Irish Return To Hardwood Thursday Night

Dec. 8, 2004

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(#7 AP/#5 ESPN/USA Today) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-1)
vs.
Dayton Flyers (4-3)

The Date and Time: Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004, at 7 p.m. ET.

The Site: University of Dayton Arena (13,409) in Dayton, Ohio.

The Tickets: Still available through the Notre Dame athletics ticket office (574-631-7356) or the Dayton athletics ticket office (937-229-4433).

The Radio Plans: Thursday’s game will be broadcast live on WDND-AM (ESPN Radio 1580) and WNDV-AM (1490) in South Bend with Sean Stires (play-by-play) calling the action. These broadcasts also are available through the Notre Dame athletics web site at www.und.com.

Real-Time Statistics: Live in-game statistics, courtesy of College Sports Online’s GameTracker, are available for the Dayton game, via the Notre Dame (www.und.com) athletics web site.

Web Sites: Notre Dame (www.und.com), Dayton (www.daytonflyers.com).

#7/5 NOTRE DAME RETURNS TO HARDWOOD THURSDAY NIGHT AT DAYTON
Following a much-needed week off, the No. 7/5 Notre Dame women’s basketball team is back in action Thursday when it travels to Dayton for a 7 p.m. (ET) contest with the Flyers at the University of Dayton Arena. The Irish got time to recover after playing arguably one of the nation’s toughest schedules to open this season, playing eight games in the first 20 days of the campaign. Thursday’s game will serve as a homecoming for Irish junior guard Megan Duffy, who is a native of Dayton and attended Chaminade-Julienne High School, one of the nation’s premier prep basketballl programs.

Notre Dame (7-1) has spent the last week smarting from an 82-73 overtime loss to then-No. 15 Michigan State on Dec. 2 at the Joyce Center. The Irish held a six-point lead with less than 30 seconds to play, but MSU rallied to force overtime and outscored Notre Dame, 12-3 in the extra period to secure the victory.

Sophomore forward Crystal Erwin had a coming-out party in the loss, scoring a career-high 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting before fouling out with less than a minute to go in regulation. Duffy added 19 points, while senior All-America forward Jacqueline Batteast nearly posted a double-double, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds.

Dayton (4-3) can relate to Notre Dame’s rugged early-season schedule, as the Flyers will wrap up their own eight-game, 20-day stretch Thursday against the Irish. UD ousted cross-town rival Wright State, 65-55 in overtime on Tuesday night behind senior guard Emily Williams’ 13 points.

Williams leads UD in scoring at 14.0 ppg., while junior forward Cara Wright has a team-best 7.4 rpg.

Head coach Jim Jabir is in his second year at Dayton with a 7-28 record. He is 1-16 vs. Notre Dame in his 18-year collegiate coaching career.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE FIGHTING IRISH
With four starters and seven monogram winners back in the fold, Notre Dame would appear to have all the pieces in place for a magical 2004-05 season.

Tested early and often by both a rugged schedule (eight games in the first 20 days of the season) and demanding opposition (No. 6 Duke, No. 10 Ohio State and No. 15 Michigan State), the Irish have been up to the challenge, opening with seven consecutive victories and claiming the Sportsview.tv Preseason WNIT championship. The pollsters have apparently taken notice of Notre Dame’s success, as the Irish have been a fixture in the top 10 of both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls this season, checking in at No. 7 and No. 5, respectively in this week’s polls.

Despite the added focus shown to her by opposing teams, senior All-America forward Jacqueline Batteast has been a major catalyst in the early-season charge for the Irish, averaging 19.9 points (22nd in the nation), 6.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game with a 2.20 assist/turnover ratio (33 assists, 15 turnovers). She was named the Preseason WNIT Most Valuable Player and BIG EAST Player of the Week on Nov. 22 after logging a career-high 32 points in the WNIT championship game against Ohio State. She has scored in double digits in all eight Irish games this season and has been Notre Dame’s leading scorer five times. Last week at Valparaiso, Batteast notched her first double-double of the year with game highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds.

Junior guard Megan Duffy also has stepped up her play this season, registering 14.8 points and a team-high 4.4 assists per game, serving as the focal point on an Irish offense that has raised its scoring average by eight points per game from last year. Duffy also leads Notre Dame and ranks 22nd in the nation with a .935 free throw percentage (43-for-46) this season, sparking the Irish to a league-leading .778 free throw ratio (also 15th in the NCAA).

Another aspect of Notre Dame’s sharp play this season has been the contributions from its reserves, who are averaging 15.1 points per game. Freshman guard Charel Allen has been the leading bench contributor early on, averaging 7.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. Her play was critical in the Preseason WNIT semifinal win over Duke, as she scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half to help the Irish come back from an eight-point deficit and eliminate the Blue Devils. Sophomore forward Crystal Erwin also has stepped to the forefront in the past four games, averaging 11.3 points per game with a .618 field goal percentage (21-for-34), including a career-high 20 points in last week’s overtime loss to 15th-ranked Michigan State.

SOME POTENT NOTABLES ABOUT THE FIGHTING IRISH

• Notre Dame opened the season with a 7-0 record for only the second time in school history, with both coming in the past five seasons. The 2000-01 squad opened with a 23-game win streak en route to school’s first national championship.
• The Irish are 2-0 on the road this year, after losing their first four road games and six of their first seven to begin last season.
• Notre Dame played eight games in 20 days to open this season, including three contests vs. top-15 opponents. The Irish now are in the midst of a stretch of just four games in 30 days, including only one home game (Dec. 11 vs. Washington).
• With this week’s No. 7 ranking in the Associated Press poll, Notre Dame has spent four of the first weeks of the season appearing in the top 10 of the AP balloting. On four other times in school history have the Irish spent longer in the AP top 10 – 1998-99 (16 weeks), 1999-2000 (15 weeks), 2000-01 (18 weeks) and 2002-03 (five weeks). All told, Notre Dame has spent 50 weeks in the AP top 10 and has a 93-16 (.853) all-time record when it’s ranked in the top 10.
• The Irish have posted 32 wins over Top 25 opponents in the past seven seasons (1998-99 to present), including two in its first four games this year (76-65 vs. No. 6 Duke and 66-62 vs. No. 10 Ohio State).
• The Irish have defeated 20 top-10 opponents in their history, adding to that total with their victories over sixth-ranked Duke and 10th-ranked Ohio State in the Sportsview.tv Preseason WNIT.
• Head coach Muffet McGraw needs three victories to pass Digger Phelps for the most wins ever by a Notre Dame basketball coach (men’s or women’s). In 17-plus seasons with the Irish, McGraw has a 391-150 (.723) record, which also puts her just nine victories shy of the 400-win mark for her Notre Dame career.

A QUICK LOOK AT DAYTON
After battling through the growing pains of a rebuilding year in 2003-04, Dayton appears poised to make a move into contention in the Atlantic 10 Conference this season. To that end, the Flyers have four starters and seven letterwinners returning with a wealth of experience gained from last season’s difficult 3-25 campaign. The early returns appear promising from UD, as the Flyers (4-3) already have surpassed their win total from all of last year. Dayton also has the benefit of an early-season schedule that allows the Flyers to remain in the state of Ohio for the first nine games of the campaign.

On the other side of the coin, UD is playing its eighth game in the past 20 days, an identical stretch to the one Notre Dame just finished last Thursday. The Flyers also will be facing their second top-10 opponent in the past week, having dropped a 75-42 decision to No. 10 Ohio State last Saturday.

Also like Notre Dame, Dayton will enter Thursday’s game on the heels of an overtime contest. The Flyers posted a 65-55 victory at cross-town rival Wright State on Tuesday night, erasing an eight-point halftime deficit and then outscoring the Raiders, 12-2 in the extra session. Senior guard Emily Williams led three UD players in double figures with 13 points, while freshman guard Brittany Holterman came off the bench to snag a career-high 10 rebounds.

Williams currently leads the Flyers in scoring at 14.0 points per game, while standing second in assists (3.0 apg.) and third in rebound (5.0 rpg.). Junior forward Cara Wright, a transfer from Arkansas, is second on the squad at 9.9 ppg., while recording team bests of 7.4 rpg. and a .536 field goal percentage. Dayton has used a large player rotation thus far, with 14 different players seeing action (all in at least three games) and nine logging double-digit minutes.

Flyers head coach Jim Jabir is in his second season at Dayton with a 7-28 (.200) record. He has been a coach at the collegiate level for 18 years, sporting an overall mark of 227-251 (.475) in stops at Buffalo State, Siena, Marquette, Providence and Dayton. Jabir actually made his first appearance of the season Tuesday night at Wright State after missing 35 days and the Flyers’ first six games while recovering from a heart ailment that led him to be fitted with an internal defibrillator. Assistant coach Greg Williams guided Dayton during Jabir’s absence, although all wins and losses were still credited to Jabir’s record.

THE NOTRE DAME-DAYTON SERIES
Notre Dame and Dayton are no strangers to one another, having met regularly in the 1980s and 1990s when both were members of the North Star and Midwestern Collegiate conferences. In fact, between 1985 and 1993, the Irish and Flyers played at least twice per season, adding a third meeting in the MCC Tournament on four occasions. However, the series went dormant for eight seasons (1995-96 to 2002-03) after Notre Dame left the MCC to join the BIG EAST Conference.

The Irish own a 21-6 series lead over Dayton, including a 10-3 record against the Flyers in Dayton, having won five of its last seven road games at UD. Overall, the Irish have won three in a row and six of the past seven games in the series with Dayton, although the one loss still remains a sore spot with Notre Dame fans. The sixth-seeded Flyers upset the No. 3 seed Irish, 78-74 in the quarterfinals of the 1993 MCC Tournament which was being hosted by Notre Dame.

ADDITIONAL NOTRE DAME-DAYTON SERIES NOTES

• At 27 games, the Notre Dame-Dayton series is the second-most frequent rivalry in Irish women’s basketball history. Only the Marquette series is longer in Notre Dame annals (29 games, with No. 30 scheduled for Dec. 19 in Milwaukee).
• Notre Dame’s 21 victories over Dayton are the third-most against one opponent in school history. The Irish have 25 series wins vs. Marquette and 22 victories against Detroit.
• Close games have been quite common in the series, with nearly half (12) of the 27 games decided by eight points or less. Two contests have gone to overtime, both at the Joyce Center, making the Flyers the only team to take the Irish to an extra session twice at home. Notre Dame won both times – 68-64 in 1983 and 76-70 in double-OT in 1992.
• The double-overtime thriller in 1992 also represents one of only three times in school history Notre Dame has played a game of that length. The Irish lost to Nebraska, 89-88 in double overtime in 1982, and won at UCLA, 93-91 in two extra periods in 1997.
• Last season’s 78-41 Notre Dame win at the Joyce Center was notable for several reasons. Not only was it the largest margin of victory by either side in the series (37 points), but the Irish also began the game with a 26-0 run, the biggest game-opening spree in school history. In addition, Notre Dame limited Dayton to an .050 field goal percentage (1-for-20) in the first half, the lowest single-half shooting mark ever produced by an Irish opponent.

NOTRE DAME-DAYTON CONNECTIONS

• Notre Dame junior guard Megan Duffy is a native of Dayton, Ohio, and graduated from Chaminade-Julienne High School in 2002. She was a four-time all-state and all-city captain for CJHS, helping her squad win the 1999 state title and win regional crowns in ’99 and 2001, as well as the No. 1 ranking in the USA Today Super 25 poll early in the ’01-’02 season. She also received the 2002 Rae Burick Women in Sports Award, which is given annually to the top female high school athlete in Ohio’s Miami Valley.
• Duffy’s high school coach, Frank Goldsberry, now serves as the director of women’s basketball operations at the University of Dayton.
• Duffy also spent six years playing in the Dayton Lady HoopStars AAU program which won three national championships (1996, 1998, 2000) and six consecutive Ohio state titles (1996-2001) during her career. She is one of four former HoopStars who will suit up for Thursday’s Notre Dame-Dayton game – the others all play for UD (Leslie Burns, Lyndsey DeWitt and Emily Williams). All four players have reunited the past two summers when Duffy returned home and the group convened for regular pick-up games.
• Duffy and Dayton guard Emily Williams have another bond. They played on the same youth league team at the age of 10, and Williams’ father, Duane, coached Duffy on a number of occasions with various other teams. Duffy and Williams have continued to talk occasionally during their college careers.
• Flyer guard Emily Williams attended Beavercreek High School in Beavercreek, Ohio, the archrival of Duffy’s Chaminade-Julienne squad. The two teams met on several occasions during the players’ prep careers.
• Dayton head coach Jim Jabir should be no stranger to Notre Dame fans. Jabir formerly coached at Marquette (1990-96) and Providence (1996-2002) when they took on the Irish. In fact, when he led UD onto the Joyce Center floor against Notre Dame last season, he became the first head coach ever to lead three opposing teams into South Bend. Three other coaches brought two different teams to town – Jane Albright (Northern Illinois and Wisconsin), Theresa Grentz (Rutgers and Illinois) and Jim Izard (DePaul and Indiana).

THE LAST TIME NOTRE DAME AND DAYTON MET
Jacqueline Batteast led four Notre Dame players in double figures with 13 points and six assists, as the Irish defeated Dayton, 78-41 on Dec. 13, 2003 at the Joyce Center. The 37-point margin of victory and Dayton’s 41 points both served as records in the 27-game series.

Teresa Borton added 13 points, knocking down six of seven shots from the floor, and Crystal Erwin turned in the best performance of her rookie campaign, tallying 13 points and going seven of eight at the foul line (she was three for 11 at the charity stripe entering the contest). Monique Hernandez also cracked double digits, matching her career high with 10 points.

The game was never in doubt as the Irish raced out to a 26-0 lead midway through the first half. Notre Dame connected on 10 of its first 16 shots from the field, while Dayton misfired on its first 11 field goal attempts and turned the ball seven times in that stretch. After a 10:24 dry spell to begin the game, the Flyers got on the scoreboard when Cyndi Stull made two free throws. UD added its first (and only) basket of the opening period when Angela Cape hit a driving layup at the 8:59 mark.

Notre Dame steadily applied pressure and built its lead up to 44-6 on a Hernandez jumper with 4:37 remaining in the period. The Flyers wound up making nine of 13 free throws in the first half, but still trailed 47-11 at the break. Dayton ended up setting an Irish opponent record by shooting just five percent (1-for-20) in the first half and turned the ball 18 times.

In the second half, Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw emptied her bench, playing her reserves liberally and often sending out three freshmen with walk-on Anne Weese. Against the Notre Dame bench, Dayton held its own for the first eight minutes, holding the margin at 37 points and forcing seven consecutive turnovers at one stretch. However, the Irish steadied themselves and went on an 18-5 run over the next seven minutes, taking their largest lead of the day at 75-25 on Borton’s layup with 5:32 remaining. Dayton regained all of those points in the waning moments, ending the game on a 16-3 run that included all four of the Flyers’ three-pointers in the contest.

NOTRE DAME AGAINST THE ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE
Notre Dame is 55-17 (.764) all-time against the current members of the Atlantic 10 Conference, including a 30-10 (.750) mark away from home (23-10 in true road games, 7-0 at neutral sites). The majority of those games (59) have come against three A-10 schools (Dayton – 21-6; La Salle – 4-5; Xavier – 20-3) that used to be members of the North Star Conference or Midwestern Collegiate Conference, the last two league stops for the Irish before they joined the BIG EAST Conference in 1995-96.

Notre Dame has won its last eight games against current A-10 members, most recently downing Dayton, 78-41, on Dec. 13, 2003 at the Joyce Center. However, the Irish lost the last time they played an Atlantic 10 school on its own campus, falling at La Salle, 84-68 on Feb. 18, 1995.

FOLLOWING THE NORTH STAR
Dayton is one of 10 former North Star Conference schools Notre Dame has played since it left the NSC to join the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now known as the Horizon League) in 1988. The Irish have a 108-23 (.824) record in the past 15 seasons against former North Star members, including a 1-0 mark this year with a win at Valparaiso.

Much of that post-NSC record was compiled when several North Star teams resurfaced alongside the Irish in the MCC. In fact, eight of Notre Dame’s 10 former North Star foes also squared off with the Irish in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference.

The Irish have won 20 of their last 21 games against former North Star members, a streak which pre-dates Notre Dame’s current membership in the BIG EAST Conference. The only NSC alum to defeat the Irish in that time is DePaul, which won by a 75-59 count on Dec. 11, 2002, in Chicago.

DID YOU KNOW?
The last time Notre Dame played at University of Dayton Arena was March 30, 2003, when the Irish lost to Purdue, 66-47 in the NCAA East Regional semifinals. That game was notable for a couple of reasons:

• It was the first sporting event ever broadcast by ESPN in High Definition (now known as ESPN HD).
• The attendance of 9,552 marked the largest crowd ever for a women’s basketball game at the venerable facility, which has played host to 71 NCAA Tournament games (men’s and women’s) since 1970. It also was the third-highest attendance figure for any NCAA East Regional game since the tournament began in 1982.

BUT DID YOU KNOW THIS?
Notre Dame men’s basketball great Austin Carr set an NCAA Tournament record with 61 points vs. Ohio University in a first-round Irish win on March 7, 1970. The site of that game? University of Dayton Arena.

POLLING PLACE
Notre Dame is 168-41 (.804) all-time when it is ranked in the Associated Press poll at tipoff (the Irish are seventh entering Thursday night’s game at Dayton). When playing at home, Notre Dame has been especially strong, going 78-9 (.897) as a ranked host after opening this season with a 5-1 record at the Joyce Center. Conversely, the Irish are 66-24 (.733) all-time when they play on the road as a ranked team.

Upon closer inspection, Notre Dame has been very sharp when it’s ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll. The Irish are 93-16 (.853) as a top-10 squad, including a 45-3 (.938) record at home. In fact, prior to last week’s loss to Michigan State, Notre Dame had a 41-game home winning streak when it is ranked in the AP top 10, dating back to December of 1998.

CHARGING FROM THE GATE
Notre Dame’s 7-0 start was the second-best season debut in school history and it was only the second time ever that the Irish opened with seven consecutive victories.

THE SEASON FOR SHARING
One of the key elements in Notre Dame’s early success has been its penchant for distributing the ball well. In fact, the Irish have 137 assists (17.1 apg.) on 208 field goals made (26.0 per game) in their first eight outings, including a Preseason WNIT-record 29 handouts in the season opener vs. Illinois State. Junior guard Megan Duffy leads the way, averaging 4.4 assists per game with at least five dimes in four contests.

LOTS OF FREE STUFF
When given the opportunity, Notre Dame has taken advantage of its trips to the free throw line this season. The Irish lead the BIG EAST Conference and are tied for 15th nationally, shooting 77.8 percent from the charity stripe. In fact, they set a school record by going a perfect 18-for-18 at Valparaiso, also the best mark by any team in the country this season.

Notre Dame has been led at the gift line by junior guard Megan Duffy (.935, 43-46), senior All-America forward Jacqueline Batteast (.857, 36-42) and freshman guard Charel Allen (.840, 21-25). Duffy is currently ranked 22nd in the nation in free throw percentage, while Batteast has shown the greatest improvement among all Irish players this season with a 23-percent jump from last year’s career low .627 mark.

However, what may be most impressive is the fact that as a team, Notre Dame is connecting on 80 percent of its foul shots (39-49) in the final five minutes of regulation and overtime, often times with the game in the balance (see chart on page 4).

One side note about Duffy’s free throw prowess – the Irish junior struggled at the line early in her freshman season, shooting just 59.3 percent (16-27) during her first 15 collegiate games. However, in the 57 games since then (Jan. 20, 2003 to present), Duffy is connecting at an .863 clip (158-183) on her foul shots. She also has made 51 of her last 55 free throws (.927) in the past 14 Irish games, dating back to Feb. 28, 2004.

THE MICHIGAN STATE RECAP
Lindsay Bowen made a game-tying three-pointer with 14 seconds left in regulation and scored five of her 23 points in overtime to lead No. 15 Michigan State to an 82-73 victory over third-ranked Notre Dame on Dec. 2 at the Joyce Center.

Notre Dame’s Teresa Borton tied the game at 73 with 2:11 left at overtime, but the Spartans finished the game on a 9-0 run. Rene Haynes drove inside, Bowen hit a 15-foot jumper, Kelli Roehrig made a pair of free throws and Bowen added free throws in the final seconds.

The Irish (7-1) opened a 67-61 lead when Megan Duffy made a free throw with 36 seconds left. Kristin Haynie scored underneath and added a free throw with 30 seconds left for Michigan State (5-1), but Duffy made a pair of free throws to give the Irish a 69-64 lead.

Bowen was then fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws to cut the lead to 69-67. After Duffy made just 1-of-2 free throws, Bowen got free in the deep corner and buried her tying three-pointer to send the game to overtime, tied at 70.

Haynie finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the Spartans and Roehrig added 14 points. Liz Shimek had nine points and 13 rebounds.

Crystal Erwin scored a career-high 20 points for the Irish, but fouled out with 40 seconds left in regulation. Duffy had 19 points and Jacqueline Batteast scored 16 points on 6-of-25 shooting.

Michigan State opened its biggest lead when Maggie Dwyer made a pair of free throws 25 seconds into the second half to give the Spartans a 43-30. But Roehrig sat down after picking up her second foul and the Irish went on a 17-0 run to open a 47-43 lead.

Roehrig returned and the Spartans used a 9-0 spurt to move ahead 52-47 on a three-point play by Roehrig. Tied at 54, Duffy then hit a 3-pointer to spark a 10-4 run by the Irish.

NOTING THE MICHIGAN STATE GAME

• With the loss, Notre Dame saw two long winning streaks come to an end – 25 consecutive home victories, as well as 41 consecutive home wins as a top-10 team. In the latter category, the Irish are now 45-3 all-time at home when ranked in the Associated Press top 10, with their last loss prior to the MSU game coming on Dec. 8, 1998 vs. No. 1 Connecticut (106-81).
• During the past 11 seasons, Notre Dame has lost just three non-conference home games, with all three losses coming at the hands of Big Ten Conference teams (Wisconsin in 1996, Purdue in 2003 and Michigan State in 2004).
• The Irish drop to 5-3 all-time in overtime games at the Joyce Center, although this was their first home OT loss since Feb. 25, 1982 (89-88 in double overtime vs. Nebraska).
• The Michigan State game capped off a rugged stretch for the Irish of eight games in 20 days to begin the season, averaging out to one game every 2.5 days.
• Notre Dame narrowly missed wiping out a 13-point second-half deficit to win, which would have been its first double-digit comeback win since March 1, 2003, when the Irish climbed out of an early 12-point hole to defeat Seton Hall, 62-60 at the Joyce Center.
• Sophomore forward Crystal Erwin made her second consecutive start (first of her career) and set new career highs with 20 points, nine field goals, 15 field goal attempts and 28 minutes played.
• Senior center Teresa Borton blocked a career-best six shots vs. MSU, the fifth-highest single-game mark in Joyce Center history and the most by an Irish player since Amanda Barksdale’s school-record 11 swats vs. Boston College on Feb. 10, 2002.
• Junior guard Megan Duffy and senior All-America forward Jacqueline Batteast turned in career-best ironman performances vs. Michigan State – Duffy played all 45 minutes, while Batteast logged 44 minutes of action.
• Batteast moved into seventh place on the Notre Dame career scoring list with 1,474 points, passing Sandy Botham (1,460 from 1984-88); next up in Trena Keys, who had 1,589 points from 1982-86.
• Batteast also grabbed her 800th career rebound, becoming only the sixth Irish player ever to reach that milestone.

SPORTSVIEW.TV PRESEASON WNIT REWIND
Punctuated by emotional second-half rallies in the semifinal and final, Notre Dame won four consecutive games to claim the 2004 Sportsview.tv Preseason WNIT championship. The Irish capped off their season-opening charge with a 66-62 victory over No. 10/9 Ohio State in the title game, scoring the final 12 points of the contest to erase an eight-point Buckeye lead with a little more than five minutes remaining. That win came on the heels of a 76-65 semifinal conquest of No. 6 Duke, a victory that also saw Notre Dame come back from an eight-point deficit late in the second half.

Senior All-America forward Jacqueline Batteast was named the tournament Most Valuable Player after averaging 21.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists with a .507 field goal percentage in the four-game series. Batteast was at her best in the final two games, scoring a game-high 17 points vs. Duke (including a personal 10-0 run that put the Irish ahead for good) and then rolling up a career-best 32 points in the championship game against Ohio State. In that latter contest, she had another 10-point run in the first half and later scored seven of her team’s last 12 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 2:45 to play. However, her biggest contribution came with two seconds remaining, when she raced from beyond the top of the key all the way to the deep corner, blocking OSU’s potential game-tying three-pointer to cement Notre Dame’s title.

Not to be overlooked, junior guard Megan Duffy earned a place on the Preseason WNIT all-tournament team after recording 15.0 points and 6.0 assists per game with a .500 field goal percentage (.600 from beyond the arc). She was the catalyst for an Irish offense that averaged nearly 77 points per game and dished out better than 20 assists per night in the tournament, including a Preseason WNIT-record 29 assists in the first round vs. Illinois State.

HALF AND HALF
Over the past five seasons, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Irish are 83-7 (.922) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead. Notre Dame has added six wins to that count this season (Illinois State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Colorado State, USC and Valparaiso).

THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE …
During the past decade, 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 133-6 (.957) record when they hold their opponents to less than 60 points in a game. That count includes this season’s wins over Nebraska, Colorado State, USC and Valparaiso.

… 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. Over the past decade (1995-96 to present), the Irish are 89-3 (.967) 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. Notre Dame tacked another win to that ledger with its opening-night 92-73 win over Illinois State.

NOTRE DAME AMONG RECENT WINS LEADERS
Notre Dame has won 209 games over the past nine seasons, which stands as the eighth-most wins of any school in the country during that time.

SWEET SUCCESS
Notre Dame is one of only five schools in the country to have appeared in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen six times in the past eight seasons (1997-2004). The others are Connecticut (eight times), Tennessee (eight times), Duke (seven times) and Louisiana Tech (seven times).

THE GOLD STANDARD
The Irish are one of just six teams nationwide to have an active streak of 11 consecutive 20-win seasons. The others in these elite club are Tennessee (28), Texas Tech (15), Louisiana Tech (13), Old Dominion (13) and Connecticut (11).

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 118 of their last 128 games (.922) at the 11,418-seat Joyce Center. Notre Dame also has a 69-7 (.908) home record in BIG EAST Conference play.

The Irish have been particularly strong when it comes to non-conference games at home, winning 52 of their last 55 non-BIG EAST contests (.945) at the Joyce Center, dating back to the 1994-95 season. The only three losses in that span all came against Big Ten Conference teams – Wisconsin in 1996 (81-69), Purdue in 2003 (71-54) and Michigan State in 2004 (82-73 in OT).

Since its inaugural season in 1977-78, Notre Dame has played all of its games at the Joyce Center, posting a 268-71 (.791) record at the venerable facility. In three of the past five 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 in the top 15 in the nation in attendance each of the past four years. According to the Dec. 6 unofficial national attendance rankings (as compiled by the University of Wisconsin Sports Information Office), Notre Dame is 14th in the nation with an average of 4,873 fans per game.

All of the top 20 crowds in the Irish record book have occurred during the 18-year tenure of head coach Muffet McGraw (1987-present). And, as more evidence of Notre Dame’s rapid elevation to “hot ticket” status in South Bend, 19 of the top 20 crowds in school history have been recorded in the past six seasons (1999-2000 to present), including 12 audiences of 8,000 or more fans, and 55 of the past 57 home games with at least 5,000 fans filing into the Joyce Center.

NOTRE DAME ON THE SMALL SCREEN
The Irish are scheduled to make at least eight appearances on regional or national television during the 2004-05 season (additional broadcasts may be announced at a later date).

Notre Dame made its TV debut this season on Nov. 20 when it defeated No. 10/9 Ohio State, 66-62 in the championship game of the Sportsview.tv Preseason WNIT. That contest was shown globally via broadband Internet connection at www.sportsview.tv, as well either live or delayed on several Comcast SportsNet outlets nationwide. The American Forces Network, which broadcasts to more than one million U.S. service men and women in 176 countries, also aired the game.

The Irish returned to the airwaves Dec. 2 when they dropped an 82-73 overtime decision to No. 15 Michigan State on College Sports Television (CSTV). That was the first of three Notre Dame games that will air nationally on the fledgling cable network, which has signed an agreement with the BIG EAST Conference to carry a national women’s basketball Game of the Week eight times in 2004-05. The Irish also will face Connecticut on Jan. 12 at the Joyce Center and visit Boston College on Feb. 15 in front of the CSTV cameras.

In addition, Notre Dame is scheduled to play twice on ESPN2 this season. On Jan. 16, the Irish will battle Purdue in the second annual BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge at the Joyce Center. Two weeks later on Jan. 30, Notre Dame travels to Storrs, Conn., to meet Connecticut at Gampel Pavilion.

The BIG EAST also has added two Irish games to its regional television package this season. Notre Dame will visit Villanova on Jan. 9 and will play host to Rutgers on Jan. 23, both on BIG EAST Television. Among those affiliates carrying the BETV package are Comcast SportsNet outlets in Chicago, Philadelphia and the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as Fox Sports Net outlets in New York, New England and Pittsburgh. Exact clearances will be made available closer to game time.

NOTRE DAME ON THE AIRWAVES
Once again this season, every Irish women’s basketball game (home and away) airs on the flagship stations of the Artistic Media Partners (AMP) Network – WDND-AM (ESPN Radio 1580) and WNDV-AM (1490) in South Bend. Veteran broadcaster and AMP sports director Sean Stires is now in his fifth season handling the play-by-play for Notre Dame. The Irish also can be heard on the Internet at Notre Dame’s official athletics web site (www.und.com) by subscribing to College Sports Pass, which gives listeners full multimedia access to a variety of Irish athletics events for only $6.95 per month.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
For the fourth time in school history (all during the Muffet McGraw era), Notre Dame will have three players sharing the captain’s duties this year. Senior forward Jacqueline Batteast, senior center Teresa Borton and junior guard Megan Duffy all were accorded the honor based upon a vote of their teammates prior to the season. All three are serving as captains for the first time in their respective careers.

IRISH ADD TWO PLAYERS DURING EARLY SIGNING PERIOD
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw has announced that Lindsay Schrader, a 6-0 guard from Bartlett, Ill., and Chandrica Smith, a 6-1 forward from Stone Mountain, Ga., have chosen to continue their careers with the Irish, signing National Letters of Intent to attend Notre Dame beginning in the fall of 2005.

With the additions of Schrader and Smith, Notre Dame’s newest recruiting class is ranked 16th in the nation by Blue Star Index. That marks the ninth consecutive year the Irish have had a top-20 class, according to that publication, which makes Notre Dame one of only three schools in the nation that can claim that distinction (Connecticut and Tennessee are the others).

Schrader has been widely regarded as one of the top all-around players in the state of Illinois while attending Bartlett High School the past three seasons. She is a three-time all-state selection, a two-time Illinois Miss Basketball finalist, and a two-time Street & Smith’s All-America selection who has averaged 20.1 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 1.8 blocks per game in her prep career. Her finest all-around season came as a junior in 2003-04, when she averaged 20.8 ppg., 10.8 rpg. and 2.0 bpg. while earning first-team all-state honors from the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune and Champaign News-Gazette. She also was a sixth-team All-America selection by Street & Smith’s and was a finalist for Illinois Miss Basketball honors, an award she will likely contend for once again this season.

On the summer camp circuit, Schrader was an Underclass All-Star at the 2002 adidas Top Ten Camp, before attending the Nike All-America Camp in both 2003 and 2004. She is ranked among the top 30 high school seniors in the nation by three separate recruiting services – Blue Star Index (14th), All-Game Sports (21st) and All-Star Girls Report (26th overall – eighth among shooting guards).

In addition, Schrader made a significant impact at the 2004 USA Basketball Youth Development Festival in Colorado Springs. Playing for the North Team that won the silver medal, she ranked third at the Festival in scoring (14.8 ppg.) and rebounding (8.6 rpg.), as well as second in field goal percentage (.542). All three figures were team highs, as were her 2.2 steals per game. For her efforts, Schrader was invited to attend the 2004 USA Women’s Junior World Championship Qualifying Team Trials, where she was one of 17 finalists for the 12-player team that won the gold medal this past August.

Smith currently attends Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., where she transferred prior to her senior season. Previously, she was a standout at Stephenson High School in Stone Mountain, Ga., where she averaged 12.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 2.4 blocks per game with a .620 field goal percentage. She also was a key component in the Jaguars’ run to a 32-1 record and the Georgia 5A state championship last year. In fact, during her first three prep seasons, her teams posted a combined 89-7 (.927) record with three trips to the Georgia state championship and one state title.

Smith herself has received numerous accolades during her high school career. She is a two-time honorable mention All-America selection by Street & Smith’s and was a Student Sports All-American in 2004. In addition, she attended the adidas Top Ten Camp three consecutive years and was named to its prestigious all-star team all three years (Underclass All-Star in 2002 & 2003; Upperclass All-Star in 2004). Last season, she was an honorable mention 5A all-state selection and a first-team all-county choice. She is ranked as high as 29th in the nation among high school seniors by All-Star Girls Report.

Like Schrader, Smith also attended the 2004 USA Basketball Youth Development Festival in Colorado Springs. Playing for the South Team, she averaged 5.4 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, scoring a personal-best 13 points in the bronze-medal game victory over the East squad.

Muffet McGraw SIGNS CONTRACT EXTENSION THROUGH 2010-11 SEASON
On Nov. 6, Notre Dame announced that Muffet McGraw has signed a two-year extension to continue as head coach of the Notre Dame women’s basketball program through the 2010-11 season.

McGraw, who is now in her 18th season with the Irish, most recently signed a four-year contract extension in July 2002 that took her through the 2008-09 season. Her first 17 seasons at Notre Dame have been highlighted by 15 20-win campaigns (including a current string of 11 straight), 11 NCAA tournament appearances (including a current streak of nine straight) and the 2001 NCAA title. Entering the 2004-05 season, she had a 384-149 (.720) record at Notre Dame.

In 2003-04, McGraw skillfully guided her team to a 21-11 record and a second consecutive berth in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen (the fourth for the Irish in five years). McGraw’s charges placed second in the BIG EAST Conference, their eighth top-two finish since joining the league nine years ago. In addition, the Irish went 15-0 at home, their third perfect record at the Joyce Center in the past five seasons, and extended their overall home win streak to 20 games, the second-longest in school history and eighth-longest active string in the nation heading into the 2004-05 campaign.

McGraw has continued to enhance her reputation as one of the nation’s outstanding big-game coaches and tacticians, piloting Notre Dame to a school-record seven wins over top 25 teams during the 2003-04 regular season. During her 17-year tenure with the Irish, McGraw has compiled 40 victories over nationally-ranked opponents, including 30 in the past six seasons (an average of five per year).

Under McGraw’s guidance, the past nine years have been the most successful in Notre Dame’s history as the Irish have compiled an impressive 225-69 (.765) record, including a sparkling 124-28 (.816) regular-season mark in BIG EAST play, the best winning percentage in league history. Notre Dame also has averaged 25 victories per campaign during that span, with two 30-win seasons to its credit. The Irish have won at least one NCAA tournament game every season over that time, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen six times (1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004) and the Final Four twice (1997 and 2001).

BIG EAST CONFERENCE APPROVES BASKETBALL STRUCTURE FOR 2005-06
The Presidents of the BIG EAST Conference institutions have approved all recommendations by the league’s athletic directors relating to the structure of men’s and women’s basketball beginning in the 2005-06 academic year. The approvals were made at the Presidents’ annual meeting held in Philadelphia on Nov. 9.

The recommendations include maintaining a 12-team postseason conference championship tournament and a one-division regular season structure. The men’s and women’s teams will continue to play 16-game regular season league schedules.

In 2005-06, the BIG EAST will include 16 schools. The new members will be: University of Cincinnati, DePaul University, University of Louisville, Marquette University and University of South Florida. While the tournament format will be the same for the men and women, the formula for regular season scheduling will be different. The men’s teams will play 13 opponents with three repeat matchups to reach 16 league games. The women’s teams will meet each opponent once and have one repeat opponent.

For regular season scheduling, the conference office will determine prior to each season which matchups will be repeated. The factors in making the repeat games will be television, rivalries and geography.

BIG EAST men’s teams have captured the last two NCAA crowns and three of the last six. BIG EAST women’s teams have won the last five NCAA titles. The BIG EAST conducts its men’s championship at Madison Square Garden in New York. The women’s championship is played at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Conn.

PROMOTIONAL CORNER
Here’s a rundown of some upcoming promotions and giveaways at future Notre Dame women’s basketball games this season (additional promotions and giveaways may be added at a later date):

• Dec. 11 vs. Washington – Notre Dame women’s basketball glow balls (first 2,000 fans)
• Jan. 2 vs. Seton Hall – Adidas bracelets (first 5,000 fans); Red Panda acrobats will perform
• Jan. 5 vs. Syracuse – Notre Dame women’s basketball license plates (first 2,000 fans)

NEXT GAME: WASHINGTON
Notre Dame returns home for the only time in a month-long stretch when it plays host to Washington Saturday at noon (ET) at the Joyce Center. The game will be televised on a regional basis by Comcast Local (check local listings for availability).

The Huskies (4-3) snapped a two-game losing streak on Monday night with a 64-61 victory at Denver. Kayla Burt and Kristen O’Neill each scored 11 points for UW, which jumped out to a 17-point lead, but had to fight off a late charge by the Pioneers to preserve the win. It also was the first road victory in three tries this year for Washington. UW opened its season in fine fashion, winning the WBCA BTI Classic in Seattle by defeating South Carolina (65-53) and then-No. 14 Minnesota (72-67 in overtime).

Saturday’s game marks the back half of a home-and-home series between Notre Dame and Washington, as well as UW’s first-ever visit to South Bend. The Huskies claimed last year’s matchup, 85-74 in Seattle behind 27 points from All-America guard Giuliana Mendiola (now with the WNBA’s Sacramento Monarchs) and a career-high 24 points from Cameo Hicks. Jacqueline Batteast had 19 points and Megan Duffy added 17 points and a career-high nine assists for Notre Dame.