Irish Set For Rematch With DePaul Saturday In BIG EAST Championship Opener

Feb. 28, 2007

Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

2007 BIG EAST Championship – First Round
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (19-10 / 10-6 BIG EAST) vs.
DePaul Blue Demons (18-11 / 8-8 BIG EAST)

DATE: March 3, 2007
TIME: 6:00 p.m. ET
AT: Hartford, Conn., Hartford Civic Center (16,294)
SERIES: DPU leads 16-11
1ST MTG: 1/30/79 (DPU 82-53)
BE CHAMP: First meeting
RADIO: ESPN Radio 1490 AM, Sean Stires, p-b-p
TV: BIG EAST TV/BIG EAST All-Access (live) – Beth Mowins, p-b-p, and Nancy Lieberman, color
LIVE STATS: www.und.com
TICKETS: (860) 525-4500

Storylines

• Notre Dame is set to make its 12th consecutive appearance at the BIG EAST Championship, having advanced to the title game on four occasions.
• The Irish finished the regular season tied for fifth place in the BIG EAST, marking the 11th time in their 12-year league membership they have placed fifth or better.

Irish Set For Rematch With DePaul Saturday In BIG EAST Championship Opener
For the third time in a 20-day span, Notre Dame and DePaul will square off on the hardwood, although this time, the stakes will be even higher as the teams meet in the first round of the BIG EAST Championship Saturday at 6 p.m. (ET) at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Conn. The game will be broadcast live to a regional audience via the BIG EAST-Regional Sports Network (RSN) package, with WHME-TV (Channel 46) slated to carry the game in the South Bend market.

Notre Dame ended the regular season on a sour note, taking its second consecutive loss with an 87-73 setback Monday night at DePaul. The Irish offense was solid, with four players scoring in double figures, but Notre Dame’s defense has its problems, giving up 11 three-pointers and 17 offensive rebounds.

Freshman guard Ashley Barlow set the pace for the Irish with 21 points and eight rebounds, while senior guard Breona Gray had one of her best offensive nights of the year with 15 points.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is receiving votes in this week’s Associated Press poll.
• DePaul is not ranked.

Web Sites

• Notre Dame: http://www.und.com
• DePaul: http://www.depaulbluedemons.com
• BIG EAST: http://www.bigeast.org

Setting The Standard
Under the guidance of 20th-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 13 NCAA Tournaments (including a current streak of 11 in a row) and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 six times in the previous 10 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, nine WNBA players (including six draft picks in the past six years) and four USA Basketball veterans (eight medals won). Now in their 30th season in 2006-07, the Irish own an all-time record of 612-276 (.689).

Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw
Saint Joseph’s ’77

• 20th season at Notre Dame
• 448-177 (.717) at Notre Dame.
• 536-218 (.711) in 25 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
Although the final week of the 2006-07 regular season may not unfolded as Notre Dame hoped, it’s hard to deny the Irish have made significant progress this season, even in the face of numerous challenges.

With a young and inexperienced roster that has only two seniors, and subsequently losing its top returning scorer from a year ago due to a preseason knee injury, Notre Dame was not expected to do much in ’06-07. At least, that’s what the BIG EAST coaches thought, as they picked the Irish to finish 11th in their preseason poll (a survey that was taken before Lindsay Schrader succumbed to her season-ending ACL tear on Oct. 15).

However, the Notre Dame players and staff pulled together to prove the doubters wrong, and they have been largely successful at that goal, rising up to finish tied for fifth in the BIG EAST regular-season standings. The Irish also have collected two wins over Top 25 opponents (and a third over poll regular Bowling Green), while sporting a sleeker offensive style that has yielded 71.0 points per game thus far. That’s a significant improvement over the previous five Notre Dame squads, none of which has averaged better than 66.3 points per night.

The Irish also have employed an aggressive high-risk, high-reward defense that has rattled opponents to the tune of 20.8 turnovers per game (including a BIG EAST-best 10.9 steals per night). However, the flip side has seen the Irish allow opponents to shoot .421 from the floor (.366 from the three-point line). Junior guard Charel Allen has been one of the main offensive catalysts for the Irish, averaging a team-high 17.0 ppg. (good for seventh in the league). The Monessen, Pa., native, who is a two-time BIG EAST Player of the Week and four-time BIG EAST Honor Roll pick, also is logging a team-high 6.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game.

Allen’s classmate and backcourt running partner, Tulyah Gaines, is easily one of the conference’s most improved players this season. The speedy Gaines has stoked the Notre Dame offensive fire to an even hotter level, averaging 9.8 points and 3.9 assists per game. Gaines, who came into the season with a 3.7 ppg. career scoring average, has scored 20 points in a game three times this year, including a career-high 27 points on Jan. 10 in a win over Cincinnati.

The most pleasing contributions of the year for Notre Dame to this point have come from its freshmen. Guard Ashley Barlow is second on the team in scoring (10.8 ppg.) and third in steals (2.0 spg.), and had a career-high 21 points twice (vs. Prairie View A&M and at DePaul). Guard Melissa Lechlitner (6.3 ppg., 2.9 apg.) was particularly sharp of late with a 1.55 assist/turnover ratio in conference play. Center Erica Williamson (6.1 ppg., 5.5 rpg., 1.3 bpg.) logged her first career double-double at South Florida with 11 points and 18 rebounds (an Irish freshman record).

Potent Notables About The Irish

• Notre Dame is among the nation’s winningest programs during the past 11 seasons (1996-97 to present), ranking seventh with 266 victories in that span.
• Notre Dame’s incoming class of 2007 (announced Nov. 8) has been ranked 11th in the nation by Blue Star Basketball, marking the 11th consecutive season that the Irish have had a top-25 recruiting class. Notre Dame is one of only three schools (along with Connecticut and Tennessee) to have an active streak of that length. A thumbnail sketch of the newest Irish signees can be found on page 8 of these notes.
• On Feb. 24, incoming freshman forward Devereaux Peters (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick) was named to the McDonald’s High School All-America Team and will play in the McDonald’s High School All-America Game March 28 at 5:30 p.m. (ET) inside Louisville’s Freedom Hall. Peters is the fourth future Notre Dame player in six years to be named a McDonald’s All-American, joining Courtney LaVere (2002), current Irish senior forward Crystal Erwin (2003) and current Irish sophomore guard Lindsay Schrader (2005).
• Notre Dame currently is ranked 11th nationally in attendance (6,364 fans per game). Last season marked the sixth consecutive campaign the Irish were among the national top 20 in attendance (No. 11 ranking). Notre Dame also has attracted 5,000-or-more fans to 94 of its last 96 home games, including three Joyce Center sellouts of 11,418 (most recently on Dec. 31, 2005 vs. Tennessee).
• For the sixth time in school history, Notre Dame has been selected to host NCAA Tournament action, as the Joyce Center will be the site of NCAA Tournament first- and second-round games in 2010. In four of the five previous instances, Notre Dame was involved in NCAA Tournament play, going 6-1 all-time and advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 three times (2000, 2001, 2004), with only a first-round loss to Minnesota in 1994 blotting the resume. Notre Dame also hosted the 1983 NCAA Mideast Regional at the Joyce Center, with Georgia defeating Tennessee, 67-63 in the regional final.
• The Irish have become a regular fixture in the WNBA Draft in recent years, as six Notre Dame players have been selected in the past six seasons. All-America guard Megan Duffy was the most recent Irish player to be chosen, going to the Minnesota Lynx in the third round (31st overall pick) of the 2006 WNBA Draft. Other active Notre Dame players in the WNBA during the 2006 season included Ruth Riley and Jacqueline Batteast (league champion Detroit Shock), while Niele Ivey sat out the campaign as a free agent, rehabilitating an injury after previously playing with Indiana, Detroit and Phoenix. Riley’s WNBA title with Detroit was her second (she was the 2003 WNBA Finals MVP), while Batteast earned her first pro crown in ’06. In February 2007, Riley was traded to the San Antonio Silver Stars.
• Notre Dame has been an elite program in the classroom as well. The Irish posted a perfect 100-percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), according to figures released by the NCAA in October 2006. Notre Dame was one of 16 Division I-A programs to achieve this distinction, and one of only two BIG EAST programs (Syracuse was the other). Furthermore, 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 Quick Look At DePaul
On the heels of its first-ever NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2006, DePaul had three starters and 10 letterwinners returning to try and build on last year’s success. The Blue Demons looked sharp during the non-conference portion of the season, winning 10 of their first 11 games and rising as high as No. 17 in the national polls. However, injuries challenged DePaul throughout the year, at times trimming the Blue Demons’ active roster to just seven players. Still, DePaul has persevered and as the squad continued to get healthier, so did Blue Demon fortunes with wins in seven of the past 12 games.

DePaul (18-11, 8-8 BIG EAST) closed the regular season on a high note with wins in three of its last four games, including an 87-73 victory over Notre Dame in the regular-season finale for both clubs on Monday night in Chicago. Junior forward Caprice Smith scored a game-high 22 points (on 8-of-12 shooting) and added eight rebounds, helping pace a balanced Blue Demon attack. Senior guard/forward Jenna Rubino added 17 points (3-of-5 from long range) as DePaul connected on 11-of-22 three-point tries and shot 52.8 percent from the field in the second half to break open a tight contest.

Smith ranks among the BIG EAST leaders in both scoring (11th – 15.8 ppg.) and rebounding (fifth – 8.6 rpg.). Junior guard Allie Quigley isn’t far behind Smith at 13th in the conference in scoring (15.5 ppg.), while also standing seventh in the loop in three-point percentage (.366) and 10th in three-point field goals made (1.69 per game). Rubino is third on the team and 26th in the league in scoring (12.7 ppg.), as well as ninth in the conference in three-point percentage (.362) and tied for eighth in three-pointers per game (1.76).

Veteran head coach Doug Bruno is in his 21st season at DePaul with a 393-228 (.633) record in Lincoln Park. He is 9-5 all-time against Notre Dame, with a 1-0 record at neutral sites.

The Notre Dame-DePaul Series
Through four decades and two different conference affiliations, the Notre Dame-DePaul series has been one of the top rivalries in the Midwest. The Irish and Blue Demons will be tangling for the 28th time on Saturday night, with DePaul owning a 16-11 series edge vs. Notre Dame. The Blue Demons also won the only prior meeting between the schools on a neutral floor (77-69 on March 24, 1989 at the NWIT in Amarillo, Texas).

The series itself has been close of late, with the teams trading victories in their last eight games (each winning on its home floor). For the second consecutive season, DePaul was Notre Dame’s “repeat” opponent in the BIG EAST, with the Irish winning the first meeting, 78-70 back on Feb. 11 at the Joyce Center, and the Blue Demons taking the rematch, 87-73 on Monday in Chicago.

The Last Time Notre Dame and DePaul Met In The Postseason
Diana Vines rang up 32 points, 13 rebounds and six steals, and DePaul held off a furious late-game rally by Notre Dame to post a 77-69 NWIT consolation-bracket victory over the Irish on March 24, 1989 at Cal Farley Coliseum in Amarillo, Texas.

Karen Robinson scored a team-high 16 points for Notre Dame, while Krissi Davis collected a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. However, the Irish were hampered by 31 turnovers (14 by Robinson), as they dropped their second contest at the 1989 NWIT.

The Irish stormed from the gate against DePaul, scoring eight of the first 10 points in the opening 2:35. That’s when Vines got on track, scoring 10 points in a 24-9 Blue Demon run covering the next 11 minutes. Beth Creamean bumped the DePaul lead to 32-20 on a jumper at the 4:14 mark before Notre Dame was able to trim the margin down somewhat at the end of the half, but still going to the locker room down 37-28.

Gail Ash’s basket in the first two minutes of the second half pushed the Blue Demons back in front by double figures, a margin they would hold for the balance of the game. Yet, Notre Dame didn’t go down meekly, despite trailing 68-53 with 4:33 to go.

Davis started the late-game Irish charge with a bucket in traffic, with Robinson later adding three field goals and a pair of free throws. Sara Liebscher got the DePaul lead down to 74-69 when she converted the front end of a one-and-one with 31 seconds to play. When Liebscher missed her bonus foul shot, Notre Dame tied up the Blue Demons on the rebound and got the ball on the alternating possession. But, the Irish comeback died there, as Robinson misfired on her ensuing shot attempt, and Vines sealed the DePaul win with a free throw and layup in the final 15 seconds.

Other Notre Dame-DePaul Series Tidbits

• With Saturday’s 28th series matchup, Notre Dame will have played only one other school more often than DePaul in its 30-year history – Marquette (32) – while also having played Dayton 28 times.
• The Irish and Blue Demons have previously faced off as members of the North Star Conference from 1983-88, with the two sides splitting their 10 NSC games.
• Neither team has won consecutive games in the series since 1993, when DePaul won its second in a row over the Irish, 71-55 in Chicago.
• In each of the past eight series games, the winning team has scored at least 75 points. DePaul kept that trend going Monday with an 87-73 win over Notre Dame in Chicago.
• Notre Dame has won back-to-back games in the series only once. The Irish won three in a row over DePaul in the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons, taking a pair of games at the Joyce Center and one in Chicago. The ’85-86 season also represented the only time Notre Dame defeated the Blue Demons twice in the same season.
• Both head coaches have ties to the old Women’s Professional Basketball League (WBL). Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw was a point guard for the California Dreams in 1979, while DePaul’s Doug Bruno was the head coach and director of player personnel for the Chicago Hustle from 1978-80.
• Bruno is in his second year as president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), and in June 2005, McGraw was one of his first appointments to the WBCA Board of Directors, assuming the responsibility as that body’s NCAA Division I Legislative Chair from another BIG EAST coach, Marquette’s Terri Mitchell.
• Notre Dame sophomore guard Lindsay Schrader (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett HS) is the 10th Illinois native to play for the Irish, and the ninth to come from the Chicagoland area. Some of the other notable Notre Dame products from the Windy City include NCAA career three-point percentage leader Alicia Ratay (Lake Zurich/Lake Zurich HS), as well as 1,000-point scorer and 2004 Purple Heart recipient Danielle Green (Chicago/Roosevelt HS). The Irish will add another Chicago native next season when McDonald’s All-America forward Devereaux Peters of national prep power Fenwick High School (Oak Park, Ill.) enrolls at Notre Dame.
• Schrader was the 2005 Illinois Miss Basketball, having claimed that honor by the sixth-largest margin (374 points) since the award was created in 1986.

Irish In The BIG EAST Championship
Notre Dame begins play in its 12th BIG EAST Championship this weekend and has compiled a 14-11 (.560) record in its 11 previous appearances. The Irish have reached at least the semifinals in seven of the past 11 years and made the title game four times (1996, ’97, ’99 and 2001). Ironically, three of Notre Dame’s four BIG EAST finals appearances came when the tournament was held in the state of Connecticut (1996, 1997 and 2001 – all on the UConn campus in Storrs).

Prior to joining the BIG EAST in 1995-96, Notre Dame won the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now known as the Horizon League) tournament championship five times in its seven years in that league, with the last Irish conference tourney title coming in 1994.

The Not-So-Friendly Confines
The Irish will be playing inside the Hartford Civic Center for the ninth time, having compiled a 2-6 record in the building. In fact, Notre Dame had lost its first four contests at the arena prior to the 2004 BIG EAST Championship, when the Irish broke through with a 70-59 victory over West Virgnia in the conference quarterfinals. Notre Dame then added a 73-66 win over USF in the opening round of last year’s tournament.

Aside from the WVU and USF games, Notre Dame is 0-4 against Connecticut at the Hartford Civic Center (twice in the regular season, twice in the BIG EAST Championship), 0-1 vs. Rutgers (2004 BIG EAST quarterfinals) and 0-1 vs. Penn State (2004 NCAA East Regional semifinals).

2006 BIG EAST Championship Rewind
Notre Dame split two games at last year’s BIG EAST Conference Championship in Hartford. The 10th-seeded Irish toppled No. 7 seed South Florida, 73-66 in first-round action before falling to second-seeded Connecticut, 71-60 in the quarterfinal round. Here’s a brief recap of each game:

Notre Dame 73, USF 66 (first round)
All-America guard Megan Duffy scored all 16 of her points in the second half, including the last eight of the game, to lead Notre Dame to a 73-66 win over South Florida in the first round of the BIG EAST Championship on March 4, 2006 at the Hartford Civic Center. Lindsay Schrader finished with 14 points for the Irish, while Tulyah Gaines and Charel Allen each had 12 points and Courtney LaVere added 10 points for Notre Dame.

Shantia Grace led the Bulls (19-11) with 24 points and was 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Jessica Dickson, the nation’s leading scorer added 16. Dickson’s jumper in traffic with 4:34 left put the Bulls up 64-61, but it was all Duffy and the Irish after that.

After a Allen layup got the Irish to within a point, Schrader put them up for good at 65-64 with a pair of free throws with 3:19 left. Duffy drove the lane for a layup on Notre Dame’s next possession. She then added a pair of free throws for a 69-64 Irish lead. Grace hit a layup for the Bulls with 1:45 left for their final bucket.

Duffy, the BIG EAST’s leading free throw shooter (and 11th in the nation), was perfect down the stretch hitting 6-of-6 to ice the game. The Bulls had their chances in the final minute, but threw the ball away twice under their own basket.

Connecticut 71, Notre Dame 60 (quarterfinal)
Barbara Turner scored 19 points and Ketia Swanier added a career-high 11 to lead Connecticut to a 71-60 win over Notre Dame on March 5, 2006 in the BIG EAST Championship quarterfinals at the Hartford Civic Center.

Megan Duffy had 14 of her game-high 20 points in the final 10 minutes of the game as the Irish tried to rally from 21 down.

Willnett Crockett had a team-high 11 boards for UConn, which finished with a 36-23 advantage on the glass and outscored the Irish 34-20 in the paint. The Huskies’ 27 defensive rebounds afforded Notre Dame few second chances and helped UConn get out in transition quickly. Guards Renee Mongtomery and Swanier directed UConn’s uptempo attack with a combined 10 assists as the Huskies shot 58 percent from the floor.

Ann Strother added 10 for UConn, while Courtney LaVere finished with 15 points and two blocked shots for the Irish.

The Huskies relied on their post game early to take control. Fifteen of their 19 first-half boards were on the defensive end resulted in several breakaway layups.

Turner and Charde Houston muscled their way inside for two layups in a 9-0 UConn run. Turner capped the spurt with an up-and-under around 6-foot-5 Melissa D’Amico with 10:38 left in the period for an 18-11 lead.

The Huskies led by as many as 18 in the period and led 38-24 at halftime. UConn stretched the lead to 21 in the first five minutes of the second half, and the Irish would get no closer than 11 the rest of the way.

The Deuce Is Loose
Junior guard Charel Allen is playing some of the best basketball of her college career during the past month. The Monessen, Pa., native is averaging 20.1 points in the past 12 games, cracking the 20-point mark eight times and scoring 25-or-more points on six occasions.

Allen also scored 25+ points in Notre Dame’s back-to-back-to-back wins over DePaul, Villanova and Providence. Previously, the last time an Irish player tallied at least 25 points in three consecutive games was from March 17-28, 1997, when Katryna Gaither closed her career with four straight 25-point outings in the NCAA Tournament as the Irish made their first trip to the Final Four – at Texas (29), vs. Alabama (26), vs. George Washington (25) and vs. Tennessee (28).

Having A Grand Time
On a runner in the lane with 4:19 to play Monday night at DePaul, junior guard Charel Allen became the 23rd player in school history to score 1,000 career points. Allen is the 14th Irish women’s cager in the past 13 seasons to do so, with at least one Notre Dame player scoring her 1,000th career point in 10 of the past 13 seasons (1994-95 to present).

Pine Time Players
Part of the reason for Notre Dame’s success this season can be traced to the production the Irish have gotten from their bench (comprised almost entirely of their freshmen class). The Notre Dame reserves are averaging 23.5 points per game and are outscoring the opposition’s bench by 8.7 points per game.

For the year, the Irish second unit has outscored the opponent reserves in 23 of 28 games (16-7 record).

On The Learning Curve
While some would agree Notre Dame has performed above outside expectations this season, the youthful Irish have opened some eyes even in defeat. In fact, Notre Dame has been either leading or trailing by just one possession during the second half in seven of its last eight losses (three of those coming at the hands of Top 25 opponents).

Here’s a rundown of those “educational” losses for the Irish this season:

• Dec. 3 vs. Indiana (L, 54-51) – led 41-33 with 11:54 to play … had four possessions to tie or take lead in final 2:45 but didn’t score.
• Dec. 30 at #4 Tennessee (L, 78-54) – trailed 31-29 one minute into second half before UT used 11-2 run to take control.
• Jan. 13 at South Florida (L, 87-78 OT) – forced OT on three-pointer with 11 seconds left in regulation … scored first basket of OT, then remained within one possession for first half of OT period despite losing three players to fouls.
• Jan. 23 at #17/18 Marquette (L, 71-62) – missed FT that would have tied game at 42-42 with 11:39 left.
• Jan. 31 at Pittsburgh (L, 71-62) – led 28-26 at halftime … rallied from 10-point deficit in final three minutes and had two looks at tying 3FG in final 30 seconds, but neither shot connected.
• Feb. 24 vs. #21/22 Rutgers (L, 76-60) – trailed 39-36 with 15:21 to play before RU pulled clear with an 11-4 run.
• Feb. 26 at DePaul (L, 87-73) – led 39-38 with 19:17 left before DPU went on a 10-0 run to move ahead for good.

The Best Things In Life Are Free
Notre Dame ranks 10th in the nation in free throw percentage (.763), as of Feb. 25. Should it hold up, that figure would shatter the school’s single-season record for foul shooting (.743), currently held by the 1996-97 Final Four squad.

Clutch When It Counts
Notre Dame is shooting 72.5 percent from the foul line (108-of-149) this season inside the final five minutes of regulation and overtime.

Upon closer inspection, the Irish have gotten some of their most critical free throw production from their freshmen – guards Melissa Lechlitner and Ashley Barlow are a combined 27-of-33 (.818) at the charity stripe down the stretch.

Poise Under Pressure
The Irish are 9-4 this season in games decided by 10 points or less, including a 4-1 record when the margin is five points or fewer. Going back the previous two seasons (2004-05 to present), Notre Dame is 12-5 in five-point games and 29-11 in 10-point contests – with four of those 11 losses coming in overtime.

In addition, four times this season, the Irish have sent a player to the free throw line with less than five seconds remaining in regulation or overtime and the game hanging in the balance. In those clutch situations, Notre Dame is 7-for-8 at the charity stripe, with the only miss being a semi-intentional one by senior guard Breona Gray on the second of two tries with 1.2 seconds to go in a 60-59 win at Valparaiso on Dec. 19.

Junior Achievement
The common basketball adage holds that college players make their biggest improvement between their freshman and sophomore seasons. However, for Notre Dame, it’s been the time between the sophomore and junior years that has been conducive to the most development.

Three of the top four Irish scorers this season are juniors and all three are posting the best scoring averages of their careers – guards Charel Allen (17.0 ppg.) and Tulyah Gaines (9.8 ppg.), and center Melissa D’Amico (8.3 ppg.). Allen came into the year with an 8.1 ppg. career average, while D’Amico had a two-year ratio of 4.0 ppg., and Gaines was averaging 3.7 ppg. Between them, the junior trio had a combined 37 double-figure scoring games in two seasons entering the 2006-07 campaign – so far this year alone, they have 52 double-digit efforts.

Spread The Wealth
The Irish have fielded at least three double-figure scorers in 19 games this season, going 15-4 in those contests (losses at Penn State, South Florida, No. 17/18 Marquette and DePaul). Notre Dame also has had four double-figure scorers on 11 occasions (9-2 record, losses at USF in overtime and DePaul) and five double-digit scorers four times (3-1).

Contribute Early, Contribute Often
Notre Dame’s freshman class has been a vital part of the team’s success this season. Three of the Irish rookies – guards Ashley Barlow and Melissa Lechlitner, and center Erica Williamson – make up Notre Dame’s primary bench rotation, with all three averaging at least 16 minutes per game, all three having scored in double figures at least six times, and both Barlow and Williamson have posted double-doubles this season.

Barlow, who got her first career start on Feb. 11 vs. DePaul, is second on the team in scoring (10.8 ppg.) and ranks among the BIG EAST Conference leaders in both free throw percentage (fourth at .829) and steals (ninth at 1.97 spg.). Lechlitner is logging 6.3 points and 2.89 assists per night with a 1.42 assist/turnover ratio – she was even better in conference play, ending up seventh in the BIG EAST with a 1.55 assist/turnover ratio. And, Williamson is carding 6.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and a team-high 1.29 blocks per game, ranking eighth in the conference in the latter category.

The Five-Finger Discount
Notre Dame’s aggressive defense has forced 20.8 turnovers per game this season, logging 20-or-more takeaways in 19 games. In addition, the Irish caused an opponent season-high 30 turnovers at Michigan on Dec. 1, the first 30-turnover outing by the Notre Dame defense since Feb. 25, 2004 (37 turnovers by Miami at the Joyce Center).

The Irish also lead the BIG EAST Conference with 10.86 steals per night. In fact, Notre Dame has posted double-digit steal totals in 18 games this season, with junior guard Tulyah Gaines committing the most larcenies to date (62, 2.14 per game, tied-sixth in BIG EAST).

In addition, Notre Dame is poised to have three players (Gaines, junior guard Charel Allen and freshman guard Ashley Barlow) record 60 steals this season. That feat hasn’t been accomplished by the Irish since 1996-97, when Jeannine Augustin (92), Katryna Gaither (76) and Beth Morgan (66) all eclipsed the 60-steal mark in leading Notre Dame to the NCAA Final Four (the Irish finished with 394 thefts that year, the second-highest total in school history).

A Six-Figure Season
Thanks to a Senior Day crowd of 7,613 for the Feb. 24 home finale vs. No. 21/22 Rutgers, Notre Dame attracted more than 100,000 fans this season, finishinig its 16-game Joyce Center slate with 101,818 patrons coming through the turnstiles. The only other time Notre Dame posted a six-figure women’s basketball attendance total was 2001-02, when a school-record 109,549 fans cheered on the Irish at the Joyce Center.

Game #29 Recap: DePaul
Freshman guard Ashley Barlow matched her career high with 21 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, but Notre Dame ran into a hot-shooting DePaul squad and dropped an 87-73 decision to the Blue Demons Monday night at McGrath Arena in Chicago.

Senior guard Breona Gray scored 15 points, while junior guard Tulyah Gaines added 14 points and five assists. Junior guard Charel Allen tallied 10 points in a foul-plagued 25 minutes, but did score her 1,000th career point in the second half, becoming the 23rd player in school history to reach that milestone.

As a team, the Irish shot 43.9 percent from the field, including 50 percent (6-of-12) from three-point range. However, Notre Dame also allowed 11 three-pointers and 87 points, with both marks tying for opponent season highs. DePaul (18-11, 8-8) shot an even 50 percent from beyond the arc and 45.6 percent overall, hitting at a .528 clip in the second half on the way to an opponent season-high 51 points. Caprice Smith led four Blue Demons in double figures with a game-best 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

The Irish came out strong in the first half, jumping to an 8-3 lead behind two early buckets from Gaines. DePaul then responded with a 12-4 run of its own, capped by Erin Cattell’s baseline jumper at the 12:48 mark. Notre Dame steadied itself with eight of the next nine points, and rode that momentum out to a 30-23 lead when Gaines canned her own jumper on the baseline with 5:52 remaining in the half. The Irish then went cold, making only two baskets the rest of the period, while the Blue Demons continued to stroke from the perimeter, as Jenna Rubino punctuated a three-point flurry by putting the hosts back in front with 3:02 to go. The teams then traded markers in the waning moments, leaving DePaul in front, 36-35 at halftime.

The lead changed hands four times in the opening minute of the second half, with Barlow giving Notre Dame its last lead at 39-38 on a driving layup at the 19:17 mark. That lasted all of six seconds, before Allie Quigley converted an old-fashioned three-point play in transition, kicking off a 10-0 DePaul run over the next two minutes. The Irish battled back and got as close as 53-48 when Allen drilled a long jumper with 12:57 to play. But, Erin Carney hit a three-pointer from the top of the key 30 seconds later and Notre Dame couldn’t trim the margin below seven points thereafter.

Noting The DePaul Game

• Notre Dame has lost back-to-back games for just the second time this season.
• The back-and-forth nature of the series continues, with the teams trading wins in the past eight matchups (each successfully defending their home court four times).
• DePaul now leads the all-time series by a 16-11 count, with a 10-4 edge in Chicago, where the Blue Demons have won the past five series games.
• Despite the loss, Notre Dame ends the month of February with a 6-2 record, posting a winning mark in February for the 19th time in the 20-year Muffet McGraw era (the lone exception was a 4-4 record in 1988-89).
• The Irish hit six three-pointers, one off their season high set on Jan. 16 vs. St. John’s.
• Ashley Barlow previously scored 21 points vs. Prairie View A&M on Dec. 28; she is the third Notre Dame player this season with multiple 20-point games, following Charel Allen (10) and Tulyah Gaines (3).
• Breona Gray posted her second-highest scoring night of the season with 15 points, topped only by a career-high 22 points vs. No. 10/9 Purdue on Dec. 6.
• Gaines scored in double figures for the third consecutive game and 13th time this season, and dished out at least five assists for the 12th time this year.

2006-07: The Anniversary Season

• 2006-07 marks the 30th season of Notre Dame women’s basketball, with the Irish having compiled an all-time record of 612-276 (.689) since making their varsity debut in 1977-78. Actually, Notre Dame spent its first three seasons at the Division III level, playing under the banner of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) before making the move to Division I status in 1980-81 (the NCAA began sponsoring a women’s basketball championship the following season). The Irish have an overall Division I record of 563-256 (.687).
• This year also represents Muffet McGraw’s 20th season as the head women’s basketball coach at Notre Dame and her 25th campaign overall, including her five-year run at Lehigh (1982-87). McGraw’s record is a stellar one – she is 448-177 (.717) at the helm of the Irish and has a career record of 536-218 (.711) in her silver anniversary season on the sidelines.
• In addition, Notre Dame is celebrating the 35th anniversary of women’s athletics at the University during the 2006-07 season. All Irish women’s sports teams will hold events to commemorate this milestone during their respective seasons. What’s more, all Notre Dame women’s teams are sporting 35th anniversary logo patches on their uniforms for the ’06-07 campaign.

Half And Half
During the past seven seasons, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Irish are 123-11 (.918) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 51 of their last 56 such contests. Notre Dame has led at the break 15 times this year, winning on 14 occasions. The Jan. 31 loss at Pittsburgh was Notre Dame’s first setback when leading at the half since Jan. 7, 2006 (led Seton Hall 32-27, but ended up losing, 74-61 at the Joyce Center).

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense …
During the past 12 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 167-10 (.944) record when they hold their opponents below 60 points in a game. Notre Dame has held nine foes to less than 60 points this season, and is 8-1 in those games (losing only to Indiana).

… 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 12 seasons (1995-96 to present), the Irish are 100-3 (.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 and a 106-81 loss to Connecticut in 1998.

Notre Dame has topped the 80-point mark nine times this season, winning on each occasion (Central Michigan, Bowling Green, Western Michigan, Richmond, Prairie View A&M, Cincinnati, St. John’s, Syracuse and Providence). The nine 80-point games are the most for the Irish in a single season since 2000-01, when Notre Dame reached that level 15 times during its run to the national championship.

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 149 of their last 167 games (.892) at the 11,418-seat Joyce Center, including winning streaks of 51 and 25 games in that span. Notre Dame also has an 87-13 (.870) 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 64 of their last 69 non-BIG EAST contests (.928) at the Joyce Center, dating back to the 1994-95 season. Four of the losses in that span came at the hands of Big Ten Conference opponents – Wisconsin in 1996 (81-69), Purdue in 2003 (71-54), Michigan State in 2004 (82-73 OT) and Indiana this year (54-51), with the fifth defeat coming to Tennessee last year (62-51). 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 Joyce Center, posting a 299-79 (.791) 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. The 2006-07 campaign tied for the most regular-season home games (16) in school history, although in 2004-05, the Irish played host to all four rounds of the Preseason WNIT before its regular 12-game home slate began.

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 six years. This season looks to be no exception, as the Irish currently are 11th in the nation in average attendance (6,364 fans per game), according to the latest unofficial weekly rankings compiled 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 20-year tenure of head coach Muffet McGraw (1987-present), with 19 of those 20 occurring in the past seven seasons (2000-01 to present). Lastly, the Irish have attracted at least 5,000 fans to 94 of their last 96 home games, including 15 contests with at least 8,000 fans and the first three sellouts in the program’s history (two in 2000-01, one in 2005-06).

States of Grace
Notre Dame is one of 12 schools in the country to have more than one player on its roster who was named a high school Player of the Year in their home state. Irish junior guard Tulyah Gaines was tapped as the 2004 Gatorade Nevada Player of the Year, while sophomore guard Lindsay Schrader was chosen as the 2005 Illinois Miss Basketball and Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year.

Notre Dame On The Small Screen
Notre Dame had 11 of its regular-season games televised during the 2006-07 season. Highlighting this year’s television docket were five nationally-televised Irish women’s basketball contests, including a pair of games on the ESPN family of networks a week apart in early February. In addition, all of Notre Dame’s games in the postseason will be televised either regionally or nationally.

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 82 televised games, including 50 that were broadcast nationally.

Irish Debut Free Video Coverage
In the latest instance of the wide-ranging media avenues afforded the Notre Dame women’s basketball program, the Irish had several of their 2006-07 home games televised free of charge through the official Notre Dame athletics web site (www.und.com). Thanks to the considerable efforts of CSTV Online (based in Carlsbad, Calif.) and its new Fighting Irish All-Access package, fans of Notre Dame women’s basketball were able to watch every minute of exciting action at the Joyce Center live from the comfort of their own homes. The video was supplemented by a simulcast of the Notre Dame radio broadcast, led by veteran sportscaster Sean Stires.

This free service was limited to those home games that have were not selected for broadcast by other TV outlets. All told, the Irish were seen on und.com seven times this season (Indiana, IUPUI, Cincinnati, St. John’s, Syracuse and Louisville and Georgetown).

Oh Captain, My Captain
Senior guard Breona Gray and junior guard Tulyah Gaines are team captains for the 2006-07 season. Both players are serving as captains for the first time in their careers, and each received the captain’s honor following a vote of their teammates prior to the season.

Joyce Center Arena Renovation On Tap
On Oct. 5, Notre Dame announced plans for a nearly $25 million renovation of the Joyce Center arena, including new chairback seating, a four-sided digital video scoreboard, and a club/hospitality area (as part of a new two-story addition to be built on the south side of the facility).

The $24.7 million renovation project has been underwritten with a $12.5 million leadership gift from Philip J. Purcell III, a Notre Dame alumnus and Trustee, and the retired chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley. Upon completion, the arena will be known as Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center. The Purcell gift, combined with other benefactions, including a $5 million gift from 1959 Notre Dame graduate and Tampa Bay Devil Rays owner Vince Naimoli, brings the total contributions to the project to $22 million.

In accordance with University policies for new construction, work on the renovation will begin after the project is fully funded and designed. The University is actively seeking additional contributions.

Next Game: NCAA Championship
Following the conclusion of this weekend’s BIG EAST Championship in Hartford, Conn., Notre Dame will learn its postseason fate March 12 when the 64-team field for the 2007 NCAA Championship is unveiled at 8 p.m. (ET) live on ESPN. The Irish have been selected for the tournament 13 times in program history, including each of the past 11 seasons.