Notre Dame Hosts #8/6 Connecticut on Sunday

Feb. 18, 2006

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2005-06 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 24
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-9 / 5-7 BIG EAST) vs.
#8/6 Connecticut Huskies (23-3 / 11-1 BIG EAST)

Storylines

• Notre Dame will play a ranked team for the eighth time this season, and fourth against a top-10 opponent.
• Sunday’s contest (which will be broadcast live on ESPN2) is the last of three consecutive Irish games to be televised nationally on the ESPN family of networks.

Following a week-long hiatus (its longest since the Christmas holiday), Notre Dame (14-9, 5-7 BIG EAST) gears up for the final two weeks of the regular season when it plays host to No. 8/6 Connecticut Sunday at 7 p.m. (ET) inside the Joyce Center. Heading into this weekend, the Irish were in a three-way tie for ninth place in the conference standings, which are compacted in the middle (six teams separated by two games).

Notre Dame dropped its second consecutive game last Sunday, a 79-50 decision at No. 17/15 DePaul. The contest actually was much closer than the final score might indicate, as the Irish led late in the first half and then rallied back within six points with 11 minutes to play before the Blue Demons pulled away.

Sophomore guard Charel Allen led three Irish players in double figures with 15 points, to go along with six rebounds.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is receiving votes in both the Associated Press poll and ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll this week.
• Connecticut is ranked eighth in the current Associated Press poll and sixth in the latest ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll.

Web Sites

• Notre Dame: http://www.und.com
• Connecticut: http://www.uconnhuskies.com
• BIG EAST: http://www.bigeast.org

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

In its history, Notre Dame has developed eight All-Americans, eight WNBA players (including five draft picks in the past five years) and four USA Basketball veterans (eight medals won). Now in their 29th season in 2005-06, the Irish own an all-time record of 589-263 (.691).

Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw

• Saint Joseph’s ’77
• 19th season at Notre Dame
• 425-164 (.722) at Notre Dame.
• 513-205 (.714) in 24 years as head coach.

NOTES

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

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

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

Since that time, Notre Dame has seen its fortunes turn south, losing eight of its last 13 games, including the program’s first three-game losing streak in eight seasons. However, the Irish also did log an key third win over a ranked opponent (78-75 vs. #10 DePaul on Jan. 17) and were ranked in every AP and ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll for the first two months of the season, and they continue to receive votes in both surveys this week.

One of the critical elements for the Irish to be successful this season has been offensive balance. On 17 occasions, Notre Dame has had at least three players scoring in double figures (going 12-5 in those games), and eight separate players have cracked double digits at least twice this year. Additionally, six different players have led the team in scoring at some point.

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

Back stateside, Duffy continues to make improvements in her game each night out and has been a strong all-around contributor and leader for Notre Dame once again this year. The veteran floor general is averaging a team-best 15.5 points, 4.26 assists and 2.04 steals per game, with a 1.81 assist/turnover ratio, ranking among the top 10 in the BIG EAST in all four categories. In addition, she leads the league and is eighth in the nation in foul shooting (.910).

She also has led the team in scoring 12 times and in assists 17 times this year. Among her many honors this year, Duffy is one of 11 nominees for the Nancy Lieberman Award (top point guard in the nation), a mid-season candidate for the Naismith Trophy, a first-team academic all-district honoree, a BIG EAST Player of the Week selection (Jan. 23), a three-time BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll choice, and was named to the Duel in the Desert (Gray Division) All-Tournament Team. She has scored in double figures in her last eight games, averaging 15.6 points in that span.

Freshman guard Lindsay Schrader has shown tremendous promise in her first season with the Irish. The former McDonald’s All-American already has been named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week once (Nov. 21) after turning in an impressive 10-point, 14-rebound effort in her debut outing against Michigan, becoming just the second player in school history (first since 1979) to record a double-double in her first game. She also earned a spot on the Dec. 5 BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, the first freshman to appear on that list this season. Schrader is second on the team in scoring (9.2 ppg.) and tops in rebounding (5.8 rpg.), and has scored in double figures three times in the past five games, including a season-high 24 points at Syracuse on Jan. 31.

Senior forward Courtney LaVere has shown signs of being a dependable force in the post for the Irish. She ranks third on the team in scoring (8.5 ppg.), and first in both field goal percentage (.503) and blocks (1.3 bpg.), ranking sixth in the BIG EAST in the latter category.

LaVere was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Feb. 6, and has come alive in her last four games, scoring in double figures each time out (her longest double-digit stretch since an eight-game run late in her freshman season) and averaging 13.5 ppg. with a .605 field goal percentage (26-of-43).

Potent Notables About The Fighting Irish

• Notre Dame’s departure from the Jan. 30 Associated Press poll snapped a string of 30 consecutive appearances for the Irish in that survey, dating back to the start of the 2004-05 season. All told, Notre Dame has appeared in 139 Associated Press polls since the balloting debuted 30 years ago, with their first AP ranking (No. 25) coming on Dec. 31, 1990.
• With its No. 10 AP ranking on Dec. 5, the Irish have appeared in the top 10 of the media balloting at some point in seven of the past 10 years (including three of the past four seasons). Notre Dame has spent a total of 73 weeks in the AP top 10 during the program’s 29-year history and owns a 110-21 (.840) record when it’s ranked in the top 10.
• The Irish have won 57 of their last 61 non-conference home games, dating back to the 1994-95 season. Three of the losses in that span have come against Big Ten Conference opponents (Wisconsin in 1996, Purdue in 2003, Michigan State in 2004), with the other coming back on Dec. 31 vs. No. 1 Tennessee.
• The Irish defense continues to be its calling card. In each of the past six seasons, Notre Dame has held its opponents to an average of less than 62 points per game, including a 56.8 ppg. mark last year, which ranked as the third-lowest opponent scoring average in school history and second-best of the Muffet McGraw era (55.8 ppg. in 2000-01). Thus far in 2005-06, the Irish are slightly over their six-year average, allowing opponents to score 62.2 ppg.
• The Irish are 3-4 against ranked teams this season and have posted 40 wins over Top 25 opponents in the past eight seasons (1998-99 to present), most recently knocking off No. 10/10 DePaul, 78-75 on Jan. 17 at the Joyce Center. In each of the past two years, Notre Dame has set a school record with seven regular-season wins over ranked opponents. Furthermore, since the start of the 2003-04 season, the Irish are 12-3 (.800) at home against Top 25 competition (2-1 this year).
• Drawing 6,347 fans to its Feb. 7 overtime game vs. Villanova, the Irish now have welcomed crowds of 5,000 or more fans to 76 of their last 78 home games. The only two blemishes on that mark came in the semifinals and finals of last year’s Preseason WNIT, because tickets for those games could not be included in the Notre Dame season ticket package and had to be purchased separately.
• The capacity crowd of 11,418 for the Dec. 31 home game vs. top-ranked Tennessee was the third sellout in program history and the 19-day advance sellout was the quickest in the 29-year history of Irish women’s basketball. As of Feb. 13, Notre Dame ranks 11th in the country in average home attendance with 6,544 fans per game.
• Senior guard Megan Duffy was named a preseason All-American by three sources, was cited on the preseason watch lists for both the State Farm/WBCA Wade Trophy and the John R. Wooden Women’s Award, and was tabbed as one of the top five point guards in the nation by ESPN.com. Duffy also was a preseason all-BIG EAST Conference selection, following up her first-team all-league citation last year.
• With a 55-45 victory over Michigan on Nov. 18, Irish head coach Muffet McGraw became the 27th coach in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history to reach the 500-win mark. She also is the 10th Division I coach to earn her 500th victory prior to age 50. McGraw reached another milestone on Nov. 29 vs. Iona with her 700th career game as a head coach.

A Quick Look At Connecticut
Following a run of three consecutive NCAA titles from 2002-04, some observers considered the Huskies’ 25-8 record and NCAA Sweet 16 berth last season as below par. It hasn’t taken long for UConn to put the memory of that record to bed and put itself in position to return to the top of the college basketball world. Connecticut (23-3, 11-1 BIG EAST) has been ranked among the top 10 in the nation in both polls this season, rising as high as third in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll earlier this month. The Huskies also have put together three streaks of at least six consecutive wins this season, and all three of their losses were to top-10 opponents (two against teams that were No. 1 in the nation at some point this year). UConn opened the season by winning the Preseason WNIT (as Notre Dame did a year ago) and has gone 16-2 at home this season. The Huskies have won 11 of their last 12 games, with their only setback a 60-56 loss at home to Rutgers on Feb. 7. Connecticut won the two games it has played since then (71-58 at Texas and 84-58 at home vs. Providence). In that last contest, the Huskies led all the way, jumping to a 41-22 halftime edge and rolling to the victory. Senior forward/guard Barbara Turner recorded a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds, pacing five UConn players in double figures against Providence. Balanced scoring has been a key to the Huskies’ success this season, with four players posting double-figure scoring averages thus far. Senior wing Ann Strother leads the way at 14.3 points per game, with sophomore guard Mel Thomas next at 12.7 points a night. Thomas is Connecticut’s top perimeter shooter (BIG EAST-best .462 three-point percentage), while Strother isn’t far behind with a .369 ratio from the arc. Turner (11.3 ppg., 7.0 rpg.) and sophomore forward Charde Houston (10.7 ppg.) give the Huskies a capable pair of versatile scorers, while freshman guard Renee Montgomery has made a solid transition to the college level, averaging 7.6 points and 3.5 assists per game while starting 24 of 26 games. UConn head coach Geno Auriemma is in his 21st season at the school, owning a 580-114 (.836) record. Auriemma, who will be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in April, and recently named a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, is 17-4 all-time against Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-Connecticut Series
Notre Dame and Connecticut had never faced one another prior to the Irish joining the BIG EAST Conference for the 1995-96 season. Since then, the schools have tangled 21 times, with the Huskies owning a 17-4 series lead. Sunday night’s game also will mark the eighth time Notre Dame has played host to UConn at the Joyce Center, with the Huskies posting a 5-2 record in South Bend. The series was particularly one-sided for the first five seasons it was played, with Connecticut winning all 11 matchups with Notre Dame. However, the Irish broke through with a landmark 92-76 win over the Huskies on Jan. 15, 2001, and since then, the series has been fairly even, with UConn leading 6-4 during the past five seasons. Often times, Notre Dame and Connecticut have played one another multiple times in the same season. In fact, only three times in the past decade have the Irish and Huskies played just once in a season (1999-2000; 2001-02 and 2003-04). Last year, UConn took two of three meetings from Notre Dame. The Huskies won 67-50 at the Joyce Center on Jan. 12, 2005, before the Irish rebounded with a 65-59 victory on Jan. 30, 2005 at Gampel Pavilion. Connecticut then claimed the rubber match, 67-54 on March 7, 2005 in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship at the Hartford Civic Center.

Other Notre Dame-Connecticut Series Tidbits

• After allowing Connecticut to score at least 70 points in each of the first 17 series meetings, Notre Dame has held the Huskies to less than 70 points in each of the past four matchups (going 2-2 in that time).
• Notre Dame’s 65-59 win at Connecticut on Jan. 30 snapped two long UConn winning streaks – 112 consecutive regular-season BIG EAST home victories, and 55 in a row at Gampel Pavilion.
• Connecticut is one of only two BIG EAST Conference opponents to hold a series edge over Notre Dame, leading the series with the Irish, 17-4. The other league foe with a winning record against Notre Dame is Rutgers, which owns a 13-9 series lead over the Irish.
• The Notre Dame-Connecticut “No. 1 vs. No. 2” matchup at Gampel Pavilion in the 2001 BIG EAST Championship game (won by the Huskies, 78-76, on Sue Bird’s jumper at the horn) garnered an 0.96 Nielsen rating (730,914 households) on ESPN2, making it the highest-rated and most-watched game in that network’s history. It also was the third most-watched non-NCAA Tournament game in the annals of either ESPN or ESPN2, and five days later, it was replayed on ESPN Classic as that network’s first-ever women’s basketball “Instant Classic.”
• Since the start of the 1998-99 season, Connecticut has lost by 15-plus points only six times, with half of those losses coming to Notre Dame (twice in 2000-01, once in 2003-04).
• Notre Dame is one of only three teams in the nation to defeat Connecticut at least three times in the past 11 seasons (1995-96 to present). During that 11-year stretch, Tennessee is the only program with more wins (eight) over the Huskies, with Rutgers also having defeated UConn three times in that span.
• The Irish and Huskies have combined to win the five of the past six NCAA championships, and made the BIG EAST the only conference to win the national title in five consecutive seasons (2000-04). The BIG EAST also is the only league to have two different teams win the NCAA championship in consecutive seasons (Connecticut in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004; Notre Dame in 2001).
• Either Notre Dame or Connecticut has appeared in eight of the past 11 Final Fours, with both teams reaching college basketball’s biggest stage in 2001.
• Including Sunday’s game, at least one of the participants in the series has been ranked in all 22 contests, with both teams having been ranked 13 times.
• Connecticut freshman forward/center Cassie Kerns is a native of Valparaiso, Ind., and graduated from Valparaiso High School.
• Both head coaches – Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw and Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma – were appointed to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Board of Directors last June by new WBCA president (and DePaul head coach) Doug Bruno. McGraw assumed the title of NCAA Division I Legislative Chair for the group, taking over for another new BIG EAST coach, Marquette’s Terri Mitchell.
• McGraw and Auriemma both hail from the Philadelphia metro area, and cut their coaching teeth in the region. McGraw spent two seasons as the head girls’ basketball coach at Archbishop Carroll High School (1977-79) before becoming an assistant at her alma mater, Saint Joseph’s, from 1980-82 under her mentor (and current Ohio State skipper) Jim Foster. Meanwhile, Auriemma coached the boys’ basketball team at Bishop Kenrick High School in Norristown, Pa., from 1979-81, and also spent a season (1978-79) as an assistant under Foster at SJU.

The Last Time Notre Dame And Connecticut Met
Barbara Turner had 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists to lead No. 13/14 Connecticut to a 67-54 win over No. 10 Notre Dame in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship on March 7, 2005 at the Hartford Civic Center.

UConn dominated the Irish in the paint, finishing with a 45-33 rebounding edge and had 27 second-chance points. That helped on the outside for wing Ann Strother, who finished with 17 points and made 3-of-6 three-pointers.

The third-seeded Huskies built on an eight-point halftime lead with a 24-2 run. Strother had 12, including two three-pointers.

Charde Houston was a spark off the bench for UConn, finishing with 12 points and three steals as the Huskies reserves outscored Notre Dame’s backups, 27-6.

Megan Duffy had 21 points for second-seeded Notre Dame, getting 13 after UConn built a 24-point lead with under five minutes to play.

The Huskies held the Irish to 33-percent shooting and all but shut down BIG EAST Player of the Year Jacqueline Batteast. She had just two points in the first half and finished with 10 on 4-of-18 shooting.

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

In 12 games this season, Notre Dame has used a significant second-half run to either take control or battle back into contention. Included in that total are four games against Top 25 opponents (USC, Utah, Tennessee and DePaul), with three of those second-half charges leading to Irish wins (all but Tennessee).

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

Spine-Chiller Supremes<>br> Former Oakland Raiders cornerback (and noted quote machine) Lester Hayes used to refer to close, exciting games as “spine-chiller supremes.” Lester probably would have used the same phrase to describe Notre Dame’s season to date.

The Irish have played eight games decided by five points or less, going 5-3 in those contests. Three games have gone into overtime (tying a school record set in 1995-96), and all three losses were in doubt heading into the final minute of regulation (two defeats occurring in OT).

A History Lesson
With one steal vs. South Florida on Jan. 28, senior All-America guard Megan Duffy became only the fifth player in school history to record 1,000 points and 200 steals in her career. Duffy has 1,178 points and 208 steals since arriving in South Bend in 2002.

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

What’s more, Duffy has 474 career assists, putting her just 26 handouts short of pairing with Robinson and Ivey as the only Notre Dame players ever to amass 1,000 points, 500 assists and 200 steals in their careers.

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

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

This year’s ballot of 11 nominees includes three from the BIG EAST Conference: Duffy, Marquette’s Carolyn Kieger and Rutgers’ Cappie Pondexter. The others on the list include: Nikki Blue (UCLA), Lindsey Bowen (Michigan State), Dee Davis (Vanderbilt), Erin Grant (Texas Tech), Lindsay Harding (Duke), Alexis Hornbuckle (Tennessee), Ivory Latta (North Carolina) and Leilani Mitchell (Idaho).

The sportswriters who determined the nominees also will choose three finalists and the award winner, which will be announced during the NCAA Women’s Final Four weekend (April 2-4). The trophy then will be presented to this year’s winner on April 12 during a luncheon at the Detroit Athletic Club.

Past winners of the Nancy Lieberman Award include three-time recipient Sue Bird and two-time honoree Diana Taurasi, both of Connecticut, as well as 2005 winner Temeka Johnson of LSU.

Duffy On Naismith Mid-Season List
Senior All-America guard Megan Duffy is one of 30 players who have been designated as mid-season candidates for the Naismith Trophy, it was announced Friday by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. The award is presented annually to the nation’s top women’s college basketball player, with the top 30 mid-season candidates chosen from a preseason group of 50 based upon player performance during the season. The selections were made by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selectors, which is comprised of leading basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from around the country. Next month, the Board will determine the four Naismith Trophy finalists that will appear on the award’s ballot – former Notre Dame great Ruth Riley won the honor in 2001.

Friday’s announcement marked the second time in a week Duffy has been mentioned for a major national honor. On Feb. 10, she was tapped as one of 11 nominees for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is given to the nation’s top point guard. In addition, Duffy is expected to be a prime candidate for the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, which is presented annually at the NCAA Women’s Final Four by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) to the nation’s top senior player standing 5-foot-8 or under. Renowned former Irish point guard Niele Ivey was the 2001 winner of the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award.

Duffy is one of seven BIG EAST players on this year’s Naismith Trophy mid-season candidate list, joining Jessica Dickson (South Florida), Charde Houston (Connecticut), Cappie Pondexter (Rutgers), Khara Smith (DePaul), Ann Strother (Connecticut) and Barbara Turner (Connecticut). The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) was the only other league to have seven candidates on the Naismith mid-season list.

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

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

When The Game Is On The Line
The Irish have posted a .657 free throw percentage (69-of-105) in the final two minutes and overtime of games this season. Leading the way are junior forward Crystal Erwin, who made her only two late-game free throws of the year with 41 seconds left in regulation Jan. 28 vs. USF, and senior guard Megan Duffy, who has made 30 of her 32 foul shots (.938) in crunch time.

Beasts Of The BIG EAST
Notre Dame is 142-38 (.789) in regular-season competition against the rest of BIG EAST Conference, owning the best conference winning percentage of any current member of the BIG EAST (minimum of one year membership) since joining the circuit for the 1995-96 campaign. The Irish also have finished among the top three in the BIG EAST nine times in their 10-year membership, and claimed a share of their first-ever regular-season conference championship in 2001.

When including postseason competition (BIG EAST and NCAA tournaments), Notre Dame is 156-48 (.765) vs. league opponents – factoring in 23 postseason tilts, the Irish are 79-11 (.878) at home, 63-30 (.677) on the road and 14-7 (.667) at neutral sites all-time vs. BIG EAST foes.

Game #23 Recap: DePaul
Allie Quigley had 26 points and seven rebounds to lead No. 17 DePaul over Notre Dame 79-50 on Feb. 12 at the DePaul Athletic Center.

Khara Smith had 12 points and 19 rebounds for DePaul (20-5, 7-5 BIG EAST). Caprice Smith and Erin Cattell added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Notre Dame (14-9, 5-7) got 15 points and six rebounds from sophomore guard Charel Allen. Senior guard Megan Duffy had 12 points and senior forward Courtney LaVere added 10.

DePaul’s defense held Notre Dame without a field goal for the first six minutes of the game en route to a 13-3 lead. But the lead didn’t last long, as Notre Dame went on a 14-1 run to take a 24-21 lead with 3:17 remaining.

DePaul answered with an 8-2 run that gave the Blue Demons a 29-26 advantage at halftime. They extended their lead with a 11-2 run midway through the second half to make it 40-31.

The Irish battled back to within 44-38 when LaVere hit a layup and was fouled by Caprice Smith with 11:09 to play. However, LaVere missed the ensuing foul shot, and a 15-0 DePaul run minutes later pushed the Blue Demons’ lead over 20 points.

Noting The DePaul Game

• Notre Dame set a new school record with only six turnovers, one fewer than their seven giveaways vs. Virginia Tech on Jan. 26, 2002 at the Joyce Center.
• The 29-point margin of defeat was Notre Dame’s largest since a 92-63 loss at Michigan State on Nov. 26, 2003.
• DePaul set Irish opponent season highs with 79 points and a .509 field goal percentage, as well as just nine turnovers.
• Notre Dame posted its leanest shooting effort since a school-record .220 field goal percentage at Seton Hall on March 1, 2005.
• DePaul leads the series with the Irish, 15-10, and has won the last four series meetings in Chicago; this also marked the sixth consecutive series game in which the victor scored at least 75 points.
• Notre Dame’s 18 offensive rebounds were its second-highest total of the season (22 vs. Michigan on Nov. 18).
• The Irish are 3-4 against ranked opponents this season (1-3 away from home).
• An overflow crowd of 3,953 was in attendance at the DePaul Athletic Center, marking the second time this year Notre Dame has attracted a capacity crowd (also Dec. 31 at home vs. Tennessee – 11,418).

Peaking When It Counts
When the regular season enters its stretch run in the month of February, Notre Dame historically seems to raise its level of play. Since joining the BIG EAST Conference in 1995-96, the Irish are 62-16 (.795) in February games, including a 36-2 (.947) mark at home. Both February home losses for the Irish in the past 11 seasons came against Villanova (48-45 on Feb. 26, 2002; 69-65 in overtime on Feb. 7, 2006).

In the 19-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-present), the Irish are 110-31 (.780) in the month of February, including a 58-8 (.879) home record. In that time, Notre Dame has not had a losing February, and only once did the Irish end the month at .500 (4-4 in 1988-89, McGraw’s second season in South Bend).

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

Duffy currently has 1,178 career points, good for 17th on the Irish career scoring chart. LaVere is 19th all-time with 1,081 points.

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

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

Give Her Five (Hundred)
With Notre Dame’s 55-45 victory over Michigan on Nov. 18, head coach Muffet McGraw became the 27th women’s basketball coach in NCAA Division I history to reach the 500-win mark. McGraw now has a career record of 513-205 (.714) in 24 years of coaching, including 19 seasons at Notre Dame (425-164, .722).

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

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

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

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense
During the past 11 seasons, Notre Dame has discovered that a solid defensive effort can almost certainly guarantee a victory. In fact, since the beginning of the 1995-96 season (Notre Dame’s first in the BIG EAST Conference), the Irish have an amazing 158-9 (.946) record when they hold their opponents to less than 60 points in a game. Notre Dame is 8-0 in such games this season.

But Sometimes You Have To Score If You Want To Win
Not resting solely on its defensive laurels, Notre Dame also seemingly has found the magic mark when it comes to outscoring its opponents. During the past decade (1995-96 to present), the Irish are 91-3 (.968) when they score at least 80 points in a game. The only blemishes on that record are a pair of overtime losses to Texas A&M (88-84) and Michigan State (87-83) in 1995 and a 106-81 loss to Connecticut in 1998.

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

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

Now That’s A Home Court Advantage
One of the hallmarks of Notre Dame’s success has been its stellar play at home. In fact, the Irish have been virtually untouchable at home in recent years, winning 134 of their last 149 games (.899) at the 11,418-seat Joyce Center, including winning streaks of 51 and 25 games in that span. Notre Dame also has a 79-11 (.878) record in BIG EAST Conference play at the Joyce Center, sporting a 31-game league winning streak at home before it ended with a 48-45 loss to Villanova in the ’02 home finale.

The Irish have been particularly strong when it comes to non-conference games at home, winning 57 of their last 61 non-BIG EAST contests (.934) at the Joyce Center, dating back to the 1994-95 season. The only three losses in that span all came at the hands of Big Ten Conference opponents – Wisconsin in 1996 (81-69), Purdue in 2003 (71-54) and Michigan State in 2004 (82-73 OT). The Purdue loss snapped a 33-game non-conference home winning streak which began after the UW setback.

Since its inaugural season in 1977-78, Notre Dame has played all of its games at the Joyce Center, posting a 284-76 (.789) record at the venerable facility. In three of the previous six seasons (1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2003-04), the Irish were a perfect 15-0 at home, setting a school record for home wins in a season.

Jammin’ The Joyce
Beginning with its national championship season of 2000-01, Notre Dame has ranked among the top 20 in the nation in attendance each of the past five years, including a No. 16 rating in 2004-05 (5,830 fans per game). Notre Dame has averaged 6,544 fans in its 11 home games this season, and is 11th in the latest unofficial national attendance rankings, released each Monday by the University of Wisconsin Sports Information Office.

What’s more, each of the top 20 women’s basketball crowds in Joyce Center history have occurred during the 19-year tenure of head coach Muffet McGraw (1987-present), with 19 of those 20 occurring in the past six seasons (2000-01 to present). Lastly, the Irish have attracted at least 5,000 fans to 76 of their last 78 home games, including 13 contests with at least 8,000 fans and the first three sellouts in the program’s history.

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

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

Even Bigger Gaines For Notre Dame
Beginning next fall, Notre Dame sophomore guard Tulyah Gaines won’t be the only member of her family attending the University. Her brother, Jashaad, has signed a National Letter of Intent to play football for the Irish in 2006-07. A safety from Las Vegas High School in Las Vegas, Nev., Jashaad is one of 27 players who announced their commitment on Feb. 1 to join Charlie Weis’ crew next season.

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

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

Notre Dame On The Small Screen
Notre Dame will have nine of its regular-season games televised during the 2005-06 season. Highlighting this year’s television docket are six nationally-televised Irish women’s basketball contests, including a current run of three consecutive games on the ESPN family of networks during a 12-day span from Feb. 7-19.

This year’s TV slate continues a recent trend that has seen the Irish become a regular fixture on television. Beginning with the NCAA championship season of 2000-01 (and including games to date this year), Notre Dame has played in 67 televised games, including 42 that were broadcast nationally. Last year, the Irish had 17 games televised, with 10 being national broadcasts.

Notre Dame is 3-4 in TV games this year, with wins over Western Michigan and USC (Comcast Local), as well as DePaul (CSTV).

Notre Dame’s remaining TV games are:

• Feb. 19 vs. UConn (ESPN2) – 7 p.m. ET
• Feb. 25 @ Cincinnati (BIG EAST TV) – 2 p.m. ET

In the past six seasons, Notre Dame has appeared on the ESPN family of networks 26 times, averaging more than four telecasts per year on “The Worldwide Leader in Sports”.

The Feb. 25 game at Cincinnati will air as part of the BIG EAST-Regional Sports Network (RSN) package. Among the outlets scheduled to televise the game live are WHME-TV (Channel 46 in South Bend), Comcast Chicago, Comcast Local, Comcast Philadelphia and Madison Square Garden Network.

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

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

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

Next Game: West Virginia
The Irish make the turn for home in the regular season as they visit to West Virginia Wednesday for a 7 p.m. (ET) game at the WVU Coliseum. Notre Dame leads the all-time series with the Mountaineers, 13-1, but the Irish still remember their last visit to Morgantown – a 64-51 WVU win on Jan. 17, 2004.

Sitting in 12th place on the BIG EAST Conference ladder, West Virginia (12-11, 4-8) currently is on the cutline for the BIG EAST Championship, which begins March 4 in Hartford. The Mountaineers are like Notre Dame in many ways, having bolted to a 10-4 start, but falling upon hard times of late, including their present four-game losing streak, due in part to the season-ending knee injury suffered by All-America sharpshooter Meg Bulger.

West Virginia is slated to welcome Pittsburgh to town Sunday at 2 p.m. (ET) before turning its attention to Notre Dame.