#2 Irish Take On #22/18 Syracuse Tuesday On Senior Night

Feb. 25, 2013

Full Notes Package in PDF Format

2012-13 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 27

#2/2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (25-1 / 13-0 BIG EAST) vs. #22/18 Syracuse Orange (22-4 / 10-3 BIG EAST)

DATE: February 26, 2013
TIME: 7:00 p.m. ET
AT: Notre Dame, Ind. – Purcell Pavilion (9,149)
SERIES: ND leads 25-2
1ST MTG: ND 81-64 (1/16/88)
LAST MTG: ND 74-55 (2/7/12)
TV: CBS Sports Network (live) (Brent Stover, p-b-p / Debbie Antonelli, color)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) / UND.com (live) (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
LIVE STATS:
TWITTER: @ndwbbsid
TICKETS: (574) 631-7356 / UND.com/tickets

Storylines

• Prior to Tuesday’s game, Notre Dame will hold its Senior Night ceremony. The Fighting Irish are 29-6 (.829) all-time on Senior Night, including a 22-3 (.880) record during head coach Muffet McGraw’s tenure.
• Notre Dame will play its ninth ranked opponent of the season, having gone 7-1 against Top 25 teams thus far, including wins in its last five outings.

No. 2 Fighting Irish Take On No. 22/18 Syracuse Tuesday On Senior Night
As the 2012-13 regular season enters its final week, No. 2 Notre Dame faces another stern challenge when it plays host to No. 22/18 Syracuse at 7 p.m. (ET) Tuesday at Purcell Pavilion. The game will be televised live to a national cable audience by CBS Sports Network, with the Fighting Irish also honoring their departing seniors in a pregame ceremony.

Notre Dame (25-1, 13-0) is playing for the second time in three days, following an 84-56 win at DePaul Sunday afternoon. The Fighting Irish led by double digits after just four minutes and kept building the margin the rest of the day.

Senior guard/co-captain Skylar Diggins had her second career triple-double (17 points/10 rebounds/10 assists) and freshman guard Jewell Loyd scored 19 points for Notre Dame.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is No. 2 in this week’s Associated Press poll and was No. 2 in last week’s ESPN/USA Today poll (new poll to be released Tuesday afternoon).
• Syracuse is No. 22 in this week’s Associated Press poll and was No. 18 in last week’s ESPN/USA Today poll (new poll to be released Tuesday afternoon).

Quick Hitters

• Notre Dame has matched the best start in school history (25-1), duplicating the 26-game record posted by the 2000-01 Fighting Irish national championship team.
• The Fighting Irish are 7-1 against ranked opponents this year, defeating No. 19/21 Ohio State (57-51), No. 19/22 UCLA (76-64), No. 22 Texas A&M (83-74), No. 11 Purdue (74-47), No. 1 Connecticut (73-72), No. 9 Tennessee (77-67) and No. 10/11 Louisville (93-64), while falling to No. 3 Baylor, 73-61 (a game Notre Dame led 50-49 with less than eight minutes left).
• The Fighting Irish made history with their Jan. 28 win at Tennessee, becoming the first program ever to defeat both Connecticut and UT in three consecutive seasons, as well as the first in the NCAA era (since 1981-82) to defeat both the Huskies and Lady Vols on the road in the same season.
• Notre Dame is in the midst of a 20-game winning streak, the fourth time in school history (and second year in a row) the Fighting Irish have posted a win streak of that length.
• In those 20 games since its only loss of the season (Dec. 5 vs. third-ranked Baylor), Notre Dame has averaged 82.4 points per game (winning by 26.6 ppg.), shot .475 from the field (.362 from three-point range), posted a rebound margin of +13.2 per game, and forced opponents into an average of 20.0 turnovers per night.
• The Fighting Irish have won a school-record 21 consecutive regular season road games, including 15 in a row in BIG EAST play, and 26 of their last 31 overall (Notre Dame’s last regular season road loss came on Nov. 20, 2011 – 94-81 at No. 1 Baylor in the Preseason WNIT championship game).
• Notre Dame also has won 17 consecutive BIG EAST regular season games, dating back to Feb. 12, 2012 (a 65-63 loss to West Virginia). It’s the second-longest BIG EAST regular season win streak in program history, and longest since an 18-game run from Feb. 17, 1999-Feb. 22, 2000.
• According to Monday’s NCAA statistical report, the Fighting Irish are ranked in the top 10 in seven categories — scoring offense (3rd – 80.8 ppg.), rebounding margin (3rd – +11.8 rpg.), assists (3rd – 19.9 apg.), scoring margin (4th – +25.0 ppg.), field goal percentage (4th – .467), free throw percentage (4th – .790) and assist/turnover ratio (6th – 1.27).
• Notre Dame has shown remarkably balanced offensive production this season, with 10 of the 11 players on the roster having scored in double figures at least once, including five different players who have scored 20 points in a game.
• The Fighting Irish have set a school record with three 100-point games this season. The highlight came on Dec. 31 at home against Saint Francis (Pa.) in a 128-55 victory, marking the highest offensive output by any NCAA Division I team this season (and matching the highest by any D-I program since 2002 – Notre Dame also scored 128 points last year at Mercer).
• With its No. 2 ranking in this week’s Associated Press poll, Notre Dame has appeared in the media poll for 113 consecutive weeks, extending a program record that dates back to the 2007-08 preseason poll. In fact, every current Fighting Irish player has competed for a ranked Notre Dame squad throughout her career, with the vast majority of that time (63 of 74 weeks) spent in the AP Top 10.
• With 616 victories in her 26 seasons at Notre Dame, head coach Muffet McGraw ranks second on the Fighting Irish athletics all-time coaching wins list (across all sports), trailing only men’s/women’s fencing coach Michael DeCicco (774-80 from 1962-95).
• McGraw became the 13th coach in NCAA Division I history to amass 700 victories (and the eighth-fastest to reach the mark, doing so in 957 career games), registering the milestone win on Feb. 5 at Villanova. McGraw also is the third BIG EAST Conference head coach to hit that landmark, along with C. Vivian Stringer (Rutgers) and Geno Auriemma (Connecticut), both of whom are enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Other Notre Dame Notables

• Notre Dame is among the nation’s winningest programs during the past 17 seasons (1996-97 to present), ranking fourth with 434 victories.
• Notre Dame has ranked among the top 20 in the nation in average attendance annually since 2000-01 (including top-five rankings the past three years), and is well on its way again this year, ranking sixth in the nation at 8,950 fans per game. Last season, the Fighting Irish ranked fifth in the nation (8,571), setting a school record for average attendance for the third consecutive season. The Fighting Irish also have drawn at least 5,000 fans to 188 of their last 190 home games (including an active streak of 31 consecutive contests with 8,000 fans), logging 34 Purcell Pavilion sellouts, including 28 in the past four seasons. Notre Dame already has a school-record nine sellouts this year, including seven of its last eight contests at Purcell Pavilion.
• The Fighting Irish have become a regular fixture in the WNBA Draft in recent years, as nine Notre Dame players have been selected in the past 12 seasons. Devereaux Peters and Natalie Novosel were the most recent Fighting Irish players to be chosen, with both going in the first round (Peters third overall to Minnesota; Novosel eighth overall to Washington) of the 2012 WNBA Draft. Last year’s draft marked the first time Notre Dame has had two first-round picks in the same year, while Peters was the highest-drafted player (and first lottery selection) in program history. Ruth Riley (Chicago) was active in the league during the ’12 season, helping the Sky contend for a playoff berth into the final weeks of the season. Three of Notre Dame’s 10 all-time 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 2006 title-winning squad in Detroit. Peters nearly joined that list in 2012, helping Minnesota return to the WNBA Finals, but the Lynx could not defend their title, falling to Indiana in four games.
• For the sixth 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, Notre Dame was one of only four schools in the previous five years to record a 100-percent GSR and play for a national championship in the same season (and the only program to do it twice, pulling off that feat in 2011 and 2012).

Scouting Syracuse
In its final season in the BIG EAST, Syracuse is determined to go out with a bang. The Orange have risen into the top 20 in the national rankings and are enjoying one of their finest seasons, while seeming all but certain to earn an NCAA Championship berth next month.

Syracuse (22-4, 10-3) had its six-game winning streak snapped on Feb. 23, dropping a last-second 68-66 decision at South Florida. Senior guard Carmen Tyson-Thomas came off the bench to score a team-high 17 points, including the tying basket in the final minute, but USF answered to escape with the victory.

Senior center Kayla Alexander is one of the BIG EAST’s top post players, ranking among the league leaders in scoring (16.9 ppg.), rebounding (8.3 rpg.) and blocks (3.3 bpg.), leading the BIG EAST in the latter category. She also ranks second behind Notre Dame’s Natalie Achonwa with nine double-doubles this year.

Tyson-Thomas and senior guard Elashier Hall are second on the team in scoring (10.2 ppg. each), with Hall adding 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game with a .348 three-point percentage.

Head coach Quentin Hillsman is in his seventh season at Syracuse, owning a 142-84 (.628) career record, including an 0-6 mark against Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-Syracuse Series
Notre Dame and Syracuse will play for the 28th time in series history Tuesday night, with the Fighting Irish holding a 25-2 edge against the Orange, including a 12-0 record here at Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame also has won the past 12 games in the series, with only two decided by single digits (both at Syracuse — 62-54 on March 4, 2003; 74-73 on Jan. 30, 2010).

The Last Time Notre Dame And Syracuse Met
Devereaux Peters had 21 points and Kayla McBride added 19, season-highs for both players, in No. 2 Notre Dame’s 74-55 win over Syracuse on Feb. 7, 2012, at the Carrier Dome.

Skylar Diggins, the Fighting Irish’s leading scorer, finished with 11 points, all in the second half, and they were key. She scored five straight points to get the Fighting Irish going after the Orange had pulled within 49-39 on a three-pointer by Rachel Coffey and two free throws by Shakeya Leary midway through the half.

Iasia Hemingway had 15 points to lead the Orange, but 11 came from the free throw line as she finished 2 of 13 from the field. Kayla Alexander added 11 points for Syracuse.

After a slow start — both teams combined to shoot 5 of 22 in the first five minutes — the Fighting Irish settled down and pulled away with a 16-4 run despite little help from Diggins. McBride more than made up for that with six points in the spurt, her jumper from the right wing giving Notre Dame a 20-8 lead midway through the period.

The lead ballooned to 30-12 with 4:39 left on consecutive layups by McBride and Peters. The Orange were held scoreless for nearly five minutes until Leary’s follow with 3:26 left and trailed 38-19 at halftime. Syracuse shot 18.8 percent (6 of 32) in the half, repeatedly misfiring from in close, and finished the game 18 of 61 (29.5 percent).

After Syracuse made its charge to get within 10 points in the second half, the Fighting Irish iced the game with a 13-4 run, keyed by Diggins, who scored five consecutive points, the last on a rebound of her missed free throw. Consecutive three-point plays by McBride and Peters gave Notre Dame a 62-43 lead with 7:30 left.

The Last Time Notre Dame And Syracuse Met At Purcell Pavilion
Becca Bruszewski became the 27th player in Notre Dame history to score 1,000 points and Devereaux Peters had 15 points and 11 rebounds as the eighth-ranked Fighting Irish beat No. RV/25 Syracuse 71-48 on Feb. 1, 2011, at Purcell Pavilion.

The Fighting Irish dominated in the paint, outscoring the Orange, 36-16 inside. Notre Dame also outrebounded Syracuse, 44-34.

Syracuse struggled offensively all night, shooting 25.5 percent from the field and turning the ball over 24 times. From behind the arc, the Orange were 2 for 14.

Elashier Hall, Syracuse’s leading scorer, was scoreless on 0 for 3 from the field.

Kayla Alexander led the Orange with 19 points and five rebounds.

Natalie Achonwa had 13 points off the bench for the Fighting Irish.

Skylar Diggins did a little bit of everything for the Fighting Irish, scoring eight points and adding seven rebounds, five assists and five steals for good measure.

Other Notre Dame-Syracuse Series Tidbits

• Notre Dame has scored at least 70 points in 22 of the 27 series games with Syracuse (including eight of the past nine), while the Orange have topped that mark four times in the series.
• The 74-73 Fighting Irish win in 2010 was the closest victory for Notre Dame in the 27-game series and the second single-digit margin among its 25 series wins (71-66 on Dec. 8, 1990, at Purcell Pavilion).
• Syracuse is one of three programs against which the Fighting Irish have at least 25 series victories, along with Marquette (32) and Georgetown (26).
• In six of the past nine games vs. Syracuse, Notre Dame has had at least one player set (at the time) a new career scoring high — Breona Gray (17 on Jan. 5, 2005), Charel Allen (17 on Jan. 19, 2005), Lindsay Schrader (24 on Jan. 31, 2006), Melissa Lechlitner (18 on Jan. 20, 2007), Becca Bruszewski (20 on Feb. 24, 2009) and Skylar Diggins (21 on Jan. 30, 2010). Each player eclipsed those point totals later in their careers.
• Notre Dame junior forward Natalie Achonwa and Syracuse senior center Kayla Alexander are two of the rising young stars in the Canada Basketball program. Achonwa and Alexander were teammates (and the top two scorers) on Canada’s 2009 Junior National Team that posted the best finish in their nation’s history (fourth) at the FIBA U19 World Championships in Thailand (a tournament won by the United States, piloted by head coach/current Notre Dame associate head coach Carol Owens and team co-captain/current Notre Dame senior guard Skylar Diggins). Alexander led Canada in scoring (11.3 ppg.) and rebounding (11.3 rpg.), while Achonwa was second in scoring (10.3 ppg.), third in rebounding (6.1 rpg.) and tops in steals (1.4 spg.).
• The two top high school players to come out of the state of New Jersey last year will be in uniform Tuesday night as Notre Dame freshman guard Michaela Mabrey (Belmar/Manasquan HS) meets Syracuse freshman guard Brittany Sykes (Newark/University). The pair were teammates on the victorious East Team at the 2012 McDonald’s High School All-America Game (played up the road at the United Center in Chicago), with Sykes scored 12 points and Mabrey adding three points in a 79-78 victory over the West Team (which included Notre Dame freshman guard Jewell Loyd, who scored four points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds).

New York State Of Mind
Notre Dame is 54-5 (.915) all-time against New York-based teams, including a 28-0 record at Purcell Pavilion and wins in 12 of their last 13 games overall (only loss a 76-71 setback at St. John’s on Feb. 16, 2010).

The Fighting Irish are facing the second of two New York schools this season, having defeated St. John’s, 74-50 on Jan. 20 at Purcell Pavilion.

Coincidentally, St. John’s and Syracuse account for all five New York wins over Notre Dame (three for the Red Storm, two for the Orange — four road, one neutral site).

48 Hours
Since the start of the 2008-09 season, Notre Dame has played 44 times when it has had a short one-day break (or less) between games.

When faced with such a tight turnaround, the Fighting Irish have risen to the occasion in recent seasons, going 35-9 (.795) on the back half of these two-game (or more) blitzes during the past five years.

Notre Dame is 7-0 on short rest this season, including three wins over ranked teams — at No. 9 Tennessee (Jan. 28 on ESPN2’s “Big Monday”), vs. No. 10/11 Louisville (Feb. 11, also on ESPN2’s “Big Monday”) and at a neutral site against No. 22 Texas A&M (Dec. 21 as part of a successful three-game run to the World Vision Classic title in Las Vegas).

Peaking When It Counts
When the regular season enters its stretch run in the month of February, Notre Dame historically seems to raise its level of play. Since joining the BIG EAST Conference in 1995-96, the Fighting Irish are 105-28 (.789) in February games, including a 58-6 (.906) mark at home.

In the 26-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-88 to present), the Fighting Irish are 153-43 (.781) in the month of February, including an 80-12 (.870) home record. In that time (and including this season), Notre Dame has never posted a losing record in February, and only once did the Fighting Irish end the month at .500 (4-4 in 1988-89, McGraw’s second year in South Bend).

Going Out On Top
Prior to Tuesday’s game against Syracuse, Notre Dame will take time to honor its four departing seniors (guards Skylar Diggins and Kaila Turner, plus student managers Brigitte Lawless and Katie Schwab) for their contributions to the program.

Notre Dame is 29-6 (.829) all-time on Senior Night, including a 22-3 (.880) record in the Muffet McGraw era (1987-88 to present). In fact, the Fighting Irish lost their first Senior Night game under McGraw (69-68 vs. DePaul in 1988), but have proceeded to win on 22 of the past 24 Senior Nights since then. The only setbacks during this current stretch came in 2002, when Villanova edged the Fighting Irish, 48-45, to break Notre Dame’s school-record 51-game home winning streak, and in 2007, when Rutgers pulled away late for a 76-60 win.

A Class By Themselves
Led by its two-player senior class of guards/co-captains Skylar Diggins and Kaila Turner, Notre Dame has earned the most victories (120) in a four-year span in school history, topping the total (117) compiled by last year’s seniors.

Prior to the 2011-12 season, the highest four-year win total by a senior class was 109, set by the Class of 2001 that included (among others) consensus national player of the year and 12-year WNBA veteran Ruth Riley and current Fighting Irish assistant coach Niele Ivey.

Start Me Up
For the second time in school history, Notre Dame has matched its best 26-game start with a 25-1 record.

The 2000-01 Fighting Irish national championship squad opened with 23 consecutive wins before losing in game No. 24 (54-53 at No. 11/14 Rutgers on Feb. 17, 2001). They would then win their next five in a row before their second (and final) loss of that title-winning season (78-76 at No. 2 Connecticut in the BIG EAST Championship final on March 6, 2001).

Making The Turn For Home
Notre Dame is off to a 13-0 start in BIG EAST Conference play for the second time since it joined the league 18 seasons ago.

The school record for the best start to a BIG EAST season is 15-0, set back in 1999-2000.

Aside from their two BIG EAST debuts, the only other times the Fighting Irish began any conference season with a 13-0 record or better were when they were part of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now known as the Horizon League) in 1989-90 (finished 16-0) and 1990-91 (started 14-0, finished 15-1).

Streak Stats, Part I
Notre Dame’s current 20-game winning streak is tied for the third-longest success string in program history, and it’s the second year in a row the Fighting Irish have posted a winning streak of 20 games or longer.

Notre Dame also has strung together 13 double-digit winning streaks in the program’s 36-year history, with 11 of those coming during the tenure of Hall of Fame head coach Muffet McGraw (1987-88 to present).

Streak Stats, Part II
Notre Dame has won 17 consecutive BIG EAST regular-season games, its second-longest winning streak in league play since joining the loop in 1995-96. The Fighting Irish last dropped a BIG EAST game on Feb. 12, 2012, falling 65-63 to West Virginia at Purcell Pavilion (on two free throws by WVU’s Brooke Hampton with 4.6 seconds left).

Notre Dame’s current streak is its longest in the BIG EAST since a school-record 18-game run from Feb. 17, 1999-Feb. 22, 2000 — that streak included wins in the final three conference games of the 1998-99 season, plus 15 in a row to start the 1999-2000 league slate.

Road Warriors
Notre Dame has won a school-record 21 consecutive regular season road games and 26 of its last 31 overall, including all 10 contests this season. The Fighting Irish last tasted defeat on the road in the regular season on Nov. 20, 2011, a 94-81 setback at No. 1 Baylor in the Preseason WNIT championship game.

The highlight of this current run came on Jan. 5, 2013, when Notre Dame edged No. 1 Connecticut, 73-72, in Storrs, Conn., earning its fourth all-time win over a top-ranked opponent and first-ever victory on the road.

Prior to the past two years, the school record for consecutive regular season road wins was held by Notre Dame’s 2000-01 national championship team that won its first 10 road outings before a 54-53 loss at No. 11/14 Rutgers on Feb. 17, 2001.

The Fighting Irish also have won a school-record 15 consecutive BIG EAST Conference regular season road games, with their last loss coming on Feb. 28, 2011 (a last-second 70-69 loss at No. 12/11 DePaul).

The previous school record for consecutive BIG EAST regular season road wins was seven, set numerous times, most recently crossing between the 2001-02 and 2002-03 campaigns.

The Notre Dame record for consecutive regular season road victories in any conference also is 15, which the Fighting Irish set from Feb. 25, 1989-Feb. 14, 1991 during their time in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (Horizon League).

Pieces of Silver
With its 84-56 win at DePaul on Feb. 24, Notre Dame registered its 25th victory of the season, marking the fourth consecutive year (and fifth time in six years) the Fighting Irish have reached that level.

Notre Dame has recorded 10 25-win seasons in its 36 varsity campaigns, but never before had the Fighting Irish done so in four consecutive years. From 1998-99 through 2000-01, Notre Dame topped that mark each season (26-5, 27-5 and 34-2), including a (then) school-record 34 wins in the final year of that run, which culminated with the program’s first national championship.

Spreading The Wealth
Notre Dame has had at least four players score in double figures in 17 games this year. Since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Fighting Irish are 69-4 (.945) when they have four or more players reach double digits in the scoring column, including an active 39-game winning streak that dates back to Feb. 28, 2011 (70-69 loss at DePaul).

Everyone Pitches In
With the graduation of two-time honorable mention All-Americans (and 2012 WNBA first-round draft picks) Natalie Novosel and Devereaux Peters, Notre Dame entered this season searching to find a way to make up for the talented duo’s 27.0 points and 13.4 rebounds per game.

Thus far in 2012-13, it would appear the Fighting Irish are making this mission truly a team effort. On the scoring side, 10 of the 11 players on the roster have scored in double figures at least once this season, including junior forward Ariel Braker (eight times, after having two double-figure games in her first two seasons combined), sophomore guards Madison Cable (three times) and Whitney Holloway (once – the first double-digit games of Cable and Holloway’s careers) and freshman guards Jewell Loyd (17 times) and Michaela Mabrey (three times).

On the backboards, junior forward Natalie Achonwa is second in the BIG EAST at 9.2 rebounds per game and has piled up 14 of her 16 career double-digit rebounding games this year. The Guelph, Ontario, native, and 2012 Canadian Olympic Team member also has a BIG EAST-leading 14 double-doubles (six against ranked opponents, seven in conference play) after logging one double-double in her career prior to this season.

The Best Things In Life Are Free
Throughout the 2012-13 season, Notre Dame has displayed a penchant for making opponents pay at the free throw line.

Through 26 games, the Fighting Irish rank fourth in the nation in free throw percentage, shooting a remarkable .790 (455-of-576) from the charity stripe, including a season-high .941 (16-of-17) on Jan. 23 in a victory at Pittsburgh.

On average, Notre Dame is getting to the line better than 22 times per game, converting nearly 18 free throws a night. At the same time, the Fighting Irish have made more than 30 percent more foul shots than their opponents have attempted (455 made, 347 opponent attempts).

Last year, Notre Dame set a school record by connecting at a .763 clip from the foul line, leading the BIG EAST with a stellar .807 percentage during conference play.

Junior guard Kayla McBride has had the most success cashing in on this strategy during the past two seasons, shooting .872 from the stripe last year (a league-leading .919 in BIG EAST games) and making 58 of 63 free throws (.921) to lead the conference.

McBride is one of four Notre Dame players who appear among the top 10 in the current BIG EAST free throw rankings, with senior guard Skylar Diggins ranking fourth (.815), freshman guard Jewell Loyd tied for seventh (.800) and junior forward Natalie Achonwa ranking ninth (.793).

For her career, McBride has logged an .888 free throw percentage, putting her ahead of Alicia Ratay’s school-record mark (.872) from 1999-2003.

McGraw’s Milestone Moment
With a 59-52 victory at Villanova on Feb. 5, Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw became the 13th NCAA Division I coach to register 700 career victories. McGraw currently has a 31-year record of 704-257 (.733), including a 616-216 (.740) record in 26 seasons with the Fighting Irish.

McGraw also became the eighth-fastest Division I coach to reach the 700-win milestone, hitting the mark in 957 games and quicker than several other notable coaches such as North Carolina’s Sylvia Hatchell (966 games), Ohio State’s Jim Foster (973), former Virginia coach Debbie Ryan (998) and two now-deceased Hall of Fame coaches — Sue Gunter (1,004, most notably at LSU) and Kay Yow (1,021, primarily at North Carolina State).

Diggins Challenging School Records
Throughout the 2012-13 season, senior guard/co-captain Skylar Diggins will continue to close the gap that separates her from the highest eschelon of Notre Dame women’s basketball players in a number of the program’s top career categories. Here’s a look at just a few of the notable milestones Diggins will have a shot to reach this season:

• Diggins (2,148 points) needs 174 points to catch current Notre Dame associate coach Beth (Morgan) Cunningham as the program’s all-time leading scorer. Diggins moved into second place on the Fighting Irish all-time scoring list with her 23 points on Feb. 17 at Marquette, passing Katryna Gaither (2,126 points from 1993-97).
• With three rebounds on Feb. 17 at Marquette, Diggins (512 rebounds) became the first women’s basketball player in school history with 2,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists in her career. Only one Notre Dame men’s basketball player has ever compiled that impressive combination of statistics (Chris Thomas from 2001-05).
• Diggins (341 steals) is seven steals away from assistant coach Niele Ivey’s school record for career thefts. With one steal on Jan. 8 at South Florida, Diggins moved into second place on Notre Dame’s career steals list, passing Coquese Washington (307 from 1989-93).
• Diggins (674 assists) has an outside shot at the Fighting Irish all-time record for assists held by Mary Gavin (1984-88), needing 104 helpers to reach the mark (Ivey is second, currently 53 ahead of Diggins). Diggins stands third in school history, having passed Mollie Peirick (651 from 1994-98) with her seven assists on Feb. 11 vs. No. 10/11 Louisville. Diggins’ charge this year has been led by her career-high 14 assists on Dec. 31 against Saint Francis (Pa.) that are the fourth-most assists by an NCAA Division I player in a game this season and most by a Notre Dame player in nearly 26 years.
• Combining her points, rebounds, assists and steals, Diggins is one of just six NCAA Division I players since 1999-2000 to amass 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 500 assists and 300 steals in her career (see accompanying chart in PDF version of this notes package, with research courtesy of STATS, LLC, which began tracking women’s basketball career statistics in 1999-2000).
• With the opening tip of the Feb. 9 win at Seton Hall, Diggins became Notre Dame’s all-time leader in career starts (now 133), passing Alicia Ratay (129 from 1999-2003).

The Diggins Factor
Notre Dame has posted a 120-19 (.863) record in the past four seasons (2009-10 to present), a mark that can be traced in no small part to the arrival of guard Skylar Diggins. The South Bend native has helped lead the Fighting Irish to a spot in the 2011 and 2012 NCAA national championship games and a berth in the 2010 NCAA Sweet 16, as well as a 26-12 record against AP Top 25 teams (13-10 vs. the AP Top 10) and an 86-1 record against unranked opponents (not appearing in the AP poll), including a 63-game winning streak from the start of the 2009-10 season before falling to West Virginia on Feb. 12, 2012.

Upon closer examination, Notre Dame’s 19 losses in Diggins’ career primarily have been ones that could have gone either way, with 11 decided by single digits (six were in doubt inside the final minute), and two that went to overtime.

With Diggins in uniform, the Fighting Irish have posted three of the top 10 most prolific offensive seasons in school history, averaging 78.9 ppg. last year, after logging 77.0 ppg. in 2010-11, and 77.2 ppg. in her freshman season of 2009-10. Notre Dame is on pace to mirror those figures this season, currently averaging 80.8 ppg. (which ranks third nationally as of Monday).

In addition, thanks to Diggins’ penchant for steals (she has a 2.45 spg. career mark that is fourth-best in school history), the Fighting Irish have recorded the top three single-season steal marks in program history with 502 thefts last year, 495 steals in 2010-11, and 450 thefts in 2009-10. Notre Dame isn’t far off those marks this season, currently averaging 11.2 spg. (which would put the Fighting Irish around 325 steals by the end of the regular season).

The past two years also have seen Notre Dame post two of the four best defensive scoring average in school history, allowing a school-record 52.9 ppg., last season (well ahead of the previous mark of 55.1 ppg., in 1981-82) and giving up just 56.2 ppg., in 2010-11. The Fighting Irish are in position to challenge those totals again this year, presently allowing 55.8 points per game.

Canadian Ace
According to the time-honored adage, “there’s no substitute for experience.” In the case of Notre Dame junior forward Natalie Achonwa, that experience was second to none and it’s paid off exceptionally well for the veteran Fighting Irish frontliner this season.

During the summer of 2012, Achonwa was a key contributor on Canada’s Senior National Team, helping leading her country to its first Olympic appearance in 12 years. Not content to merely qualify, Canada then earned two hard-fought wins in the group stage to reach the Olympic quarterfinals (medal round) for the first time since 1984.

As the second-youngest player in the London Olympic Basketball Tournament at the tender age of 19, Achonwa averaged 7.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, highlighted by a 14-point, eight-rebound effort against eventual Olympic silver medalist France during the preliminary round.

Parlaying her Olympic experience, Achonwa has moved seamlessly into Notre Dame’s starting lineup this season after spending her first two years as an important reserve. The Guelph, Ontario, native was expected to take on a larger role this year with the graduation of two-time All-American Devereaux Peters, but Achonwa has taken that growth to a whole new level, nearly doubling her averages in scoring (7.6 to 13.9 ppg.) and rebounding (4.4 to 9.2 rpg.), while scoring in double figures 21 times and grabbing double-digit rebounds on 14 occasions (including a career-best 17 rebounds on Dec. 29 against No. 11 Purdue).

What’s more, Achonwa came into this season with one career double-double and a career scoring high of 20 points. This year, she leads the BIG EAST in double-doubles (14, including six against ranked teams and seven against conference foes) and has five 20-point games to her credit (career-high 23 vs. Utah State on Dec. 8). She also ranks among the top 15 in the BIG EAST in scoring (15th – 13.9 ppg.), rebounding (2nd – 9.2 rpg.), field goal percentage (6th – .540; also 22nd nationally), free throw percentage (9th – .793) and blocked shots (tied-15th – 1.0 bpg.).

Achonwa’s development has not gone entirely unnoticed, as she was named to the World Vision Classic All-Tournament Team, helping to lead the Fighting Irish to the title with 22 points and a (then) career-high 14 rebounds in the championship game win over No. 22 Texas A&M. Achonwa also is one of three Notre Dame players (along with senior guard Skylar Diggins and junior guard Kayla McBride) to make the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll at least three times this season, earning a spot on the Dec. 10, Jan. 14 and Feb. 11 rundowns.

The Erie Warrior
Along with her classmate Natalie Achonwa, junior guard (and Erie, Pa., native) Kayla McBride has been a major reason for Notre Dame’s success this season, capably stepping into a larger role within the Fighting Irish system following the graduation of two-time honorable mention All-America wing Natalie Novosel.

McBride currently ranks 12th in the BIG EAST in scoring (14.2 ppg.) and leads the conference in free throw percentage (.921). In both areas, she is posting career-high marks, including an improvement of better than 22 percent in her scoring average from last year (11.6 ppg.).

McBride also is among the team leaders this season with 21 double-figure scoring games, including at least 15 points in seven of Notre Dame’s eight games against ranked opponents to date (16.8 ppg.) and a career-high 21 points at No. 1 Connecticut on Jan. 5.

In fact, in her last 23 games against Top 25 opponents, McBride is averaging 14.3 points per game, scoring in double figures 20 times and posting both of her career double-doubles (10 points, career-high 12 rebounds vs. No. 2 Connecticut on Jan. 7, 2012, at Purcell Pavilion; 13 points, 10 rebounds at No. 13/14 Rutgers on Jan. 31, 2012).

Crown Jewell
Freshman guard Jewell Loyd is rapidly making her presence felt as one of the top rookies, not only in the BIG EAST Conference, but around the country.

The Lincolnwood, Ill., native has appeared in all 26 games for the Fighting Irish this season (starting 25 times), scoring in double figures 17 times, earning her first career double-double (18 points/13 rebounds at South Florida on Jan. 8) and posting three “5-5-5” games.

Loyd currently ranks among the BIG EAST leaders in scoring (25th – 12.1 ppg.) and free throw percentage (tied-7th – .800), and would be fourth in the conference in three-point percentage (.407), but she is four made three-pointers shy of the minimum (1.0 3FGM/game).

She also leads all conference rookies this season as a four-time BIG EAST Freshman of the Week selection, most recently copping the honor on Monday after scoring a game-high 19 points in an 84-56 victory at DePaul

Loyd first opened eyes on the national scene with a season- (and game-) high 24 points and team-best seven rebounds in the 73-61 loss to Baylor on Dec. 5 at Purcell Pavilion. The 5-foot-10 guard connected on her first four three-point attempts of the evening (finishing 4-of-5 from beyond the arc) on the way to notching the most points by a Fighting Irish rookie against a ranked opponent since Jan. 26, 2002, when Jacqueline Batteast scored 26 points in Notre Dame’s 64-57 win over No. 16/17 Virginia Tech at Purcell Pavilion.

What’s more, Loyd also scored the most points by a Notre Dame freshman against an opponent ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll since Feb. 19, 2000, when Alicia Ratay netted 26 points (including a school-record 7-for-7 three-pointers) in a 78-74 overtime win at No. 8/11 Rutgers.

Game #26 Recap: DePaul
Skylar Diggins posted her second career triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and No. 2 Notre Dame won its 20th straight, beating DePaul 84-56 on Sunday at McGrath-Phillips Arena in Chicago.

Jewell Loyd added a game-high 19 points. Kayla McBride scored 16, and the Fighting Irish (25-1, 13-0 BIG EAST) cruised to another easy victory, winning by 20 or more for the fourth straight game while sending the Blue Demons to their second straight blowout loss.

Notre Dame forced 21 turnovers and held DePaul to 33.3-percent shooting.

Loyd hit 8 of 15 shots. McBride was 7 of 13 from the field. Natalie Achonwa added 14 points and eight rebounds, and Notre Dame beat DePaul for the eighth time in nine games to tie the all-time series at 19 apiece.

Brittany Hrynko scored 15 points but shot just 4 of 19, and the Blue Demons lost for the fourth time in six games.

Beyond The Box Score: DePaul

• Diggins collects the second triple-double of her career (and fourth in Notre Dame women’s basketball history), having also logged a triple-double on March 27, 2012, against Maryland in the NCAA Raleigh Regional final.
• Diggins’ triple-double is the 17th by a BIG EAST women’s basketball player since the conference began sponsoring the sport in 1982-83, and the 12th in a BIG EAST regular season game.
• Diggins becomes the fifth BIG EAST women’s basketball player with multiple triple-doubles in her career.
• Diggins hands out double-digit assists for the third time this season and ninth time in her career.
• The 28-point margin was one shy of the largest by either side in the series (DePaul did it twice, most recently with a 79-50 win on Feb. 12, 2006, in Chicago; Notre Dame also won by a 79-50 count on Dec. 31, 2001, at Purcell Pavilion).
• The Fighting Irish have held DePaul to 70 points or fewer in the past nine series games after holding the Blue Demons to that mark just once in the previous seven contests.
• In 14 of the past 19 series games between Notre Dame and DePaul, the winning team has scored at least 75 points.

Polling Station
Notre Dame is ranked a season-best No. 2 for the eight consecutive Associated Press poll this week, its 43rd consecutive week in the top 10 of the media balloting, dating back to the middle of the 2010-11 season, and marking 113 consecutive weeks in the AP poll.

The Fighting Irish reached a milestone on Nov. 26 with their No. 5 ranking, which was their 100th consecutive AP poll appearance. It not only extended the program record that started with the AP preseason poll in 2007-08 (the old record was 59 consecutive weeks from 1998-2001), but it made the Fighting Irish are one of six teams in the nation with an active streak of 100 consecutive AP poll appearances.

What’s more, every current Notre Dame player has competed for a ranked Fighting Irish squad throughout her career (74 consecutive weeks for the current senior class), spending the vast majority (63) of those appearances in the AP Top 10 (and never lower than 18th).

Notre Dame started the year at No. 7 in the preseason AP poll, representing the 13th time in the past 14 years (starting with the 1999-2000 campaign) that Notre Dame has appeared in the initial AP poll, something only seven schools in the nation have done — Connecticut, Duke and Tennessee have shown up in all 14 during that span, while Georgia, Oklahoma and Stanford join the Fighting Irish with 13 preseason AP poll berths.

Notre Dame has been ranked in the AP poll for 252 weeks during the program’s 36-year history, with every one of those appearances coming in the Muffet McGraw era (since 1987-88). McGraw ranks ninth among all active NCAA Division I head coaches for weeks in the AP poll, and 20th all-time in that category.

In addition, the Fighting Irish rose to a season-best No. 2 in last week’s ESPN/USA Today/WBCA coaches’ poll, after spending the previous six weeks in the No. 3 spot.

Notre Dame has been ranked in the coaches’ poll for 112 of the past 113 weeks (and 76 in a row), 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 245 weeks during their history (all coming during McGraw’s tenure).

This marks the fifth consecutive season Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 10 of the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA poll, as well as 11 of the past 15 campaigns (1998-99 to present).

More Polling Data
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw is one of 31 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 252 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 to No. 3 in the nation.

Of the 31 people on this list, 16 currently are NCAA Division I head coaches (see accompanying chart), with McGraw and Baylor’s Kim Mulkey are the only active skippers to play for and coach a team in the AP poll, and coach that team to a national title (McGraw in 2001, Mulkey in 2005 and 2012).

The Benefits Of Leadership
Notre Dame is in the unique position of essentially having three head coaches on its bench, with current Fighting Irish skipper Muffet McGraw enjoying the expertise of two former head coaches on her staff — associate head coach Carol Owens (who guided her alma mater Northern Illinois from 2005-10) and associate coach Beth Cunningham (who piloted VCU from 2003-12).

Collectively, the Notre Dame staff has 45 seasons of head coaching experience, which ranks fifth among Division I schools behind only Stanford (52), Villanova (50), Ohio State (48) and Rutgers (46).

Half And Half
During the past 12 seasons, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Fighting Irish are 271-19 (.934) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 199 of their last 212 such contests (.939).

What’s more, in the past four seasons (2009-10 to present), Notre Dame is 108-2 (.982) when leading at the half, with the only losses coming on April 5, 2011, in the NCAA national championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (Notre Dame led Texas A&M, 35-33 at intermission before falling 76-70), and Feb. 12, 2012, against West Virginia (Fighting Irish led 33-30 at the break before the visiting Mountaineers rallied to win in the closing seconds, 65-63).

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense…
During the past 18 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 274-15 (.948) record when they hold their opponents below 60 points in a game, including 16 outings this season.

…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 18 seasons (since 1995-96), the Fighting Irish are 179-6 (.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, an 81-80 loss to DePaul in 2008, and a 94-81 setback at Baylor in 2011.

In the past four years (2009-10 to present), Notre Dame is 56-2 (.966) when topping the 80-point mark, having reached that level 11 times this season.

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 232 of their last 261 games (.889) at the 9,149-seat Purcell Pavilion, including winning streaks of 51, 25 and 20 games in that span (the latter from 2011-12, ending on Feb. 12, 2012, vs. West Virginia).

Since the arena was renovated prior to the 2009-10 season, Notre Dame is 59-5 (.922) — including wins in 35 of its last 37 home games — and three of the five Fighting Irish losses in their refurbished facility have come by three points or fewer (two in overtime).

Notre Dame also has a 126-20 (.863) record in BIG EAST Conference play at the former Joyce Center, sporting a program-record 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 108 of their last 117 non-BIG EAST contests (.923) at Purcell Pavilion, dating back to the 1994-95 season. Five of the nine 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), UCLA in 2010 (86-83 in 2OT) and Baylor in 2012 (73-61). 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 382-90 (.809) 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 the 2009-10 campaign, when Notre Dame went 16-1, a mark that lasted only two seasons before the Fighting Irish posted a 17-1 record at Purcell Pavilion last year.

Irish Are The Hottest Ticket In Town
The past three seasons have seen 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 in 2009-10), highest average attendance (8,571 fans per game in 2011-12) and most sellouts in a single season (eight in 2011-12). And, as the old saying goes — “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

For the fourth consecutive preseason, Notre Dame fans all but exhausted the program’s season ticket packages (approximately 7,500) and snapped up single-game ducats at a rate that helped the Fighting Irish produce two advanced sellouts (Dec. 5 vs. Baylor; March 4 vs. Connecticut).

Notre Dame is setting records at the box office again this season with nine sellouts in 11 home games (including seven of the past eight contests), topping last year’s record of eight sellouts. In addition, the Nov. 18 game against Massachusetts marked the first home-opening sellout in school history. All told, the Fighting Irish have welcomed 34 sellout crowds in the program’s 36-year tenure, including 28 in the past four years alone (2009-10 to present).

The Fighting Irish currently rank sixth in the nation in average attendance, drawing 8,950 fans per game, which is nearly 400 fans better than last year’s school record and factors to nearly 98 percent of Purcell Pavilion’s listed capacity of 9,149.

Coming Soon: Irish in the ACC
On Sept. 12, 2012, the University of Notre Dame announced that it had accepted an offer of admission into the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports except football (the league does not offer championships in ice hockey or fencing).

The change in conference affiliation (for which a timetable has not yet been established) will be the first for Notre Dame since 1995, when the Fighting Irish moved from the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League) to the BIG EAST Conference.

In its 18 seasons in the BIG EAST, the Notre Dame women’s basketball program has been the one of the conference’s best, winning two BIG EAST regular season titles (2001 and 2012) and compiling a 229-64 (.782) record in league play that remains the second-best regular season winning percentage in BIG EAST women’s basketball history.

Next Game: Providence
Notre Dame heads back on the road at 4 p.m. (ET) Saturday when it travels to Providence, R.I., to take on Providence at Alumni Hall. The game will air live as part of the syndicated BIG EAST Game of the Week package.

— ND —