Irish Tip Off Three-Game Homestand Sunday Against West Virginia

Feb. 3, 2007

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2006-07 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 22
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-8 / 4-4 BIG EAST) vs.
West Virginia Mountaineers (15-7 / 6-3 BIG EAST)

Storylines

• Notre Dame opens a stretch of three consecutive games at the Joyce Center, where the Irish are 10-1 this season.
• The Notre Dame bench has been a major asset this year, averaging 23.5 points per game.

Irish Tip Off Three-Game Homestand Sunday Against West Virginia
Returning home after arguably the toughest road trip in its 30-year history, Notre Dame will look to snap a three-game losing streak when it plays host to West Virginia Sunday at 5:30 p.m. (ET) inside the Joyce Center. The game will be broadcast live to a national television audience on ESPNU, the third TV game in the past four outings for the Irish.

Notre Dame is coming off another tough road loss, this time a 71-62 setback at Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. The Irish led nine points in the first half, then saw their fortunes reversed and trailed by 10 points with under four minutes to play. They rallied to within three points and had two looks at a potential game-tying shot in the final 30 seconds, but neither attempt would fall. It was Notre Dame’s third consecutive road game against an opponent that was either ranked or receiving votes in the national polls.

Junior guard Charel Allen did all she could, scoring a game-high 17 points and adding seven rebounds with a career-high six assists at Pittsburgh. Freshman center Erica Williamson added 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds off the bench for the Irish.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is not ranked.
• West Virginia is not ranked.

Web Sites

• Notre Dame: http://www.und.com
• West Virginia: http://www.MSNsportsNET.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 606-274 (.689).

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

• 20th season at Notre Dame
• 442-175 (.716) at Notre Dame.
• 530-216 (.710) 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
Heading into the final month of the 2006-07 regular season, the growth of the Notre Dame women’s basketball team already is evident, and the best may be yet to come.

With a young and inexperienced roster that has only two seniors and is missing its top returning scorer from a year ago, the Irish have had to learn on the run – and run is exactly what they have done this season. Notre Dame is averaging 70.3 points per game thus far, a significant improvement over the previous five Irish squads, none of which has averaged better than 66.3 points per night.

Of course, the Irish have traditionally hung their hat on their defense, a trait that is much harder to master and takes a bit longer. On the one hand, Notre Dame’s aggressive style has rattled opponents, causing 21.3 turnovers per game (including a BIG EAST-best 11.6 steals per night). However, the flip side has seen the Irish allow opponents to shoot .422 from the floor (.369 from the three-point line), while the Irish claim just a 1.1 rpg. edge on the boards), two areas Notre Dame will continue to focus on during the BIG EAST season.

Junior guard Charel Allen has been one of the main offensive catalysts for the Irish to this point, averaging a team-high 15.7 ppg., while scoring in double figures in 18 of 21 outings to date. The Monessen, Pa., native, who was named the BIG EAST Player of the Week on Jan. 22, also is collecting 6.2 rebounds and a team-high 2.33 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 4.0 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.

Another Irish junior, 6-foot-5 center Melissa D’Amico, continues to make strides in the post. The second-year starter is carding 9.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game with a team-high .530 field goal percentage. She also earned a spot on the BIG EAST Honor Roll on Dec. 18, and has posted two double-doubles this year.

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 (10.3 ppg.) and steals (2.1 spg.), and came up with a career-high 21 points and nine rebounds on Dec. 28 vs. Prairie View A&M. Center Erica Williamson (7.0 ppg., 6.3 rpg., 1.4 bpg.) logged her first career double-double at South Florida with 11 points and 18 rebounds (an Irish freshman record), and is averaging 11.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in her last two games. And, guard Melissa Lechlitner (5.6 ppg., 3.1 apg.) has been particularly sharp of late, leading the BIG EAST with a 2.55 assist/turnover ratio in conference play, scoring a career-high 18 points vs. Syracuse and delivering a personal-best nine assists (without a turnover) against St. John’s.

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 260 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.
• Notre Dame currently is ranked 10th nationally in attendance (6,331 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 89 of its last 91 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 this year 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 this year.
• 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 is 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 West Virginia
West Virginia was one of the feel-good stories at the end of the 2005-06 college basketball season, as the injury-riddled Mountaineers (seeded 12th in the BIG EAST Championship) stunned Louisville, St. John’s and Rutgers on three consecutive days at the conference tournament before Connecticut ended WVU’s Cinderella run and NCAA Tournament hopes.

With all five starters and seven letterwinners back from that club, not to mention a talented incoming class that included a pair of Division I transfers, all signs have pointed to West Virginia getting back to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four seasons. However, the Mountaineers had to make one big adjustment during the preseason, as their top returning scorer from a year ago, senior All-America guard Meg Bulger, was lost for the year when she re-injured the ACL in her left knee.

The first half of this season was an up-and-down struggle for WVU, as the Mountaineers faced four ranked opponents (all away from home) and played only six non-conference home games, but won all six contests. Yet, West Virginia didn’t back down and beginning with a 74-63 win at No. 24 DePaul on Jan. 9, the Mountaineers have turned into the BIG EAST’s hottest team, winning seven in a row as they arrive in South Bend.

WVU (15-7, 6-3 BIG EAST) last played on Wednesday night, taking a 67-49 home victory over Syracuse. Junior guard LaQuita Owens erupted for a career-high-tying 26 points and 11 rebounds, logging her third career double-double, to pace the Mountaineers. Sophomore guard Sparkle Davis (a transfer from Auburn) added 13 points and junior center Olayinka Sanni collected 10 points and eight rebounds as WVU led from start to finish in the victory.

Sanni leads the Mountaineers in scoring (13.9 ppg.), rebounding (7.4 rpg.) and field goal percentage (.557), while also ranking among the top 20 in the BIG EAST in all three categories. Owens is second on the squad in scoring (12.6 ppg.), with junior Chakhia Cole also logging double-digit points (11.3 ppg.), as well as 6.0 rebounds per game this year.

Mike Carey is in his sixth season as the head coach at West Virginia, sporting a 101-72 (.584) record with the Mountaineers. A former mentor for 13 seasons with the men’s team at his alma mater (Salem), Carey has a lifetime coaching record of 389-176 (.688). He is 1-6 all-time against Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-West Virginia Series
Like many of its other series vs. BIG EAST Conference opponents, Notre Dame did not play West Virginia prior to joining the league in 1995-96. Since then, the schools have tangled 15 times, with the Irish leading the all-time series, 14-1, including a current three-game winning streak. Notre Dame also is 7-0 against the Mountaineers at the Joyce Center

The Last Time Notre Dame and West Virginia Met
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 Feb. 22, 2006, at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.

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. Charel Allen came off the bench to score 12 points, while Crystal Erwin also provided strong support in a reserve role 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.

The difference for Notre Dame 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 ’05-06 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 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-pointer from 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 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. Bucar missed her foul shot, and Allen answered four seconds later with a three-pointer and the Irish never trailed again.

Still, matters appeared unresolved at the midway point of the second half, when Sanni knocked down a spinning layup to pull her team within 50-48. Following an Irish timeout, Erwin hit a layup of her own to ignite the game-changing 15-5 run that put the visitors in command. Duffy had five points and Tulyah Gaines added four points in the spurt, which covered just over five minutes and kept West Virginia from getting any closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

The Last Time Notre Dame and West Virginia Met At The Joyce Center
Teresa Borton and Jacqueline Batteast gave Notre Dame fans one last performance to remember.

Borton scored 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting in her final game at the Joyce Center and Jacqueline Batteast added 15 points, helping the 10th-ranked Fighting Irish dominate inside in an 82-57 victory over West Virginia on Feb. 26, 2005.

Notre Dame took control with a 13-0 run late in the first half and never let the Mountaineers (16-10, 7-8) get back in the game, outshooting West Virginia 70 percent to 33 percent after the break.

Megan Duffy, who had 10 turnovers in a loss at Rutgers a week earlier, added 12 points and 10 assists for the Irish, her second career double-double – but the inside play and free-throw shooting were key. Notre Dame outscored the Mountaineers 46-22 inside, had a 39-30 rebounding advantage and outscored West Virginia 15-6 from the free-throw line.

Borton added nine rebounds and five blocks. Ten of the 11 Notre Dame players who got into the game scored, giving the Irish the most points against a BIG EAST opponent during the 2004-05 season.

Yolanda Paige and Sherell Sowho had 16 points each to lead the Mountaineers.

Other Notre Dame-West Virginia Series Tidbits

• Notre Dame scored at least 70 points against West Virginia 12 times in the 15-game series. On the other hand, West Virginia has reached the 70-point plateau just twice against Notre Dame and has been held under 60 points by the Irish eight times.
• In their last 10 games against Notre Dame, the Mountaineers have scored exactly in a 10-point window (54-64 points), including two 54-point games and three 64-point nights.
• Since losing at West Virginia in 2004, the Irish have won the past three series games, all by double digits, and have held the Mountaineers to 58.0 ppg. in that time.
• The Irish have scored 100 points in a game twice against WVU, making the Mountaineers the only BIG EAST opponent to see Notre Dame crack triple digits more than once.
• For the second consecutive game, the Irish will play an opponent that, like Notre Dame, lost an important player to a season-ending knee injury during the preseason. Notre Dame sophomore guard Lindsay Schrader, the top returning scorer (10.5 ppg.) and rebounder (5.4 rpg.) for the Irish, tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee during practice on Oct. 15. West Virginia senior guard Meg Bulger led the Mountaineers in scoring (19.8 ppg.) and three-point percentage (.432) when she tore the ACL in her left knee on Jan. 29, 2006 at St. John’s. During the course of her rehabilitation this past summer, Bulger re-injured the same ligament and will miss the 2006-07 season.
• Jim Bulger, the father of West Virginia senior guard Meg Bulger, was a two-year monogram winner as a quarterback at Notre Dame (1970-71), and was part of ND’s 1970 Cotton Bowl championship squad. That year, the elder Bulger served as an understudy to All-American signal-caller (and future Super Bowl champion) Joe Theismann.

Hoop-er Sunday
Notre Dame will be playing on Super Bowl Sunday for the fifth time in the program’s 30-year history. The Irish are 2-2 in such contests, but haven’t taken the hardwood on the same day as the Super Bowl since Jan. 26, 1986, when they defeated DePaul, 55-53 in Chicago.

Ironically, on that day, the Chicago Bears trounced the New England Patriots, 46-10, to win Super Bowl XX (the Bears’ only previous Super Bowl appearance). And for those who might be curious, when Notre Dame has played on Super Sunday in the past, the NFC team is 3-1 in the football title game – besides Chicago, San Francisco won in 1982 (Super Bowl XVI) and Washington won in 1983 (Super Bowl XVII). The lone AFC win opposite a Notre Dame women’s basketball game occurred on Jan. 20, 1980 (Pittsburgh over the Los Angeles Rams, 31-19 in Super Bowl XIV).

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 nearly nine points per game.

For the year, the Irish second unit has outscored the opponent reserves in 17 of 21 games, with Notre Dame posting a 12-5 record in those contests.

The Familiar Five
The Irish have used the same starting lineup in all 21 games this season, with guards Tulyah Gaines, Charel Allen and Breona Gray joined by forward Crystal Erwin and center Melissa D’Amico.

Notre Dame is the only BIG EAST school that has started the same lineup in every game it has played this season.

The Best Things In Life Are Free
Notre Dame ranks seventh in the nation in free throw percentage (.777), through games of Feb. 1. 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.

The Irish also lead the BIG EAST Conference with a .783 free throw percentage in league play. The BIG EAST record for foul shooting in regular-season conference games is .787, set by Seton Hall in 1986-87.

Clutch When It Counts
Notre Dame is shooting 75.6 percent from the foul line (68-of-90) 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 Ashley Barlow and Melissa Lechlitner are a combined 18-of-21 (.857) at the charity stripe down the stretch.

Poise Under Pressure
The Irish are 6-4 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 26-11 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 (15.7 ppg.) and Tulyah Gaines (9.8 ppg.), and center Melissa D’Amico (9.3 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, they have 36 double-digit efforts.

Spread The Wealth
The Irish have fielded at least three double-figure scorers in 13 games this season, going 10-3 in those contests (losses at Penn State, South Florida and No. 17/18 Marquette). The Jan. 13 overtime loss at USF marked the fourth time this year Notre Dame had five players crack double digits in the same contest.

Keeping The Home Fires Burning
Notre Dame has been largely solid at home this season, going 10-1 due in part to a crisp offense that has averaged 80.1 points per game on the Joyce Center hardwood. Led by junior guard Charel Allen (16.9 ppg.), the Irish also have four players scoring better than 11 points per game through their 11 home outings and are shooting .469 from the floor in front of the Notre Dame faithful.

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

Barlow also is second on the team in scoring (10.3 ppg.) and ranks among the BIG EAST Conference leaders in both free throw percentage (second at .886; also 14th in NCAA as of Feb. 1) and steals (ninth at 2.05 spg.). Williamson is carding 7.0 points, and team highs of 6.3 rebounds and 1.35 blocks per game, ranking ninth in the conference in the latter category. And, Lechlitner is logging 5.6 points and 3.05 assists per night with a 1.65 assist/turnover ratio that is good for eighth in the BIG EAST. Lechlitner has been even better in conference play, placing second in the BIG EAST with a 2.55 assist/turnover ratio (that includes 24 assists and just six turnovers in her last five games).

The Five-Finger Discount
Notre Dame’s aggressive defense has forced 21.3 turnovers per game this season, logging 20-or-more takeaways in 14 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 and ranked 23rd in the country with 11.6 steals per night. In fact, Notre Dame has posted double-digit steal totals in 15 games this season, with junior guard Charel Allen committing the most larcenies to date (49, 2.33 per game, fifth in BIG EAST) and leading four Irish players with at least 35 steals this season.

In addition, freshman guard Ashley Barlow recorded a combined 11 steals vs. Western Michigan (six) and at USC (five). That made her the first Notre Dame player with back-to-back five-steal games since March 30-April 1, 2001, when Niele Ivey did so against Connecticut (five) and Purdue (six) at the NCAA Women’s Final Four in St. Louis.

Game #21 Recap: Pittsburgh
Junior guard Charel Allen scored a game-high 17 points, including a three-pointer with 51 seconds left that pulled Notre Dame within three, but the Irish couldn’t complete a stirring late-game comeback, falling at Pittsburgh, 71-62 in BIG EAST Conference action on Wednesday night at the Petersen Events Center. Notre Dame had trailed by 10 points with less than four minutes to play and battled back to make it a one-possession game twice in the final minute, before ultimately seeing two potential game-tying three-point attempts go off the mark.

Playing in front of a large contingent of family and friends who made the 30-mile trek from her hometown, Allen was superb, finishing with seven rebounds, a career-high six assists and three steals in 38 minutes of work. Freshman center Erica Williamson chipped in with another solid effort, coming off the bench to pile up 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds for the Irish (13-8, 4-4 BIG EAST).

Shavonte Zellous led three Pittsburgh players in double figures with 17 points, while Marcedes Walker added 16 points and eight rebounds, and Danielle Taylor collected 16 points in a reserve role. The Panthers (16-5, 4-4), who dropped out of the national rankings this week after an eight-week run in the Top 25, held a 40-29 edge on the boards, and outscored Notre Dame by 10 points at the free throw line.

Both teams struggled to find a rhythm in the early going, with a snail’s pace yielding just a 12-10 lead for the Irish by the second media timeout (11:43) of the first half. Coming out of the break, Notre Dame struck quickly with a 10-3 run, capped by a lay-up from freshman guard Melissa Lechlitner at the 5:51 mark. But, just as fast, Pittsburgh stormed back with a 9-0 run, in a two-minute span, with Selena Nwude squaring the score on her jumper in the paint with 3:11 remaining. The teams would stay virtually level the rest of the period, with a couple of late buckets by Williamson helping the Irish to a 28-26 halftime lead.

The first nine minutes of the second half were nightmarish for Notre Dame, as the Irish connected on only two field goals and saw the Panthers go on a 15-5 run, with Walker’s spinning lay-up in the paint boosting the hosts’ lead to 41-33 with 10:29 to go. Notre Dame trimmed the margin to five points on three occasions during the next four minutes, with Allen’s pull-up jumper on the break resulting in a 50-45 Pitt edge at the 6:38 juncture. The Panthers then scored six of the next seven points and seemingly had matters under control with a game-high 10-point lead heading into the final media timeout (3:40).

At that point, Notre Dame began chipping away at the Pittsburgh lead, with Williamson hitting a bucket inside, followed by four points from junior guard Tulyah Gaines and then five points from freshman guard Ashley Barlow. And, when Allen sank her trey with under a minute to play, the Panthers’ advantage had shrunk to 63-60. Taylor then beat the Irish press for a fastbreak lay-up, but Lechlitner came back with her own lay-up off an Allen steal with 29.9 seconds to play to keep the margin at three points.

Pitt had trouble with the ensuing inbounds under its basket, and after a timeout, the Panthers still couldn’t get the ball in safely and were whistled for a five-second violation. Now with a chance to tie the game, Lechlitner took the inbounds pass and fired up a 22-footer from the right wing that caromed off the back iron. Allen corralled the long offensive rebound, but her heavily contested three-point try was off-line as well and the ball went out of bounds back to Pittsburgh. Barlow then fouled Pitt guard Jania Sims on the next possession, but Sims (a 65-percent foul shooter) appeared to tweak her foot on the play and the officials allowed her to be replaced by Karlyle Lim (an 85-percent foul shooter), who promptly sank both charities. Taylor completed the scoring by intercepting a long baseball pass by the Irish and banking in a shot from just inside the midcourt stripe with under a second to play.

Noting The Pittsburgh Game

• Pittsburgh earns its first victory in 17 all-time games against Notre Dame, making Providence the only BIG EAST opponent never to have defeated the Irish with a minimum of five series games played.
• Notre Dame’s 62 points were a series-low, topping the old mark set in a 67-53 win at Pittsburgh on Jan. 18, 2000.
• Pitt’s 71 points were only three off its series high, set in an 81-74 loss to the Irish on Feb. 9, 2000.
• The loss was the first for Notre Dame in four games this season when playing after a double-digit loss in its previous contest.
• Notre Dame gave up a nine-point first-half lead vs. Pittsburgh, the largest margin the Irish have yielded in a loss this year (previous: eight vs. Indiana on Dec. 3).
• Pittsburgh’s 45 second-half points were the most allowed by Notre Dame to a BIG EAST opponent this year.
• Charel Allen now is averaging 16.3 ppg. in three career meetings with her hometown school (Pittsburgh); Allen’s six assists also were one more than her previous career best, set against Purdue on Dec. 6.
• Erica Williamson now has logged back-to-back double-digit scoring games for the first time in her career.
• Tulyah Gaines dished out at least five assists for the fourth time in the past five games and the eighth time this season.

Injury Bug Bites Irish Early
Sophomore guard Lindsay Schrader will miss the 2006-07 season after suffering a torn ACL in her right knee during practice on Oct. 15. Schrader underwent corrective surgery on Oct. 27, with the normal rehabilitation timeline extending 6-9 months.

Schrader was to be Notre Dame’s top returning scorer and rebounder this season, after averaging 10.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game during her rookie campaign in 2005-06.

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 606-274 (.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 557-254 (.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 442-175 (.716) at the helm of the Irish and has a career record of 530-216 (.710) 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.

Notre Dame Ranked 11th In Preseason BIG EAST Coaches’ Poll
According to a preseason poll of the BIG EAST Conference coaches, Notre Dame will finish 11th in the conference this season. Those were the results released at the league’s annual Media Day Oct. 26 at the ESPN Zone in New York’s Times Square. The Irish earned 108 points, while reigning BIG EAST Championship victor, Connecticut (221 points, 11 first-place votes) was tabbed first, ahead of regular-season champion Rutgers (215 points, five first-place votes). The BIG EAST sent 11 teams to the postseason last year, including seven NCAA Tournament qualifiers (Notre Dame was one).

The Irish now are in their 12th season as a member of the BIG EAST Conference in 2006-07. The Irish have gone 149-43 (.776) all-time in regular-season conference games, posting the second-best winning percentage in league history. Connecticut is first with a .788 success rate (309-83). Notre Dame also has finished among the top three in the final BIG EAST regular-season standings nine times in its first 11 seasons in the conference, including a share of the BIG EAST title in 2000-01.

Half And Half
During the past seven seasons, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Irish are 118-11 (.915) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 46 of their last 51 such contests. Ten times this year, Notre Dame has led at the break, winning on nine occasions (Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Richmond, IUPUI, Valparaiso, Prairie View A&M, Cincinnati, St. John’s and Syracuse). Wednesday’s loss at Pittsburgh was Notre Dame’s first setback after 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 164-10 (.943) record when they hold their opponents below 60 points in a game. Notre Dame has held six foes to less than 60 points, and is 5-1 in those games (wins over Michigan, Purdue, Valparaiso, Prairie View A&M and Syracuse; loss 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 99-3 (.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 eight times this season, winning on each occasion (Central Michigan, Bowling Green, Western Michigan, Richmond, Prairie View A&M, Cincinnati, St. John’s and Syracuse).

The eight 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 145 of their last 162 games (.895) at the 11,418-seat Joyce Center, including winning streaks of 51 and 25 games in that span. Notre Dame also has an 83-12 (.874) 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 295-78 (.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 will tie 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 10th in the nation in average attendance (6,331 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 89 of their last 91 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).

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.

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 will have 11 of its regular-season games televised during the 2006-07 season. Highlighting this year’s television docket are 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.

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 78 televised games, including 47 that were broadcast nationally.

Notre Dame On The Airwaves
For the 11th consecutive season, every Irish women’s basketball game (home and away) will air on commercial radio in South Bend, and for the seventh year in a row, Notre Dame can be heard on the flagship station of the Artistic Media Partners (AMP) Network – WDND-AM (ESPN Radio 1490) in South Bend. Veteran broadcaster and AMP sports director Sean Stires is now in his seventh season handling the play-by-play for Notre Dame. The Irish also can be heard free of charge on the Internet at Notre Dame’s official athletics web site (www.und.com).

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 will have 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 can watch every minute of exciting action at the Joyce Center live from the comfort of their own homes. The video will be supplemented by an audio simulcast of the Notre Dame radio broadcast, led by veteran sportscaster Sean Stires.

This free service is limited to those home games that have not been selected for broadcast by other TV outlets. The Irish have been seen on und.com four times this season (Indiana, IUPUI, Cincinnati, St. John’s and Syracuse), with the remainder of this year’s Internet video broadcast schedule to include home games vs. Louisville (Feb. 7) and Georgetown (Feb. 21).

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.

Promotional Corner
Here’s a rundown of some upcoming promotions and giveaways at future Notre Dame women’s basketball games this season. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Irish athletics ticket office (second floor of the Joyce Center through Gate 1; 574-631-7356), on game day at the Gate 10 ticket windows of the Joyce Center, or via the Internet at Notre Dame’s official athletics web site (www.und.com/tickets). Consult the Notre Dame promotions web site (www.notredamepromotions.com) for the latest information:

• Feb. 4 vs. West Virginia – Girls and Women in Sports Celebration … Cheerleading Clinic … Faculty/Staff Day (half-priced tickets for Notre Dame/Saint Mary’s/Holy Cross faculty/staff and up to four guests) … Notre Dame women’s basketball freshman/sophomore player trading cards to the first 1,000 fans, courtesy of Home Run Inn Pizza … post-game autograph session on upper arena concourse with selected Irish players.

Next Game: Louisville
The Irish continue their season-long three-game BIG EAST homestand Wednesday at 7 p.m. (ET) when they play host to No. 19/17 Louisville at the Joyce Center. The Cardinals will be making just their second-ever appearance in South Bend, and first since the 1991-92 season.

Louisville (20-2, 6-2 BIG EAST) is in the midst of one of its finest seasons ever, winning 15 in a row to start the year. The Cardinals will come to town on a three-game winning streak, and were slated to host DePaul Saturday afternoon before heading to Notre Dame.