Irish Battle Bearcats In Cincinnati

Feb. 24, 2006

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2005-06 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 26
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (15-10 / 6-8 BIG EAST) vs.
Cincinnati Bearcats (17-8 / 7-7 BIG EAST)

Storylines

• Notre Dame makes its ninth television appearance of the season Saturday as its matchup at Cincinnati is featured as the BIG EAST Game of the Week. Some of the outlets showing the game include WHME-TV 46 (South Bend), Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Comcast Local and Ohio News Network.
• The Irish return to Cincinnati for the first time since March 28, 1997, when they appeared in their first NCAA Women’s Final Four (lost 80-66 to Tennessee at Riverfront Coliseum).

Now that its place in next week’s BIG EAST Championship is secure, Notre Dame looks to improve on its current No. 11 seed when it travels to Cincinnati Saturday for a 2 p.m. (ET) contest with the Bearcats. The Irish will be facing UC for the first time in more than 14 years and just the second time overall.

Notre Dame (15-10, 6-8 BIG EAST) put together one of its best halves of the year Wednesday at West Virginia, shooting 62.1 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes to surge past the Mountaineers, 70-58. The Irish also rang up a season-high 46 second-half points and made a season-best seven three-pointers in the game.

For the seventh consecutive game, Notre Dame had three double-figure scorers, led by senior All-America guard Megan Duffy (22 points). Sophomore guard Charel Allen and junior forward Crystal Erwin came off the bench to add 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is not ranked.
• Cincinnati is not ranked.

Web Sites

• Notre Dame: http://www.und.com
• Cincinnati: http://www.ucbearcats.com
• BIG EAST: http://www.bigeast.org

Setting The Standard
Under the guidance of 19th-year head coach Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame has evolved into one of the country’s leading women’s basketball powers. The Irish have appeared in 12 NCAA Tournaments (including the past 10 in a row) and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 six times in the past nine years. Notre Dame also has reached the NCAA Women’s Final Four twice, winning college basketball’s ultimate prize with the 2001 national championship.

In its history, Notre Dame has developed eight All-Americans, eight WNBA players (including five draft picks in the past five years) and four USA Basketball veterans (eight medals won). Now in their 29th season in 2005-06, the Irish own an all-time record of 590-264 (.691).

Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw

• Saint Joseph’s ’77
• 19th season at Notre Dame
• 426-165 (.721) at Notre Dame.
• 514-206 (.714) in 24 years as head coach.

NOTES

• 2001 consensus National Coach of the Year
• Four-time Naismith Coach of the Year finalist
• Four-time conference Coach of the Year
• BIG EAST Conference (2001)
• Midwestern Collegiate Conference (1991)
• North Star Conference (1988)
• East Coast Conference (@ Lehigh) (1983)

A Quick Look At The Fighting Irish
One of the more famous movie quotes of the past 20 years came from a simple Alabama man named Forrest Gump, who recalled his mother’s advice that “life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get.”

In some ways, that philosophy would be appropriate when it comes to describing the 2005-06 season for Notre Dame. Despite losing two of their top three scorers and two primary rebounders from a year ago, the Irish bolted to a 9-1 record, highlighted by two wins over Top 25 teams (USC and Utah) as well as the championship at the Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas.

Since that time, Notre Dame has seen its fortunes turn south, losing nine of its last 15 games, including the program’s first three-game losing streaks in eight seasons. However, the Irish also did log an key third win over a ranked opponent (78-75 vs. #10 DePaul on Jan. 17) and were ranked in every AP and ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll for the first two months of the season.

One of the critical elements for the Irish to be successful this season has been offensive balance. On 19 occasions (including each of the past seven games), Notre Dame has had at least three players scoring in double figures (going 13-6), and eight separate players have cracked double digits at least twice this year. Additionally, six different players have led the team in scoring at some point.

The Irish also have the benefit of strong leadership in senior All-America point guard and two-year team captain Megan Duffy. The 5-foot-7 Dayton, Ohio, native spent last summer as a co-captain and starter on the United States World University Games Team that rolled to the gold medal with a 7-0 record. Duffy directed an American offense that averaged 97.4 points per game and set a USA World University Games record with a scoring margin of +43.1 ppg.

Back stateside, Duffy continues to make improvements in her game each night out and has been a strong all-around contributor and leader for Notre Dame once again this year. The veteran floor general is averaging a team-best 15.6 points, 4.24 assists and 2.08 steals per game, with a 1.77 assist/turnover ratio, ranking among the top 10 in the BIG EAST in all four categories. In addition, she leads the league and ranks 11th in the nation in foul shooting (.887). She also has led the team in scoring 13 times and in assists 18 times this year.

Among her many honors this year, Duffy is one of 11 nominees for the Nancy Lieberman Award (top point guard in the nation), a mid-season candidate for the Naismith Trophy, a first-team academic all-district honoree, a BIG EAST Player of the Week selection (Jan. 23), a three-time BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll choice, and was named to the Duel in the Desert (Gray Division) All-Tournament Team. She has scored in double figures in her last 10 games, the longest such streak of her career.

Freshman guard Lindsay Schrader has shown tremendous promise in her first season with the Irish. The former McDonald’s All-American already has been named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week once (Nov. 21) after turning in an impressive 10-point, 14-rebound effort in her debut outing against Michigan, becoming just the second player in school history (first since 1979) to record a double-double in her first game. She also earned a spot on the Dec. 5 BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, the first freshman to appear on that list this season. Schrader is second on the team in scoring (9.4 ppg.) and tops in rebounding (5.6 rpg.), and has scored in double figures four times in the past seven games (11.6 ppg. in that time), including a season-high 24 points at Syracuse on Jan. 31.

Sophomore guard Charel Allen and senior forward Courtney LaVere also have shown signs of being dependable options for the Irish. Allen ranks third on the team in scoring (8.5 ppg.), with LaVere fourth (8.3 ppg.), while Allen is third in rebounding (4.4 rpg.), and LaVere is tops in both field goal percentage (.503) and blocks (1.36 bpg.), fifth in the BIG EAST in the latter category. LaVere was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Feb. 6, and both players have come alive in recent games. Allen is on a run of five consecutive double-figure scoring games, averaging 12.6 ppg. in that stretch. Meanwhile, LaVere has four double-digit games in her last six, scoring 10.8 ppg. in that period.

Potent Notables About The Fighting Irish

• Notre Dame’s departure from the Jan. 30 Associated Press poll snapped a string of 30 consecutive appearances for the Irish in that survey, dating back to the start of the 2004-05 season. All told, Notre Dame has appeared in 139 Associated Press polls since the balloting debuted 30 years ago, with their first AP ranking (No. 25) coming on Dec. 31, 1990.
• With its No. 10 AP ranking on Dec. 5, the Irish have appeared in the top 10 of the media balloting at some point in seven of the past 10 years (including three of the past four seasons). Notre Dame has spent a total of 73 weeks in the AP top 10 during the program’s 29-year history and owns a 110-21 (.840) record when it’s ranked in the top 10.
• The Irish have won 57 of their last 61 non-conference home games, dating back to the 1994-95 season. Three of the losses in that span have come against Big Ten Conference opponents (Wisconsin in 1996, Purdue in 2003, Michigan State in 2004), with the other coming back on Dec. 31 vs. No. 1 Tennessee.
• The Irish defense continues to be its calling card. In each of the past six seasons, Notre Dame has held its opponents to an average of less than 62 points per game, including a 56.8 ppg. mark last year, which ranked as the third-lowest opponent scoring average in school history and second-best of the Muffet McGraw era (55.8 ppg. in 2000-01). Thus far in 2005-06, the Irish are slightly over their six-year average, allowing opponents to score 62.7 ppg.
• The Irish are 3-5 against ranked teams this season and have posted 40 wins over Top 25 opponents in the past eight seasons (1998-99 to present), most recently knocking off No. 10/10 DePaul, 78-75 on Jan. 17 at the Joyce Center. In each of the past two years, Notre Dame has set a school record with seven regular-season wins over ranked opponents. Furthermore, since the start of the 2003-04 season, the Irish are 12-4 (.750) at home against Top 25 competition (2-2 this year).
• Drawing 8,193 fans to last Sunday’s game vs. Connecticut (the 13th-largest crowd in school history and second-biggest of the season), the Irish now have welcomed crowds of 5,000 or more fans to 77 of their last 79 home games. The only two blemishes on that mark came in the semifinals and finals of last year’s Preseason WNIT, because tickets for those games could not be included in the Notre Dame season ticket package and had to be purchased separately.
• The capacity crowd of 11,418 for the Dec. 31 home game vs. top-ranked Tennessee was the third sellout in program history and the 19-day advance sellout was the quickest in the 29-year history of Irish women’s basketball. As of Feb. 20, Notre Dame ranks 11th in the country in average home attendance with 6,682 fans per game.
• Senior guard Megan Duffy was named a preseason All-American by three sources, was cited on the preseason watch lists for both the State Farm/WBCA Wade Trophy and the John R. Wooden Women’s Award, and was tabbed as one of the top five point guards in the nation by ESPN.com. Duffy also was a preseason all-BIG EAST Conference selection, following up her first-team all-league citation last year.
• With a 55-45 victory over Michigan on Nov. 18, Irish head coach Muffet McGraw became the 27th coach in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history to reach the 500-win mark. She also is the 10th Division I coach to earn her 500th victory prior to age 50. McGraw reached another milestone on Nov. 29 vs. Iona with her 700th career game as a head coach.

A Quick Look At Cincinnati
As has been the case with each of the new BIG EAST Conference members, Cincinnati entered this season with a great deal of excitement about its new home. The Bearcats are one of the younger teams in the BIG EAST, with eight of their 13 players being underclassmen. However, youth doesn’t necessarily equal inexperience, as UC has shown in 2005-06.

The Bearcats (17-8, 7-7) looked particularly sharp during the non-conference season, winning 10 of 11 games, with only a loss at crosstown rival Xavier dotting their resume. Since opening its inaugural BIG EAST campaign, Cincinnati has had mixed success, registering impressive wins over South Florida (89-87) and Louisville (76-65), but also going through a pair of three-game conference losing streaks. The bulk of UC’s progress has come at home, where the Bearcats are 12-3 this season.

Cincinnati is in the midst of a three-game winning streak following a 63-47 victory at Georgetown on Tuesday night. Junior sharpshooter Karen Twehues came off the bench to score a game-high 19 points for the Bearcats, knocking down 7 of 11 shots, including 5-of-8 three-pointers. Senior center Anne Stephens tacked on 12 points for UC, which led comfortably most of the way after spotting the Hoyas an early four-point lead. The Bearcats also capitalized on a 42-28 rebounding edge, including 20 offensive caroms and 25 second-chance points.

Junior guard Treasure Humphries leads a balanced Cincinnati offensive attack with 12.8 points per game, while also setting the pace in assists (3.76 apg.) and steals (2.36 spg.), ranking third in the BIG EAST in the latter department. Freshman guard/forward Shelly Bellman, a two-time BIG EAST Freshman of the Week selection (including the reigning choice), is averaging 10.6 points per game and a team-high 6.1 rebounds per game. Twehues also can’t be overlooked, as she owns a team-best .463 three-point percentage and a .500 mark in BIG EAST games (leading the conference).

Head coach Laurie Pirtle has been the face of Cincinnati basketball for two decades, owning a 295-283 (.510) record in the Queen City. Pirtle started her coaching career with a four-year stint at Division III power Capital (based in Bexley, Ohio), and has amassed a career record of 378-299 (.558) in 24 seasons on the sidelines. However, Saturday will mark her first-ever meeting with Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-Cincinnati Series
It’s hard to classify the Notre Dame-Cincinnati matchup as a series, since the Irish and Bearcats have played only once before. In that lone prior contest (played on Feb. 13, 1982), Notre Dame came away with a 67-58 victory at the Joyce Center.

Other Notre Dame-CincinnatiSeries Tidbits

• Notre Dame will be playing on the Cincinnati campus for the first time ever.
• The 14 years and 12 days between games in the Cincinnati series is the second-longest hiatus for any opponent on this year’s schedule (largest for a BIG EAST foe). The Nov. 29 game with Iona was the first between the Irish and Gaels in 24 years, 11 months and nine days (the longest break in school history).
• Notre Dame makes its first visit to the city of Cincinnati since March 28, 1997, when the Irish advanced to their first NCAA Women’s Final Four. On that afternoon, Notre Dame fell to eventual national champion Tennessee, 80-66 at Riverfront Coliseum. Among the 16,714 fans in attendance that day – current Notre Dame senior guard Megan Duffy, who got to see her first live Irish women’s basketball game and quickly decided her basketball future would take place under the Golden Dome.
• The Irish are 62-16 (.795) all-time against Ohio schools, including a 33-9 (.786) mark away from home. Notre Dame also has won six consecutive games against teams from the Buckeye State, since a 74-67 loss at Ohio State on Jan. 4, 1997.
• Two Notre Dame players are Ohio natives. Senior All-America guard Megan Duffy is a native of Dayton and graduated from national power Chaminade-Julienne High School in 2002. Sophomore guard Amanda Tsipis grew up in Perry, Ohio, and graduated from Perry High School in 2004. In addition, Irish assistant coach Jonathan Tsipis was born and raised in Cleveland.
• Duffy also played for the Dayton Lady HoopStars AAU program that won six consecutive Ohio state titles (1996-2001) and three national crowns (1996, 1998, 2000). Two of her teammates with the HoopStars were Cincinnati senior guard Micah Harvey and Bearcat junior wing Karen Twehues.
• UC freshman guard Kahla Roudebush is from Noblesville, Ind., and was a member of the 2005 Indiana All-Star Team.
• Four former members of the Notre Dame women’s basketball family now are living in Cincinnati and working at Xavier – head coach Kevin McGuff (former ND assistant from 1996-2002), assistant coach Kristin (Knapp) Cole (former ND player from 1990-94), assistant coach Amber Stocks-Whitford (strength and conditioning intern in 1999-2000) and administrative assistant Niele Ivey (former ND player). In addition, McGuff’s wife, the former Letitia Bowen, played for the Irish from 1991-95 and later spent six seasons on Muffet McGraw’s staff as both an assistant coach and coordinator of basketball operations.
• First-year Cincinnati head rowing coach Pam Mork spent six seasons (1999-2005) as the top assistant on Martin Stone’s staff at Notre Dame prior to assuming her current post with the Bearcats. Mork helped guide the Irish to a pair of BIG EAST titles as well as two top-20 finishes at the NCAA Championships during her tenure in South Bend.

The Last Time Notre Dame And Cincinnati Met Mary Beth Schueth scored 17 points and Laura Dougherty came off the bench to add 15 points as Notre Dame posted a 67-58 victory over Cincinnati on Feb. 13, 1982 at the Joyce Center.

Schueth and Dougherty combined to go 12-of-20 from the field, highlighted a .587 team field goal percentage for the Irish. Schueth tacked on eight rebounds, Dougherty had a team-best six assists and five steals, and Shari Matvey almost recorded a double-double for the hosts, finishing with 10 points and a game-best nine rebounds.

Joy Roberts led Cincinnati with 16 points and Cheryl Cook chipped in with 10 points in a reserve role. The Bearcats also shot well from the floor in the contest, connecting at a .482 clip.

UC had control for much of the first half, opening up a 22-14 lead on a driving layup by Deona Jennings with 6:11 left in the period. However, Notre Dame responded with a 19-7 run to close out the frame and take a four-point lead to the locker room.

The Irish continued their surge in the opening five minutes of the second half, scoring 12 of the first 16 points (a combined 31-11 run between periods) and taking a 45-33 lead when Schueth converted off a pass from Ruth Kaiser at the 13:39 mark.

Cincinnati then made a charge of its own with a 19-10 rally, punctuated by Barb Jaksa’s layup that made it 55-52, Notre Dame with 5:04 remaining. But, Dougherty answered with a pair of long jumpers on the next two Irish possessions and UC could not get closer than five points the rest of the way.

Welcome To The Family
Since joining the BIG EAST Conference for the 1995-96 season, Notre Dame is 14-3 (.824) when it plays an opponent for the first time in league play, including a 6-1 record when that initial BIG EAST matchup takes place away from the Joyce Center. The only road loss came earlier this season at Louisville (a 61-51 defeat on Jan. 14 at Freedom Hall).

This season, the Irish are 2-2 in the first time around with the five new BIG EAST Conference members. On Jan. 10, Notre Dame outlasted Marquette, 67-65 in overtime at the Joyce Center behind a career-high 32 points and the game-winning layup at the OT horn by senior guard Megan Duffy. Four days later, Louisville claimed its aforementioned win at Freedom Hall. Notre Dame came back on Jan. 17 with a 78-75 victory over No. 10 DePaul at the Joyce Center, before bowing to South Florida at home in overtime, 68-64 on Jan. 28.

Don’t Count Us Out
While Notre Dame has gotten into an unfortunate habit of falling behind by double-digit margins this season, the Irish have also found a way to claw back into the contest with dramatic second-half rallies.

In 13 games this season, Notre Dame has used a significant second-half run to either take control or battle back into contention. Included in that total are four games against Top 25 opponents (USC, Utah, Tennessee and DePaul), with three of those second-half charges leading to Irish wins (all but Tennessee).

What’s more, six times the Irish have been tied or trailed at some point in the final 11 minutes, but on the strength of their second-half run, they rallied to take the win.

Spine-Chiller Supremes
Former Oakland Raiders cornerback (and noted quote machine) Lester Hayes used to refer to close, exciting games as “spine-chiller supremes.” Lester probably would have used the same phrase to describe Notre Dame’s season to date. The Irish have played eight games decided by five points or less, going 5-3 in those contests. Three games have gone into overtime (tying a school record set in 1995-96), and all three losses were in doubt heading into the final minute of regulation (two defeats occurring in OT).

Packing For Hartford
It took a bit longer than the Irish players and coaches would have liked, but Notre Dame has clinched a berth in next week’s 12-team BIG EAST Conference Championship at the Hartford Civic Center. The Irish currently are in 11th place at 6-8, but hold a three-game edge over a trio of teams tied for 13th place at 3-11 (Georgetown, Providence and Seton Hall), punching Notre Dame’s ticket for the conference tournament.

With two games left in the regular season, still none of the 12 tourney seeds have been locked up. The Irish are one game behind a three-way logjam at 7-7 (Cincinnati, South Florida and Villanova) and two games behind 8-6 Louisville and Marquette. Notre Dame can finish no lower than the No. 11 seed, since the only team that can tie them for 11th place (West Virginia) would lose a tiebreak to the Irish by virtue of Notre Dame’s win in Morgantown Wednesday night.

They Say It’s Your Birthday
The two youngest members of the Irish women’s basketball team will celebrate their 19th birthdays during this weekend’s road trip to Cincinnati. Freshman guard Linday Schrader will blow out the candles on Friday, while freshman forward Chandrica Smith will tip off her final year as a teenager with Saturday’s game at Cincinnati.

A History Lesson
With one steal vs. South Florida on Jan. 28, senior All-America guard Megan Duffy became only the fifth player in school history to record 1,000 points and 200 steals in her career. Duffy has 1,211 points and 213 steals since arriving in South Bend in 2002.

Duffy joins Karen Robinson (1987-91), Krissi Davis (1987-91), Katryna Gaither (1993-97) and Niele Ivey (1996-2001) as the only Irish players in that elite 1,000-point/200-steal club.

What’s more, Duffy has 482 career assists, putting her just 18 handouts short of pairing with Robinson and Ivey as the only Notre Dame players ever to amass 1,000 points, 500 assists and 200 steals in their careers.

Among The Best In The Business
Senior All-America guard Megan Duffy has been selected by a panel of national sportswriters as one of 11 nominees for the seventh annual Nancy Lieberman Award, which is presented annually by the Rotary Club of Detroit to the nation’s top point guard.

The award is named after Hall of Famer and two-time Wade Trophy winner Nancy Lieberman, who guided Old Dominion to the 1978 and 1980 AIAW national titles and now serves as a broadcaster for ESPN. The trophy goes to the player who possesses the floor leadership, play-making and ball-handling skills that personified Lieberman during her career.

Duffy also is one of 30 players who have been designated as mid-season candidates for the Naismith Trophy, it was announced Feb. 17 by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. The award is presented annually to the nation’s top women’s college basketball player, with the top 30 mid-season candidates chosen from a preseason group of 50 based upon player performance during the season.

More Than A Passing Grade For Duffy
Senior guard Megan Duffy was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V First Team, it was announced Feb. 9. It’s the second consecutive year that Duffy has been chosen for academic all-district honors (she was a second-team pick in 2004-05), and with her selection to the first team, Duffy now is eligible for Academic All-America honors, becoming the first Irish women’s basketball player to make the national ballot since Ruth Riley did so in three consecutive years (1999-2001). In 2000 and 2001, Riley earned first-team Academic All-America citations, in addition to being named the ’01 Academic All-America Team Member of the Year.

Duffy currently holds a 3.555 cumulative grade-point average in the College of Arts and Letters, where she is pursuing a double major in psychology and computer applications. She has earned Dean’s List honors in each of the past four semesters, including a 3.917 GPA in the spring 2005 term and a 3.821 GPA in the recently-completed fall 2005 semester.

When The Game Is On The Line?
The Irish have posted a .660 free throw percentage (70-of-106) in the final two minutes and overtime of games this season.

Leading the way are junior forward Crystal Erwin, who made her only two late-game free throws of the year with 41 seconds left in regulation Jan. 28 vs. USF, and senior guard Megan Duffy, who has made 30 of 32 foul shots (.938) in crunch time.

Game #25 Recap: West Virginia
Senior All-America guard Megan Duffy scored 17 of her game-high 22 points in the second half, powering Notre Dame to a 70-58 BIG EAST Conference win at West Virginia on Wednesday night inside WVU Coliseum.

Duffy missed a good portion of the first half with a rare bout of foul trouble, but when she returned to the court, she was sensational, knocking down 5-of-7 shots, including 4-of-6 three-pointers in the final 20 minutes. Sophomore guard Charel Allen came off the bench to score 12 points, playing in front of a hearty band of supporters who made the hour-long drive south from her hometown of Monessen, Pa. Junior forward Crystal Erwin also provided strong support as a reserve with 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting.

Chakhia Cole led three West Virginia players in double figures with 16 points. Olayinka Sanni and LaQuita Owens each tossed in 12 points for the Mountaineers, who dropped their sixth consecutive game and seventh in the past eight outings.

The difference for Notre Dame in Wednesday’s contest was its second-half performance. As a team, the Irish shot 62.1 percent from the floor (18-of-29) in the final stanza and posted their highest scoring half of the season with 46 points. In addition, Notre Dame’s defense rose up and held West Virginia to one field goal over an eight-minute stretch late in the period, going on a 15-5 run during that same span to pull away for the victory.

The Irish found themselves trailing for a large portion of the first half, falling behind by as many as nine points when WVU’s Britney Davis-White canned two free throws to give her team a 19-10 lead with nine minutes left in the period. However, Notre Dame responded with a 10-0 run of its own, capped by a three-pointers from junior guard Breona Gray at the 5:20 mark. The teams traded baskets before Cole scored six of the Mountaineers’ last seven points and helped give West Virginia a 28-24 halftime lead.

That margin lasted all of 64 seconds in the second half, as senior forward Courtney LaVere hit a transition layup and Duffy followed with the opening salvo in her three-point barrage to put Notre Dame in front, 29-28. From there, the lead changed hands three times and the game was tied twice, with WVU going ahead for the final time when Sarah Bucar made a layup and was fouled by Gray with 13:22 left. But, Bucar missed her foul shot, Allen answered four seconds later with a three-pointer and the Irish never trailed again.

Noting The West Virginia Win

• Notre Dame clinched a winning record for the 14th consecutive season and 18th time in the 19-year Muffet McGraw era. In the 29-year history of Notre Dame women’s basketball, the Irish now have 25 winning seasons, one at exactly .500, and just three losing campaigns.
• The Irish had their first 70-point game since Jan. 17 vs. #10 DePaul (78-75 ND win).
• Notre Dame’s 46-point second half was one better than its previous top scoring half of the year (45 in the first half vs. Arkansas State on Dec. 17).
• It was the fifth time the Irish shot 50 percent or better in a game this year, and first since a season-best .560 effort in a 66-63 loss at St. John’s on Jan. 4.
• Notre Dame knocked down a season-high seven three-pointers, one more than its totals against Indiana (Nov. 23) and Tennessee (Dec. 31); the Irish have sharpened their shooting eye from beyond the arc in the past two games, hitting half their three-point attempts (11-of-22).
• The WVU contest was the sixth in seven games the Irish had 15 turnovers or less (the only blemish was a 16-turnover night vs. #8/6 Connecticut last Sunday).
• Notre Dame had at least three double-figure scorers for the seventh consecutive game and 19th time in 25 games this season.
• The Irish have won three games this season after trailing at halftime (also Marquette and Syracuse).
• The Irish are 14-1 all-time against West Virginia (6-1 in Morgantown) and have scored 70+ points in 12 of 15 meetings with the Mountaineers; in addition, Notre Dame has held WVU under 60 points eight times.
• Senior All-America guard Megan Duffy posted her seventh 20-point game of the year and has logged 10 straight double-figure outings. Her five three-pointers also were the most by an Irish player in almost exactly two years (Feb. 21, 2004), when Jeneka Joyce canned five treys in a 72-68 win at Pittsburgh.

Duffy, LaVere Join ND 1,000-Point Club
Senior co-captains Megan Duffy and Courtney LaVere became the 21st and 22nd members of Notre Dame’s 1,000-Point Club earlier this season. Duffy did so at St. John’s on Jan. 4, with LaVere following suit 10 days (and three games) later on Jan. 14 at Louisville.

Duffy currently has 1,211 career points, good for 15th on the Irish career scoring chart. LaVere is 19th all-time with 1,092 points.

The Duffy-LaVere 1,000-point tandem marks just the fifth time in school history have teammates reached the 1,000-point plateau in the same season, with Niele Ivey and Kelley Siemon the last to do so in 2000-01.

Duffy and LaVere also have recorded the shortest span between hitting the mark (three games). The previous school record was eight games, the term between Mary Beth Schueth and Carrie Bates scoring their 1,000th points in the 1984-85 season.

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 63-17 (.788) in February games, including a 36-3 (.923) mark at home. Two of those February home losses for the Irish in the past 11 seasons came against Villanova (48-45 on Feb. 26, 2002; 69-65 in overtime on Feb. 7, 2006), with the other coming at the hands of Connecticut on Sunday (79-64).

In the 19-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-present), the Irish are 111-32 (.776) in the month of February, including a 58-9 (.866) 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).

Give Her Five (Hundred)
With Notre Dame’s 55-45 victory over Michigan on Nov. 18, head coach Muffet McGraw became the 27th women’s basketball coach in NCAA Division I history to reach the 500-win mark. McGraw now has a career record of 514-206 (.714) in 24 years of coaching, including 19 seasons at Notre Dame (426-165, .721).

Here’s a closer look at how that milestone victory breaks down for McGraw:

• She is the 10th NCAA Division I women’s basketball coach to register her 500th victory before turning 50 (her birthday was Dec. 5).
• McGraw is the fourth active coach in the BIG EAST Conference to reach the career 500-win mark, joining Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer, Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma and Villanova’s Harry Perretta.
• She is the third BIG EAST coach in as many seasons to celebrate her 500th win. Auriemma hit the milestone late in the 2002-03 campaign, while Perretta joined the club with his landmark victory midway through last season.

Half And Half
During the past six seasons, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Irish are 108-10 (.915) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 36 of their last 40 such contests. Notre Dame has won 11 games this season when it led at the break (the Irish were tied at halftime of their win over No. 24/21 USC).

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense?
During the past 11 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 159-9 (.946) record when they hold their opponents to less than 60 points in a game. Notre Dame is 9-0 in such games 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 decade (1995-96 to present), the Irish are 91-3 (.968) 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 and a 106-81 loss to Connecticut in 1998.

Sweet Success
Notre Dame is one of nine schools in the country to have appeared in the NCAA Sweet 16 six times in the past nine seasons (1997-2005). The others are Connecticut and Tennessee (nine times), Duke (eight times), Louisiana Tech (seven times), and Georgia, LSU, North Carolina and Texas Tech (six times).

The Gold Standard
The Irish are one of six teams nationwide to have an active streak of 12 consecutive 20-win seasons. The others in this club are Tennessee (29), Texas Tech (16), Louisiana Tech (14), Old Dominion (14) and Connecticut (12).

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 134 of their last 150 games (.893) at the 11,418-seat Joyce Center, including winning streaks of 51 and 25 games in that span. Notre Dame also has a 79-12 (.868) record in BIG EAST Conference play at the 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 57 of their last 61 non-BIG EAST contests (.934) at the Joyce Center, dating back to the 1994-95 season. The only three losses in that span all came at the hands of Big Ten Conference opponents – Wisconsin in 1996 (81-69), Purdue in 2003 (71-54) and Michigan State in 2004 (82-73 OT). The Purdue loss 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 Joyce Center, posting a 284-77 (.787) record at the venerable facility. In three of the previous six seasons (1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2003-04), the Irish were a perfect 15-0 at home, setting a school record for home wins in a season.

Jammin’ The Joyce
Beginning with its national championship season of 2000-01, Notre Dame has ranked among the top 20 in the nation in attendance each of the past five years, including a No. 16 rating in 2004-05 (5,830 fans per game). Notre Dame has averaged 6,682 fans in its 12 home games this season, and is 11th in the latest unofficial national attendance rankings, released each Monday by the University of Wisconsin Sports Information Office.

What’s more, each of the top 20 women’s basketball crowds in Joyce Center history have occurred during the 19-year tenure of head coach Muffet McGraw (1987-present), with 19 of those 20 occurring in the past six seasons (2000-01 to present). Lastly, the Irish have attracted at least 5,000 fans to 77 of their last 79 home games, including 14 contests with at least 8,000 fans and the first three sellouts in the program’s history.

The most recent sellout in Notre Dame women’s basketball history took place on Dec 31, when 11,418 fans packed the Joyce Center for the Irish matchup with No. 1 Tennessee. The game sold out 19 days in advance, the fastest sellout in the 29-year history of the program.

Oh Captain, My Captain
Notre Dame’s two seniors – guard Megan Duffy and forward Courtney LaVere – are serving as team captains for the 2005-06 season. Duffy is in her second year as a captain (making her the 16th two-time captain in school history, and 12th in the Muffet McGraw era), while LaVere is a first-time captain. Both players received the captain’s honor following a vote of their teammates prior to the season.

They’ve Got The Know-How
Notre Dame is one of only two schools in the country that have two or more WNBA veterans on their coaching staffs. Associate head coach Coquese Washington played six seasons (1998-2003) in the league with three different clubs, and also served as the first-ever president of the WNBA Players Association. Meanwhile, assistant coach Angie Potthoff spent the 2000 season as a starter with the Minnesota Lynx after two years in the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL) with the two-time champion Columbus Quest.

Besides Notre Dame, Virginia Commonwealth is the other school with multiple WNBA veterans on its staff. VCU assistant coach Wendy Palmer-Daniel currently plays for the San Antonio Silver Stars, while the Rams’ head coach is a familiar name to Irish women’s basketball fans – Beth (Morgan) Cunningham, who played for the WNBA’s Washington Mystics in 2000 after an All-America career at Notre Dame from 1993-97.

Notre Dame On The Small Screen
Notre Dame will have nine of its regular-season games televised during the 2005-06 season. Highlighting this year’s television docket are six nationally-televised Irish women’s basketball contests, including three consecutive games on the ESPN family of networks (which has shown 27 Notre Dame games in the past six seasons).

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 including games to date this year), Notre Dame has played in 68 televised games, including 43 that were broadcast nationally. Last year, the Irish had 17 games televised, with 10 being national broadcasts.

The Irish will play their final televised game of the regular season Saturday at Cincinnati, with the 2 p.m. (ET) contest slated to air as part of the BIG EAST-Regional Sports Network (RSN) package. Among the outlets that will televise the game live are WHME-TV (Channel 46 in South Bend), Comcast Chicago, Comcast Local and Madison Square Garden Network.

Riley Named One Of ESPN.com’s Top 25 Players Of The Past 25 Years
Former Notre Dame All-America center and 2001 consensus National Player of the Year Ruth Riley has been selected as one of the top 25 women’s college basketball players of the past 25 years, according to ESPN.com. The list of all-time greats was released Jan. 10 in conjunction with the silver anniversary celebration of the inaugural NCAA women’s basketball season in 1981-82.

A native of Macy, Ind., Riley was tapped as one of the legends of the sport in part because of her contributions in the NCAA Tournament, where she led Notre Dame to three NCAA Sweet 16 appearances and the 2001 national championship. In the ’01 NCAA title game vs. Purdue, Riley tallied 28 points (on 9-of-13 shooting), 13 rebounds and seven blocks, not to mention the two game-winning free throws with 5.8 seconds remaining which snapped a 66-66 tie. It was an effort that ESPN.com termed as “the third-best all-time championship game performance in NCAA history.” That outing capped a six-game NCAA tourney stretch in which the 6-foot-5 post averaged 23.2 points and 9.0 rebounds per game while shooting at a .632 clip (48-of-76).

Riley was a two-time first-team Associated Press All-America selection and two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America choice, earning Academic All-America Team Member of the Year honors in 2001. In addition, she was a three-time first team all-BIG EAST selection, earning the league’s Player of the Year award in 2001 and the conference Defensive Player of the Year hardware three consecutive years. The only player in school history to amass 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career (2,072 points/1,007 rebounds), Riley also is the Irish all-time leader in seven statistical categories, including blocked shots (370 – fifth in NCAA history) and field goal percentage (.632 – 11th in NCAA history).

Next Game: Pittsburgh
Notre Dame will close out the 2005-06 regular season Tuesday at 7 p.m. (ET) when it plays host to Pittsburgh at the Joyce Center. Prior to the game, the Irish will honor their two senior co-captains, Megan Duffy and Courtney LaVere, as well as senior managers Meghan Callahan and Luke Hoover, and senior video assistant Janelle Tretter.

Pittsburgh (18-7. 9-5) in among three teams tied for third place in the BIG EAST standings heading into the final two games of the regular season. The Panthers will play host to Rutgers Saturday before heading to South Bend.