#4/3 Irish Play Host To DePaul Sunday In Annual Pink Zone Game

Feb. 13, 2010

Full Notes Package in PDF Format

2009-10 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 24

#4/3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (22-1 / 9-1 BIG EAST) vs. DePaul Blue Demons (16-9 / 5-6 BIG EAST)

DATE: February 14, 2010
TIME: 3:00 p.m. ET
AT: Notre Dame, Ind. – Purcell Pavilion (9,149)
SERIES: DPU leads 18-14
1ST MTG: DPU 82-53 (1/30/79)
LAST MTG: ND 62-59 (2/8/09)
TV: ESPN2 (live) (Pam Ward, p-b-p / Brooke Weisbrod, color)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
LIVE STATS: UND.com
TWITTER: @ndwbbsid

Storylines

• Six of the nine BIG EAST games played between Notre Dame and DePaul have been decided by single digits, including four of the past five.
• The Irish already have raised more than $40,000 as part of the WBCA Pink Zone initiative prior to Sunday’s official Pink Zone game against DePaul.

#4/3 Irish Play Host To DePaul Sunday In Annual Pink Zone Game
The color pink will be prevalent at Purcell Pavilion on Sunday, and not just because it’s Valentine’s Day, as No. 4/3 Notre Dame plays host to DePaul in its annual Pink Zone game (to raise funds for breast cancer research) at 3 p.m. (ET), with ESPN2 slated to televise the contest live as part of its “February Frenzy” regionalized coverage that mimics the network’s NCAA Championship broadcast footprint.

The Irish (22-1, 9-1) are coming off a solid defensive effort in a 66-50 win at Cincinnati on Tuesday night. Notre Dame led almost all the way, forcing 23 Bearcat turnovers and maintaining a double-digit lead for much of the game.

Fifth-year senior guard Lindsay Schrader scored 14 of her team-high 16 points in the second half, while junior forward Becca Bruszewski had a strong all-around night with 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is No. 4 in the latest Associated Press poll and No. 3 in the current ESPN/USA Today poll.
• DePaul is receiving votes in the current ESPN/USA Today poll.

Quick Hitters

• The Irish have appeared in the top five of the AP poll all 14 weeks this season (through Feb. 8), marking the second-longest string of consecutive AP Top 5 rankings in program history behind only the final 17 weeks in 2000-01.
• Notre Dame’s 15-game winning streak earlier this season tied for the third-longest in school history, and longest since a school-record 23-game run from Nov. 17, 2000-Feb. 14, 2001.
• At 15-0, the Irish posted the second-best start in program history, topped only by a 23-0 debut in 2000-01 (the season in which Notre Dame won its first NCAA title).
• Notre Dame has defeated five ranked opponents (Michigan State, San Diego State, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, West Virginia) in six tries this season, including three wins away from home.
• The Irish won the 2009 Paradise Jam Island Division title (their first regular-season tourney crown since the 2005 Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas), with freshman guard Skylar Diggins capturing MVP honors and senior guard/tri-captain Melissa Lechlitner making the all-tournament team.
• At least seven different players have led the Irish in scoring, rebounding and assists this season. In addition, 11 of the 13 players on the Notre Dame roster have scored in double figures at least once this year.
• In Friday’s NCAA statistical rankings, Notre Dame appears among the top 25 in eight categories, including top-10 rankings in six areas — won-loss percentage (3rd at .957), steals (4th at 13.3 spg.), turnover margin (6th at +7.35), assists (6th at 18.2 apg.), scoring offense (6th at 79.1 ppg.) and scoring margin (9th at +18.5 ppg.).
• Conversely, Notre Dame has only one player ranking among the top 100 in any NCAA statistical category — freshman guard Skylar Diggins ranks 95th in steals (2.3 per game) and 99th in field goal percentage (.449).
• Notre Dame is forcing 24.2 turnovers per game this season, including 26.2 at home. The Irish also have caused at least 20 takeaways in 19 of 23 games to date, with no fewer than 25 opponent turnovers in seven home games this year.
• Notre Dame is averaging 8,559 fans per game this year, unofficially ranking fifth in the nation and showing a 19.4-percent increase from last year (7,168). The Irish also are the only school from the top 25 of the final 2008-09 NCAA attendance rankings to see an increase in attendance this year.

Other Notre Dame Notables

• Notre Dame is among the nation’s winningest programs during the past 14 seasons (1996-97 to present), ranking seventh with 336 victories.
• Notre Dame has ranked among the top 20 in the nation in attendance each of the past nine seasons. Last year, the program finished ninth in the country for the second year in a row with an average of 7,168 fans for its 13 home games (the second-highest single-season attendance average in school history). The Irish also have drawn 5,000-or-more fans to 136 of their last 138 home games, including nine Purcell Pavilion sellouts (most recently on Feb. 6, 2010 vs. Pittsburgh).
• The Irish have become a regular fixture in the WNBA Draft in recent years, as seven Notre Dame players have been selected in the past nine seasons. Charel Allen was the most recent 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 ’09 season, helping the Silver Stars return to the playoffs for the third 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 fourth year in a row, the Irish posted a perfect 100-percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), according to figures released by the NCAA in October 2009. What’s more, since Muffet McGraw became the Irish head coach in 1987, every Notre Dame women’s basketball player that has completed her athletic and academic eligibility at the University has graduated (a 58-for-58 success rate), with all five members of this year’s senior class on target to graduate by May 2010 (Erica Williamson earned her undergraduate degree one semester early in January 2010).

A Quick Look At DePaul
No matter the personnel changes, the level of success rarely wavers for DePaul, as the Blue Demons aim for the eighth consecutive NCAA Championship appearance, and their seventh 20-win season in eight years.

Despite losing all-BIG EAST Conference guard Deirdre Naughton to an early-season knee injury, DePaul (16-9, 5-6) has been on the edge of the national Top 25 all season long. The Blue Demons last played on Wednesday, dropping a 95-62 decision at home to top-ranked Connecticut. Junior guard Sam Quigley led four DePaul players in double figures with 15 points, while junior forward Felicia Chester tallied a double-double (14 points, game-high 10 rebounds).

Quigley leads the Blue Demons in several categories, including scoring (14.2 ppg.), assists (5.0 apg.) and steals (1.8 spg.). Sophomore forward Keisha Hampton is second in scoring (12.8 ppg.) and third in rebounding (5.4 rpg.), while freshman forward Katherine Harry is logging a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game.

Veteran head coach Doug Bruno has a 453-261 (.634) record in 24 seasons at his alma mater. He also is 11-8 all-time against Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-DePaul Series
Notre Dame and DePaul will play for the 33rd time on Sunday afternoon, with the Blue Demons maintaining an 18-14 lead in a series that is the second-longest in Irish history. However, Notre Dame has won the past three series games, and is 8-6 all-time against DePaul at Purcell Pavilion.

The Last Time Notre Dame and DePaul Met
No. 19/16 Notre Dame came up with big defensive plays and just enough offense down the stretch to beat 25th-ranked DePaul on Feb. 8, 2009.

Becca Bruszewski hit a 12-foot baseline jumper with 50 seconds left and added a free throw with 3.7 seconds left to help lead Notre Dame to a 62-59 victory over the Blue Demons at the Joyce Center.

The Irish (17-5, 6-4 BIG EAST) went nearly six minutes without a basket before Melissa Lechlitner, who finished with 13 points, hit a 12-foot jumper to give the Irish a 54-53 lead. After Deirdre Naughton tied the game at 54 with a free throw, Natasha Williams scored inside to give DePaul (18-6, 6-4) a two-point lead.

But Lechlitner tied it and Bruszewski put the Irish ahead to stay with 50 seconds left. The Irish made four of six free throws down the stretch to hang on. Bruszewski finished with 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds for her first career double-double.

Ashley Barlow matched her season-high with 19 points to lead the Irish.

Williams led DePaul with 20 points and 10 rebounds as the Blue Demons’ five-game winning streak ended. China Threatt, who had 11 points, had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer but her three-pointer bounced high off the back of the rim and fell to the floor.

The Irish easily beat DePaul 86-62 on Jan. 6, but the return encounter didn’t resemble that game at all. It was close throughout after the Irish briefly opened a 12-point lead in the first half.

A crowd of 10,011, the ninth-largest in school history, was on hand for the game that was part of the “Pink Zone” program aimed to helping to raise awareness for breast cancer. Notre Dame wore uniforms with pink trim and the officials used pink whistles.

Other Notre Dame-DePaul Series Tidbits

• Notre Dame has won its last three games against DePaul, tying its series-long winning streak that first was set in 1984-85 and 1985-86 (the latter season being two years before current Irish head coach Muffet McGraw arrived in South Bend).
• In 11 of the past 13 series games, the winning team has scored at least 75 points. The only exceptions have been the second matchups in each of the past two seasons (66-64 Notre Dame win in Chicago in 2008; 62-59 Irish win at Purcell Pavilion last year).
• The Irish have held DePaul to fewer than 70 points in each of the past three series games after not having held the Blue Demons below that mark in the previous seven series contests (including the first six as members of the BIG EAST Conference).
• The DePaul series is the second-longest in Notre Dame history, with Sunday being the 33rd game between the clubs. Only the Marquette rivalry (34 games) is longer, with the Irish set to face the Golden Eagles for the 35th time on Feb. 23 at Purcell Pavilion.
• DePaul’s 18 series wins are the third-most by one Irish opponent, exceeded only by Connecticut (21) and Tennessee (20).
• Combining their memberships in the North Star (1983-88) and BIG EAST (2005-present) conferences, Notre Dame is 10-8 all-time against DePaul in regular-season league games (5-3 in BIG EAST, 5-5 in North Star). The Blue Demons did win the only conference tournament game between the programs, shading the Irish, 76-71 in the first round of the 2007 BIG EAST Championship in Hartford, Conn.
• Including that BIG EAST tournament matchup, six of the nine series games between Notre Dame and DePaul since the Blue Demons joined the conference (2005-06) have been decided by single digits, including four of the past five.
• Despite the long history of the Notre Dame-DePaul series (32 games since 1979-80), the aggregate point totals for the two teams are amazingly close — the Blue Demons have scored 2,196 points (68.6 ppg.), while the Irish have tallied 2,136 points (66.8 ppg.).
• Notre Dame senior guard/tri-captain Melissa Lechlitner was a member of the 2007 USA U19 World Championship Team, coached by DePaul’s Doug Bruno and assisted by former Irish aide (and current Northern Illinois head coach) Carol Owens. That squad went a perfect 9-0 and captured the gold medal in Bratislava, Slovakia, with Lechlitner averaging 4.6 points and 1.4 assists during the ’07 FIBA U19 World Championships.
• Notre Dame has had 12 players come from the state of Illinois, including 11 from the Chicagoland area. Fifth-year senior guard/tri-captain Lindsay Schrader (Bartlett/Bartlett HS), junior forward Devereaux Peters (Chicago/Fenwick HS) and freshman guard Kaila Turner (Joliet/Marian Catholic HS) are the latest additions to a list that includes NCAA career three-point percentage record holder Alicia Ratay (Lake Zurich/Lake Zurich HS) and 1,000-point scorer/2004 Purple Heart recipient Danielle Green (Chicago/Roosevelt HS).
• Schrader was named Illinois Miss Basketball in 2005, claiming that honor by the sixth-largest margin (374 points) since the award was created in 1986.
• Both head coaches — Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw and DePaul’s Doug Bruno — have ties to the old Women’s Professional Basketball League (WBL) which existed from 1978-81; McGraw was a point guard for the California Dreams in 1979 (the franchise’s only year of existence), while Bruno was the head coach and director of player personnel for the Chicago Hustle throughout its incarnation from 1978-80.

Irish In The Pink (Zone) All Season Long
Notre Dame is proud to be a participant in the third annual Pink Zone initiative, created by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) in order to heighten breast cancer awareness and raise money for research towards finding a cure for the disease.

Last year, the Irish raised more than $48,000 through the Pink Zone program, earning the first WBCA Pink Zone Challenge award for the most money raised among the nation’s top 25 attendance leaders. This season, Notre Dame has elevated its Pink Zone fund-raising goal to $55,000 and has generated more than $40,000 towards that goal before Sunday’s Pink Zone game day activities even take place.

Throughout the 2009-10 season, the Irish have taken part in several activities centered around the Pink Zone initiative, including:

• Open Practice/Tip-Off Luncheon – On Oct. 19, the Irish open the doors to one of their preseason practice sessions and allowed approximately 600 season ticket holders to watch the team prepare for the upcoming season. A luncheon with the team followed and a total of $3,500 was raised.
• Three-Point Pledge – Fans can pledge an amount to donate for every three-pointer the Irish make this season (Notre Dame enters Sunday’s game with 118 treys). Pledge cards are available at the Purcell Pavilion marketing tables (Gates 8-10) prior to each home game.
• Aprons/Player Buttons/Chocolate – The Irish are selling special-edition Notre Dame women’s basketball aprons ($20), player buttons ($1) and Fannie May chocolate bars ($1) during the season.
• T-Shirt Sales – Specially-commissioned pink t-shirts are on sale in the Hammes Bookstore on the Notre Dame campus, as well as the Irish women’s basketball office and on game days at Purcell Pavilion. Proceeds from the sales of the t-shirt go to breast cancer awareness and research.
• Game Day (Sunday vs. DePaul) – The Irish have selected Sunday’s game against DePaul as Notre Dame’s Pink Zone game, presented by Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center. The Irish will take the court in white, pink and navy uniforms and pink shoes, specially-designed by the school’s official athletics apparel provider, adidas. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive special Notre Dame women’s basketball Pink Zone trading cards, compliments of the Notre Dame College of Science. In addition, hundreds of breast cancer survivors will be recognized on the court during a special halftime ceremony, along with a unique dance tribute featuring Ade Obayomi and Melissa Sandvig from the hit Fox TV show “So You Think You Can Dance”.
• Silent Auction – More than 100 specialty items and entertainment packages have been donated for a gameday silent auction that will be held in the Monogram Room at Purcell Pavilion (upper concourse). Bids will be accepted up to one half-hour following the game, and some of the unique items on the auction block include: the pink shoes worn by Irish players in Sunday’s game (autographed), commemorative Notre Dame women’s basketball pink jerseys (autographed) and private dinners with the Irish coaches and players.

Proceeds from all of Notre Dame’s Pink Zone events this season will go to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, as well as three local charities associated with the Foundation of Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center — Women’s Task Force, Young Survivors Group and Secret Sisters Society. For more information on the WBCA’s Pink Zone initiative, log on to the WBCA’s official web site at www.wbca.org.

Diggins Named BIG EAST Freshman Of The Week For Fourth Time
For the fourth time this season and the third time in the past five weeks, Notre Dame freshman guard Skylar Diggins has been selected as the BIG EAST Conference Freshman of the Week, it was announced Monday by the conference office. Diggins becomes just the third Fighting Irish rookie ever to earn four BIG EAST Freshman of the Week citations in a single season, joining Alicia Ratay (six in 1999-2000) and fellow Washington High School alum Jacqueline Batteast (six in 2001-02) in that elite company.

Diggins also earned BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors back on Nov. 23, Jan. 11 and Jan. 25, and was chosen for a place on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Nov. 30, one of four Fighting Irish players to collect Honor Roll status at least once this season.

Last week, Diggins averaged 18.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game with a 7.00 assist/turnover ratio as Notre Dame picked up conference wins at Rutgers and at home vs. Pittsburgh. The Fighting Irish rookie guard led the team in scoring in both games, tallying 14 points and a game-high four steals in last Monday’s win at Rutgers, while also sparking a 9-1 game-clinching second-half run by the Fighting Irish with a driving layup. Then, on Saturday against Pittsburgh, Diggins notched career highs in numerous categories, including points (23), rebounds (10), assists (tied-6), and free throws made/attempted (9-of-11), while carding her first career double-double as Notre Dame went wire-to-wire for the victory.

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 Irish are 84-23 (.785) in February games, including a 47-5 (.904) mark at home.

In the 23-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-present), the Irish are 132-38 (.776) in the month of February, including a 69-11 (.863) home record. In that time, Notre Dame has not had a losing February, and only once did the Irish end the month at .500 (4-4 in 1988-89, McGraw’s second season in South Bend).

Twenty Questions
Notre Dame reached the 20-win mark for the 16th time in the past 17 seasons with its 75-63 victory at Rutgers on Feb. 1. The Irish now have registered 20-or-more wins 20 times in the 23-year Muffet McGraw era and 24 times in the program’s 33-year history.

Notre Dame also hit the 20-win plateau in its 21st game this season, reaching that milestone faster than all but one Irish team — the 2000-01 squad that opened 23-0 and earned its 20th victory at Providence on Jan. 31, 2001 (one calendar day earlier than this year’s club).

Tough Enough
Notre Dame already has faced a rigorous schedule through 23 games of the 2009-10 season, taking on six ranked opponents. The Irish also have risen to that challenge quite well, winning five of those six contests (Michigan State, San Diego State, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and West Virginia), including three victories away from home (MSU, SDSU and OU).

Four of Notre Dame’s five wins over ranked opponents came during the non-conference portion of the schedule, marking the second consecutive year in which the Irish defeated four Top 25 non-conference foes.

Comeback Kids
Notre Dame has rallied from a double-digit deficit to win three times this season. The Irish erased a 10-point first-half margin at Purdue on Jan. 4, followed by a 12-point first-half spread at Louisville on Jan. 19, and most recently, they wiped out a 13-point second-half gap at home against West Virginia on Jan. 24.

The three double-digit comeback victories are the most for Notre Dame in a single season since 2002-03, when it came back to win at West Virginia (trailed by 14), at Providence (trailed by 10) and home vs. Seton Hall (trailed twice by 12).

Spread The Wealth
Notre Dame has seen at least seven different players led the team in scoring, rebounding and assists this season.

In addition, 11 of the 13 players on the Irish roster have scored in double figures at least once this season, including sophomore guard Fraderica Miller, and freshman guards Skylar Diggins and Kaila Turner, who each topped the 10-point mark for the first time in their careers.

Stat Sheet Stuffers
Another sign of Notre Dame’s versatility is seen in the number of “5-5-5” games (5 or more in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and/or steals) posted by its players this year.

Freshman guard Skylar Diggins (UAPB, Charlotte, Syracuse and Pittsburgh) has a team-high four 5-5-5 games, while junior guard Brittany Mallory (Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt) is right behind her with three 5-5-contests. Senior guard/tri-captain Ashley Barlow (Iona and South Florida) has two 5-5-5 outings, and junior forward Becca Bruszewski (Louisville) and sophomore guard Natalie Novosel (Eastern Michigan) each have one.

Taking What We Can Get
Fueled by a renewed attention to defense this offseason, Notre Dame has been in the taking mood this year, forcing its opponents into at least 20 turnovers in 19 of 23 games thus far, with Irish foes averaging 24.2 giveaways per game, and Notre Dame chalking up a +7.35 turnover margin that is sixth-best in the nation (as of Friday).

In a two-game stretch bookending the Christmas holiday, Notre Dame harassed its opponents into a combined 79 turnovers (43 by Charlotte on Dec. 20 and 36 at UCF on Dec. 29).

Charlotte’s 43 turnovers tied for the second-most opponent giveaways in a game in school history and the most since Dec. 8, 1981, when the Irish forced sister school Saint Mary’s (Ind.) into 43 turnovers during the program’s second season at the Division I level. The Notre Dame record for opponent turnovers in a game is 48 by Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Jan. 11, 1980, at DeKalb, Ill.

The Irish also are making even the most disciplined teams fall victim to their aggressive defensive style. Villanova came into its Jan. 9 game with Notre Dame ranked second in the nation with just 12.6 turnovers per game, but the Irish dogged the Wildcats into 34 turnovers (17 in each half).

Notre Dame has been especially hard on opponents in 12 home games this season, forcing 26.2 turnovers per game (at least 25 in seven Purcell Pavilion contests) while holding visitors to 56.6 points a night.

The Five-Finger Discount
According to Friday’s NCAA statistical report, Notre Dame ranks fourth in the nation in steals (13.3 spg.). The Irish have posted double-digit steal totals in 16 of their 23 games this season, including five 20-steal efforts.

Individually, Notre Dame has five players with at least 30 steals this year, led by freshman guard Skylar Diggins, who has 53 thefts. She is the seventh Irish rookie to record at least 50 steals in her freshman season, and the first to do so since 2006-07, when current Notre Dame senior guard/co-captain Ashley Barlow registered 63 steals.

Glass Houses
Notre Dame and Connecticut are the only two BIG EAST teams with at least three current players having 500+ career rebounds. Irish fifth-year senior guard/tri-captain Lindsay Schrader is seventh all-time at Notre Dame with 776 boards, while senior guard tri-captain Ashley Barlow has 592 caroms and senior center Erica Williamson has 502 career rebounds.

Getting The Jump
At 15-0, Notre Dame got off to the second-best start in the program’s 33-year history. The only time the Irish opened with a better record that this season was in 2000-01, when they reeled off a school-record 23 consecutive wins en route to a 34-2 final record and the program’s first national championship.

Streak Stats
Notre Dame’s season-opening 15-game winning streak tied for the third-longest success string in program history (at any time), and it was the longest since the school-record 23-game run to begin the 2000-01 season.

Polling Station
Notre Dame is ranked fourth in this week’s Associated Press poll, appearing in the top five for the 14th consecutive week — it’s the second-longest run in the AP Top 5 in program history, and the longest for the Irish since the 2000-01 season, when Notre Dame was a top-five fixture for the final 17 weeks.

In addition to their current poll appearance run of 52 consecutive weeks (the second-longest in school history behind a 56-week stretch from 1998-2002), the Irish have spent a total of seven weeks this year at a season-high No. 3 ranking. That is Notre Dame’s highest poll position since the week of Nov. 29, 2004, when the Irish also were ranked third.

What’s more, Notre Dame’s No. 4 preseason ranking on Oct. 30 was its the highest ever, topping its No. 6 debut in the 2000-01 poll.

With this week’s poll position, the Irish now have appeared in the top 10 of the AP poll during 10 of the past 14 seasons (1996-97 through 2009-10).

Notre Dame has been ranked in the AP poll for 192 weeks during the program’s 33-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 Irish checked in at No. 3 in this week’s ESPN/USA Today/WBCA coaches’ poll. It’s the seventh time in eight weeks Notre Dame has reached its season high in the ESPN/USA Today poll, while also being the highest it has been ranked in the coaches’ survey since the 2004-05 season, when the Irish were third for two separate weeks (Nov. 30 and Jan. 5) during the year.

What’s more, it was the first time Notre Dame was in the top three in consecutive weeks since the final 14 weeks of the 2000-01 season (capped by a No. 1 ranking in the final poll after winning the national championship).

This marks the second consecutive season Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 10 of the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA poll, as well as eight of the past 12 campaigns (1998-99 to present).

Notre Dame was ranked in the coaches’ survey for 38 consecutive weeks before falling just outside the Top 25 in the final poll of last season. With their No. 3 ranking this week, the Irish have appeared in the coaches’ poll for 184 weeks during their history (all coming during McGraw’s tenure).

More Polling Data
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw is one of 27 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 192 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 27 people on this list, 15 currently are NCAA Division I head coaches (see accompanying chart), including former 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 third season as head coach at Penn State, guiding the Lady Lions into the Jan. 25 AP poll at No. 23.

Road Warriors
Notre Dame is 27-10 (.730) in true road games since the start of the 2007-08 season, including a 7-1 record this year.

In addition, seven of the past eight road losses for the Irish have been decided by an average of 8.4 points per game (all by 12 points or fewer), including all five road setbacks last season (average margin of 8.6 ppg.).

Notre Dame posted 10 wins on the road in each of the past two years, marking just the second time in school history the Irish have logged double-digit win totals away from home in consecutive seasons (11 wins in 1989-90; 10 wins in 1990-91).

Game #23 Recap: Cincinnati
The crowd was small, the mood was subdued, the snow was falling outside. Fourth-ranked Notre Dame didn’t feel a whole lot of energy at the opening tip.

Lindsay Schrader and the Irish defense eventually provided it.

Schrader scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half Tuesday, and Notre Dame intensified its full-court pressure, building a 20-point lead and holding on for a 66-50 win over Cincinnati.

The Irish (22-1, 9-1 BIG EAST) have won seven straight since their loss to No. 1 Connecticut on Jan. 16, a streak set up by offensive balance and unrelenting defensive pressure. Schrader led the way against Cincinnati (10-12, 3-7), shaking off a 1-for-7 shooting performance in a first half that lacked energy.

Only 472 fans showed up for a game played as the city was digging out from another major snowstorm.

“It was kind of dead,” said Schrader, who missed only one of her seven shots in the second half. “We had to create our own energy. I don’t think we were up for that, either. So it was kind of a dull game.

“I don’t like to play like that. I like to play with a lot of emotion and a loud crowd and stuff like that, but it was just one of those games you have to get through, and we did.”

The fifth-year senior guard got the Irish revved by making three consecutive baskets early in the second half, pushing the lead to 20. When Cincinnati got the lead down to nine, Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw called a timeout and called a play designed to get the ball inside to Schrader.

She caught the pass, made a layup, was fouled and completed a three-point play that ended Cincinnati’s comeback.

“That’s generally the play when we need a basket — we go to her,” McGraw said. “She came on in the second half. You know she’s going to, it’s just a question of when. We called her number quite a few times and she was able to score.”

Becca Bruszewski added 14 points and eight rebounds, helping the Irish get through a night when they started very slowly.

“We probably missed 10 layups in the first half,” McGraw said. “We were lethargic. I think we let the atmosphere get to us. It was dead. It’s snowing and we’re worried about getting home. They’re a veteran team. They need to put that behind them and come out and play hard.”

Kahla Roudebush had 17 points for Cincinnati, which is 0-4 against ranked teams this season.

The Bearcats couldn’t take advantage of Notre Dame’s ragged first half. The Irish led only 19-16 with 7:35 left in the half. That’s when Notre Dame’s pressure and dominance inside let the Irish take control.

The Bearcats went 1 of 8 with four turnovers the rest of the half, allowing Notre Dame to pull ahead 32-18. The Irish had 12 offensive rebounds in the half, setting up 14 points.

Junior guard Brittany Mallory had a career-high eight rebounds in the first half alone. In one sequence during the late first-half run, the Irish got four offensive rebounds on one possession and finally scored on junior forward Devereaux Peters’ putback.

Notre Dame opened the second half with an 8-2 run that featured three straight baskets by Schrader and pushed the lead to 40-20.

The Irish force an average of 24 turnovers per game with their trapping, full-court pressure. It got the Bearcats’ offense out of sync and forced sloppy moments that left coach Jamelle Elliott pointing at her head. Cincinnati had an over-and-back violation, a shot clock violation, and threw the ball out of bounds on consecutive possessions.

Cincinnati finished with 23 turnovers, setting up 21 Irish points.

“The thing throughout the game that upset me the most was the unforced turnovers,” Elliott said. “They’re going to make you turn the ball over X-number of times in a game. One of the things we tried to do in preparation for this game was to stay solid and not have unforced turnovers. We’d throw the ball away, make passes we knew wouldn’t be completed.”

Noting The Cincinnati Game

• Notre Dame improves to 6-0 all-time against Cincinnati, with the Bearcats and Providence (18-0) remaining the two BIG EAST teams the Fighting Irish have never lost to; in a strange twist, the final score was the same as last year’s result at Purcell Pavilion.
• Notre Dame is now 71-16 (.816) against Ohio schools, stretching its current winning streak against the Buckeye State to 16 games (dating back to March 1993) while going to 31-7 (,816) on the road against the state of Ohio, and 16-2 (.889) all-time in the city of Cincinnati.
• Cincinnati’s five assists were the second-fewest by a Notre Dame opponent this year, with Charlotte having four handouts in a 90-31 Fighting Irish win on Dec. 20 at Purcell Pavilion.
• Notre Dame posted its second-best defensive outing of the BIG EAST season, allowing only 50 points (it yielded just 46 points to Villanova in the 81-46 conference opener on Jan. 9 at Purcell Pavilion).
• Cincinnati’s 18 first-half points were the fewest allowed by Notre Dame in the opening 20 minutes since that Dec. 20 win over Charlotte, when the Fighting Irish gave up just 14 first-half points to the 49ers.
• Fifth-year senior guard Lindsay Schrader jumped up one spot on both the school’s scoring and rebounding charts — she now is 14th all-time with 1,327 points (passing Margaret Nowlin, who had 1,312 points from 1988-92) and seventh all-time with 776 rebounds (passing Sandy Botham, who grabbed 774 boards from 1984-88).
• Schrader also made her 114th career start on Tuesday, tying current Fighting Irish assistant coach Niele Ivey for seventh in school history (Ivey made 114 starts from 1996-2001).
• Junior guard Brittany Mallory snared a career-high eight rebounds on Tuesday night, one more than her previous best that she had set three times previously (the last coming on Nov. 28, 2009, vs. #20/17 Oklahoma at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands).

Schrader Added To State Farm Wade Trophy Watch List
Fifth-year senior guard/tri-captain Lindsay Schrader was one of seven players added to the 2009-10 State Farm Wade Trophy Watch List, it was announced Jan. 28 by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). Schrader and her fellow mid-season additions earned their spots on this year’s Wade Watch List by virtue of their on-court performances to date during the ’09-10 campaign, and they expand the player pool for this season’s national player-of-the-year award to 32, as selected by the State Farm Wade Trophy Committee.

Schrader, a preseason all-BIG EAST Conference selection and three-time BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll choice this year, becomes the fifth Notre Dame player named to the Wade Watch List in the past seven seasons, and the first since Charel Allen in 2007-08.

In addition, Schrader is the third Notre Dame player this season to earn a place on a national player-of-the-year award watch list. Senior guard/tri-captain Ashley Barlow was both a preseason Naismith Trophy candidate and a midseason John R. Wooden Award Top 20 choice, while freshman guard Skylar Diggins joined Barlow on this year’s preseason Naismith Trophy candidate slate.

McGraw Earns 600th Career Win
Irish head coach Muffet McGraw reached her second important career milestone of the season on Jan. 19, as she became the 19th Division I coach to record 600 career wins when the Irish posted a 78-60 victory at Louisville.

McGraw earned the milestone win in her 839th career game (she now has a 28-year mark of 606-239, .717), tying her with former Saint Peter’s coach Mike Granelli as the 10th-fastest to the 600-win plateau in Division I history.

In honor of the historic 600th victory, Notre Dame fans at Purcell Pavilion held up signs with the number “600” on them when McGraw and her staff took the floor prior to the Jan. 24 win over No. 16/11 West Virginia. The visibly-moved Irish coach later called the scene “one of the top five moments” of her Notre Dame career.

McGraw Joins Elite Notre Dame Club
With a 84-79 win over No. 23/24 San Diego State on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Irish head coach Muffet McGraw reached a personal milestone, becoming the fourth coach in school history (in any sport) to register 500 victories while coaching under the Golden Dome. McGraw now has a record of 518-198 (.723) in 23 seasons at Notre Dame (1987-88 to present) and a 606-239 (.717) record in 28 seasons overall — including a five-year stint at Lehigh from 1982-87.

Fencing’s Michael DeCicco (680-45 from 1962-86) and Yves Auriol (525-33 from 1986-2002), and baseball’s Jake Kline (558-449-5 from 1934-75) are the only other members of the “Fighting Irish Five Hundred Club,” with one able to connect 75 years of Notre Dame athletics history and success via just four degrees of separation (Kline to DeCicco to Auriol to McGraw).

McGraw reached two other mileposts on Dec. 2 vs. Eastern Michigan, as she coached her 700th game at Notre Dame, as well as her 300th at Purcell Pavilion.

As it turned out, that EMU game also saw the school honor McGraw with an on-court post-game celebration for her 500th win, capped by a visit from her 19-year-old son, Murphy, who secretly drove four hours from his college campus at Indiana University in Bloomington to surprise his mother with a bouquet of flowers and the game ball from her milestone win.

Keeping It Close To Home
Although Notre Dame has traditionally had a national reputation in recruiting circles, in recent seasons, the Irish have found their strongest talent comes from right in their own backyard. In fact, of the 13 players on this year’s Notre Dame roster, four are from Indiana, while five others are from states that border Indiana (including sophomore forward Erica Solomon, who lived in Oak Park, Mich., and graduated from Detroit Country Day School in 2008 before her family moved back to her birthplace of Charleston, W.Va., this past summer).

What’s more, of the five current Notre Dame starters, four are from the state of Indiana — senior guard Ashley Barlow (Indianapolis), junior forward Becca Bruszewski (Valparaiso) and the all-South Bend backcourt of senior guard Melissa Lechlitner and freshman guard Skylar Diggins — while the fifth starter (fifth-year senior guard Lindsay Schrader) is from Bartlett, Ill., located right outside Chicago.

As if that weren’t enough, the quartet of Barlow, Lechlitner, Bruszewski and Schrader have been mainstays in the Irish lineup for the past two seasons and have a combined total of 308 career starts between them.

Schrader reached a personal milestone on Dec. 12 against Valparaiso, becoming the 12th player in school history with 100 starting assignments in her career. Schrader now is tied for seventh in school history with 114 career starts, including a current streak of 72 in a row (putting her two away from moving into the Notre Dame top five in that category).

Experience Matters
For the first time in Notre Dame women’s basketball history, four players have hit the 100 games played mark in the same season. Senior guards/tri-captains Ashley Barlow, Melissa Lechlitner and Lindsay Schrader, along with senior center Erica Williamson, all reached the century mark during the Thanksgiving weekend at the Paradise Jam (Lechlitner and Williamson on Nov. 26 vs. San Diego State, Barlow and Schrader on Nov. 27 vs. South Carolina).

Current Irish assistant coach Niele Ivey holds the school record with 132 games played from 1996-2001, while the current Irish senior quartet is closing in on 10th place (127) in that category (Lechlitner at 119, the other three at 118).

Upwardly Mobile
Two of Notre Dame’s senior guards and tri-captains — Ashley Barlow and Lindsay Schrader — are already members of the program’s 1,000-Point Club, and will spend this season trying to work their way up the Irish all-time scoring ladder.

Barlow currently ranks 13th in school history with 1,372 career points, while Schrader is 14th with 1,327 points. They could be joined by their fellow senior guard and tri-captain, Melissa Lechlitner, who has 890 points to date.

Only one other time in program history has Notre Dame fielded three 1,000-point scorers on its roster at the same time — and it literally happened for less than one game. Ruth Riley, Niele Ivey and Kelley Siemon all reached the millennium mark and played on the 2000-01 Irish national championship squad, with Siemon reaching the milestone after scoring 10 points in her final collegiate contest — Notre Dame’s 68-66 title-game victory over Purdue in St. Louis.

Tournament Tested
Notre Dame has felt right at home in tournament situations during the past 14 years. Starting with the 1996-97 season, the Irish have won 21 of their last 24 regular-season tournament games (multi-game events only), most recently capping a three-game run to the 2009 Paradise Jam Island Division championship over the Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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.

High Value Freshman
Freshman guard Skylar Diggins was named the most valuable player in the Island Division of the 2009 Paradise Jam after averaging 16.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game with a .538 field goal percentage (21-of-39) and a .545 three-point ratio (6-of-11) at the tournament.

Diggins, who also earned a spot on the BIG EAST Conference Weekly Honor Roll for her efforts, was the first Notre Dame rookie in a decade to collect all-tournament team honors in a regular-season event. Alicia Ratay was the last to do so, garnering a place on the 1999 Wachovia Women’s Basketball Invitational all-tournament team after helping Notre Dame to wins over No. 9/12 North Carolina (99-86) and Liberty (85-68) in Richmond, Va.

Lechlitner Named Second-Team Academic All-District
Senior guard/tri-captain Melissa Lechlitner has been named to the 2010 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V Second Team, it was announced Feb. 4 by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

It’s the first time Lechlitner has earned the award, and she is the first Fighting Irish player to garner academic all-district status since 2006, when former Notre Dame point guard Megan Duffy received her second consecutive district award and parlayed that into first-team Academic All-America honors. What’s more, Lechlitner becomes the eighth Fighting Irish women’s basketball player in the past 12 seasons to be an academic all-district selection.

Lechlitner currently maintains a 3.377 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) in the College of Arts and Letters, where she is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in psychology. She earned dean’s list honors in the spring of 2007 with a 3.75 semester GPA, and is coming off a stellar fall 2009 term that saw her post a 3.583 GPA. In addition, she is a three-time BIG EAST Conference All-Academic Team selection and is a prime candidate to make that squad once again this year.

Pomp And Circumstance
On Jan. 3, senior center Erica Williamson received her bachelor’s degree in film, television & theater from Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters. Williamson, who also serves as the president of the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), graduated a full semester early and has begun graduate studies this spring.

With Williamson collecting her diploma, all 58 Notre Dame women’s basketball student-athletes who have completed their athletic and academic eligibility under head coach Muffet McGraw (1987-present) have earned their degrees.

Century City
With its 102-57 season-opening win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 15 at Purcell Pavilion, Notre Dame topped the 100-point mark for the 13th time in school history, and the third time in less than two years (104-86 at Georgetown on Jan. 19, 2008; 102-54 at Boston College on Nov. 23, 2008).

Notre Dame also hit the century mark at home for the first time since Nov. 26, 2002, when the Irish toppled Cleveland State, 107-65 in the 2002-03 season opener.

First Impressions
Freshman guard Skylar Diggins had 14 points in the Nov. 15 season opener vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the fifth-most by an Irish rookie in her debut game during the 23-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-88 to present), and the most since Courtney LaVere began her career with 18 points in a 2002 win over Cleveland State.

Eight Is Enough (For Now)
Notre Dame had a school-record eight players score in double figures in its 102-57 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 15 at Purcell Pavilion. That eclipsed the old standard of seven double-digit scorers that was first set on Feb. 6, 1997 vs. Syracuse (90-73 win at the Joyce Center) and matched on Jan. 19, 2008, in a 104-86 win at Georgetown.

Dishing Thirty-One Flavors
Notre Dame’s 31 assists against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 15 were the most for the Irish in a single game since Nov. 20, 2000, when they also recorded 31 assists in a 95-65 win over Arizona at the Joyce Center.

Leading the way for Notre Dame on that night was current Irish assistant coach Niele Ivey, who had a double-double with 14 points and 11 assists.

Half And Half
During the past decade, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Irish are 182-17 (.915) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 110 of their last 121 such contests.

Notre Dame has led at the break in 19 games this season and has gone on to earn victories each time.

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense…
During the past 15 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 Irish have an amazing 205-14 (.936) record when they hold their opponents below 60 points in a game.

Notre Dame has added 10 more wins to the ledger this season with victories over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Iona, South Carolina, Eastern Michigan, Valparaiso, Charlotte, UCF, Villanova, Providence and Cincinnati.

…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 15 seasons (since 1995-96), the Irish are 135-4 (.971) when they score at least 80 points in a game. The only blemishes on that record are a pair of overtime losses to Texas A&M (88-84) and Michigan State (87-83) in 1995, a 106-81 loss to Connecticut in 1998, and an 81-80 loss to DePaul in 2008.

Notre Dame already has added 12 more wins to this ongoing record with its conquests of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Iona, No. 23/24 San Diego State, No. 20/17 Oklahoma, IPFW, Valparaiso, Charlotte, Villanova, South Florida, Providence and Pittsburgh.

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 Irish have been virtually untouchable at home in recent years, winning 185 of their last 209 games (.885) at the 9,149-seat Purcell Pavilion, including winning streaks of 51 and 25 games in that span. Notre Dame also has a 104-17 (.860) 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 Irish have been particularly strong when it comes to non-conference games at home, winning 83 of their last 90 non-BIG EAST contests (.922) at Purcell Pavilion, dating back to the 1994-95 season. Five of the seven 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 two defeats coming to Tennessee in 2005 (62-51) and 2008 (87-63). 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 335-85 (.798) record at the venerable facility. Three times (1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2003-04), the Irish went a perfect 15-0 at home, setting a school record for home wins in a season.

It’s Fan-Demonium At Notre Dame
If the preseason was any indication, Notre Dame women’s basketball is easily the hottest ticket in South Bend. For the first time in school history, all Irish women’s basketball season ticket packages (close to 7,500) have been sold, including more than 1,000 packages to first-time season ticket purchasers when they went on sale Aug. 14. Furthermore, fans were waiting in line at the Purcell Pavilion ticket office as early as 4:30 that morning, more than four hours before the ticket windows opened. Those early birds were rewarded with a visit from Irish head coach Muffet McGraw, who delivered coffee and bagels, courtesy of McGraw and athletics director Jack Swarbrick.

While it’s likely that some tickets will be made available for individual games during the weeks and days prior to the contests, there’s a very real possibility that Notre Dame could approach a sell out for every one of its regular-season home games at the newly-refurbished 9,149-seat Purcell Pavilion. In fact, the crowd of 9,080 for the Nov. 15 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff was the largest season-opening audience in program history, more than 1,100 higher than the old mark set in 2001-02 (7,960 vs. Valparaiso).

Through 12 home games this season, Notre Dame is averaging 8,559 fans per game, putting the Irish more than 700 fans ahead of their school-record attendance average of 7,825 fans per game, also set in 2001-02.

Notre Dame has posted nine sellouts in program history, the most recent coming on Feb. 6, when the Irish drew 9,149 fans to Purcell Pavilion for their win over Pittsburgh — it also was the third women’s basketball sellout since the renovated arena opened this fall (the other capacity crowds coming on Dec. 31 vs. No. 18/16 Vanderbilt and Jan. 24 vs. No. 16/11 West Virginia), setting a new school record for sellouts in one season (Notre Dame had two each in 2000-01 and 2007-08).

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. 89 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 second season in his second stint as the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Irish.

Notre Dame On The Small Screen
Notre Dame will have at least 18 games televised during the 2009-10 season. Highlighting this year’s broadcast schedule are 11 nationally-televised Irish women’s basketball contests, including at least six games on the ESPN family of networks and four others on CBS College Sports (check schedule on page 1 of these notes for exact broadcast coverage).

In addition, Notre Dame continues to expand its broadcast reach globally on the Internet. All Irish regular-season home games not selected for commercial TV coverage (with the exception of the Nov. 15 game vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff) 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. And, the Thanksgiving weekend Paradise Jam was webcast in its entirety through Fox College Sports Broadband on a pay-per-view basis.

This year’s TV slate continues a recent trend that has seen the Irish become a regular fixture on television. Beginning with the NCAA championship season of 2000-01 and continuing through this year, Notre Dame has played in 158 televised games, including 105 that were broadcast nationally.

Oh Captain, My Captain
Fifth-year senior guard Lindsay Schrader and senior guards Ashley Barlow and Melissa Lechlitner all return for their second year as team captains for the 2009-10 season. All three players received the captain’s honor following a vote of their teammates prior to the season.

This marks the first time in program history that the same players are serving as captains in consecutive seasons.

Irish Lend Hand For Haiti Earthquake Relief
Fundraising efforts held in conjunction with two University of Notre Dame home basketball games have resulted in more than $250,000 in donations that will go toward relief efforts in Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit the island nation on Jan. 12.

Through the generosity of fans and alumni, as well as contributions from the University and the Notre Dame Monogram Club, the money was raised at the men’s and women’s basketball games that were played Jan. 23 and 24, respectively, at Purcell Pavilion.

Notre Dame donated full gate receipts and net concession revenue from both games to the relief effort. In addition, a collection organized by the Notre Dame Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) — led by president and current Irish women’s basketball senior center Erica Williamson, as well as baseball player Ryan Connolly and rower Emily Crosby — raised more than $25,000 from fans and alumni who contributed during the games. The Monogram Club added a $10,000 matching gift to the student total.

Money raised will benefit short-term needs and long-term rebuilding efforts in Haiti and will be distributed to the Notre Dame Haiti Program, which works to eradicate the debilitating mosquito-borne disease lymphatic filariasis; the Congregation of Holy Cross, which has served in Haiti since 1944 and was heavily affected by the earthquake; and Catholic Relief Services, the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States.

Irish Sign Three For 2010-11 Season
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw announced Nov. 13 that three of the country’s top high school student-athletes have chosen to continue their academic and athletic careers with the Fighting Irish, each signing a National Letter of Intent to attend Notre Dame beginning in the fall of 2010.

Natalie Achonwa (last name pronounced uh-CHAWN-wuh), a 6-3 forward from Guelph, Ontario (St. Mary’s Catholic Secondary School/National Elite Development Academy), Ariel Braker, a 6-1 forward from Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. (Grosse Pointe North High School) and 2010 McDonald’s All-American Kayla McBride, a 5-11 guard from Erie, Pa. (Villa Maria Academy) all made their official commitments to the Fighting Irish during the early signing period, which ended Nov. 18.

All three student-athletes are rated among the top 50 players in the country by various national recruiting services. As a group, this trio is ranked as the No. 10 recruiting class in the country by All-Star Girls Report (and a consensus top-16 class by other recruiting services), giving Notre Dame a Top 25 recruiting class for the 14th consecutive year, a streak only two other schools in the country (Connecticut and Tennessee) can match. It’s also the third consecutive top-10 recruiting class for the Fighting Irish.

“I’m very excited about the class that we’re signing this year,” McGraw said. “I think we really addressed our needs, with three very good players coming in. They’re going to change the way we do some things at both ends of the floor next year. We’re going to be able to be more aggressive on defense because we’re adding athleticism, length and speed, and on offense, we’ll look at ways that we can take advantage of the size that we’re going to have. It will probably be a whole new look, going from the more guard-oriented team that we have now, to next year when we’ll have some depth in the post as well.”

“Notre Dame emphasized strengthening their perimeter game and did so with size, athleticism and versatility,” said Dan Olson, director of the Collegiate Girls Basketball Report.

The full press release, with a complete look at the newest members of the Notre Dame women’s basketball program, is available on-line at http://www.und.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/111309aab.html.

Irish Signee Kayla McBride Named McDonald’s All-American
Notre Dame incoming freshman guard Kayla McBride (Erie, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) is one of 24 student-athletes who have been named to the 2010 McDonald’s Girls’ High School All-America Team, it was announced late Thursday evening. With the selection, McBride will compete for the East team in the McDonald’s High School All-America Game, which is scheduled to take place at 5:30 p.m. (ET) on March 31 and will be televised live to a national cable audience by ESPNU from Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

“This is an incredible honor and we are so proud of Kayla,” Fighting Irish head coach Muffet McGraw said. “She put in so much time and effort during the off-season to improve her game, and it’s such a thrill to see that kind of hard work and dedication pay off. We’re looking forward to following Kayla throughout the rest of her high school career, and excited to have her joining us next season.”

The 5-foot-11 McBride is the sixth future Notre Dame women’s basketball player, and third in four seasons, to earn McDonald’s High School All-America recognition since the girls’ team was first created in 2002. Other incoming Fighting Irish cagers who played in the McDonald’s game have included Courtney LaVere (2002), Crystal Erwin (2003), and a trio of current Notre Dame players — Lindsay Schrader (2005), Devereaux Peters (2007) and Skylar Diggins (2009). Diggins shared Most Valuable Player honors at last year’s McDonald’s game in Coral Gables, Fla., after collecting a game-high 18 points, five rebounds and three steals for the East team in a 69-68 loss to the West squad.

McBride, who also earned a spot on the ESPN Hoopgurlz All-Star Team that likewise was released Thursday, has been ranked as one of the top 25 players in the nation in the Class of 2010 by both ESPN Hoopgurlz (20th) and All-Star Girls Report (22nd). She recently became the all-time scoring leader in Villa Maria Academy history and has helped VMA — the defending Pennsylvania Class AA state champion — to a No. 1 ranking in the state in Class AA. The Victors also have been ranked among the top 15 teams in the East Region by several national media outlets this year.

Irish Fans Crave Another Big Mac Attack
It’s year three 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 Irish score at least 88 points in a home game.

In the three-year history of the promotion (and counting exhibition games), Notre Dame has hit the 88-point mark 17 times, including wins this year over Indianapolis, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, IPFW, Valparaiso and Charlotte.

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 — junior 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 “SID has too much time on his hands”), 10 different players have converted the “burger ball”, including nine current members of the Irish roster.

What’s more, of the 17 Big Mac games to date, nine have been reached on two-point baskets, five on free throws, and three on three-pointers.

Next Game: St. John’s
Notre Dame has a quick turnaround as it heads to St. John’s Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. (ET) BIG EAST matchup with the No. 25/24 Red Storm at Carnesecca Arena in Queens, N.Y.

St. John’s (20-4, 8-3) had won seven of its last eight as it prepared for Saturday night’s game at top-ranked Connecticut.

— ND —