Villanova at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs.

— ND —