Feb. 25, 2002
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame made it a clean sweep of this week’s BIG EAST Conference women’s basketball awards, as junior guard Alicia Ratay (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich HS) was named BIG EAST Player of the Week, and freshman forward Katy Flecky (Lone Tree, Colo./Highlands Ranch HS) was selected as the BIG EAST Rookie of the Week, the conference announced Monday. It’s the second award in as many weeks for Ratay, while Flecky earns the first top rookie honor of her career.
Ratay averaged 27.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game last week while helping the Irish to a pair of conference victories and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming BIG EAST Championship. Ratay also shot 50 percent from both the floor (14-28) and the three-point line (8-16) and connected at a 90.5 percent clip (19-21) from the free throw line last week. Against West Virginia, she pumped in a season-high 31 points, including 20 in the second half as Notre Dame extended the nation’s longest home winning streak to 51 games. She also knocked down a career-best 11 free throws and four three-point field goals in the triumph.
Ratay then netted a game-high 24 points and seven rebounds in Saturday’s win at Georgetown. Once again, she logged 20 second-half points, canning four more treys against the Hoyas to help move her into 10th place on the Irish career scoring list with 1,301 points. This season, Ratay ranks third in the BIG EAST in scoring (14.9 ppg.) and first in free throw percentage (.874).
Flecky notched 11.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last week while making just the third and fourth starts of her collegiate career. The Lone Tree, Colo., native tallied eight points and six rebounds against West Virginia, before coming back with a career-high 14 points and seven rebounds in a career-best 28 minutes of action at Georgetown. For the season, she is averaging 4.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, but she has nearly doubled her scoring average since moving into the starting lineup three games ago, carding 8.7 ppg. in that time. Flecky is the second Irish freshman to be named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week this season – forward Jacqueline Batteast is a six-time winner of the award.
No. 22 Notre Dame (19-7, 13-2 BIG EAST) will play its final regular-season home game Tuesday at 7 p.m. (EST) when it welcomes Villanova to the Joyce Center for Senior Night. The Irish, winners of nine in a row and 17 of their last 20 games, will be seeking to secure not only their ninth consecutive 20-win season, but also stretch their BIG EAST home winning streak to 32 games and lock up a third straight undefeated regular season at the Joyce Center.
– ND –