After missing the 2006-07 season with a knee injury, junior guard Lindsay Schrader will look to regain the form that made her Notre Dame's No. 2 scorer  (10.5 ppg.) as a freshman.

Notre Dame Opens Month Of February Against Providence

Complete Notes (PDF)

Feb. 3, 2006

DATE: February 4, 2006
TIME: 1:00 p.m. ET
AT: Notre Dame, Ind., Joyce Center (11,418)
SERIES: Notre Dame leads 13-0
1ST MTG: 1/14/96 (ND 90-80)
LAST MTG: 2/9/05 (ND 75-57)
RADIO: ESPN Radio 1580 AM, Sean Stires (p-b-p), Sara Liebscher (color),
TV: None
LIVE STATS: www.und.com
TICKETS: 574) 631-7356

Storylines

  • Although Notre Dame has never lost to Providence in 13 prior meetings, three of the past five matchups have been hotly contested, including two decided by six points each.
  • The Irish look to continue their recent history of success in the month of February. Notre Dame has won 35 of 36 home games in the final month of the regular season since joining the BIG EAST in 1995-96.

After losing its first two BIG EAST Conference games of the season, Notre Dame has a chance to get back to the .500 mark in league play when it welcomes Providence to town Saturday for a 1 p.m. (ET) contest at the Joyce Center. A victory also could help push the Irish further up the BIG EAST standings, which are tightly bunched in the middle with seven teams separated by a single game.

Notre Dame (13-7, 4-5 BIG EAST) got a boost of confidence on Tuesday night with a come-from-behind 67-55 win at Syracuse. The Irish used a 13-2 second-half run to pull free of the Orange and pick up the victory. With senior guard and leading scorer Megan Duffy largely handcuffed by the SU defense, freshman guard Lindsay Schrader stepped up, pouring in a season-high 24 points. Senior forward Courtney LaVere added 14 points, including two key baskets in the late Irish run.

Rankings

  • Notre Dame is receiving votes in both this week’s Associated Press poll and ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll.
  • Providence is not ranked.

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 588-261 (.693).

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 dip somewhat, losing six of its last 10 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 had been ranked in every AP and ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll this season before this week.

One of the critical elements for the Irish to be successful this season has been offensive balance. On 14 occasions, Notre Dame has had at least three players scoring in double figures (going 11-3 in those games), and eight separate players have cracked double digits at least twice this year. Additionally, five 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 15.9 points, 4.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game, with a 1.63 assist/turnover ratio, ranking among the top 11 in the BIG EAST in all four categories. In addition, she leads the league and is 11th in the nation in foul shooting (.909). She also has led the team in scoring 12 times and in assists 14 times this year. Duffy is 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. Last weekend, she poured in a game-high 25 points in an overtime loss to South Florida.

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. On Tuesday night, she erupted for a season-high 24 points and eight rebounds in a win at Syracuse. Schrader is second on the team in scoring (9.4 ppg.) and tops in rebounding (6.0 rpg.).

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 (7.8 ppg.), first in field goal percentage (.486) and second in blocks (1.3 bpg.), ranking seventh in the BIG EAST in the latter category. In Tuesday’s victory at Syracuse, LaVere tossed in 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting and added three blocks.

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 allowing opponents to score 61.7 ppg.
  • The Irish are 3-3 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 6,309 fans to last Saturday’s overtime game vs. South Florida, the Irish now have welcomed crowds of 5,000 or more fans to 74 of their last 76 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 Jan. 30, it also was the 29th-largest crowd in the nation. For the season, Notre Dame ranks 10th in the country in average home attendance with 6,538 fans per game.
  • Senior guard Megan Duffy was named a preseason All-American by three sources, has been 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 Providence
Although no one this side of Nostradamus, Jeane Dixon or Kreskin can tell what the future will hold, early indications are that good things are on the horizon for the Providence women’s basketball team. The Friars came into this season with a new head coach and had won only five games (none in the BIG EAST) during the past two years. However, with an infusion of young talent, blended expertly with some solid returning veterans, PC (6-14, 1-8 BIG EAST) already has surpassed its win total from the previous two seasons, and broke a 39-game winless streak in league play with a 58-57 victory over Cincinnati on Jan. 7. Since that win over the Bearcats, fortunes have dipped somewhat for Providence, as the Friars come to South Bend having lost their last seven contests (four by 10 points or less, including one in overtime). In its most recent outing on Tuesday night, PC dropped a 92-59 decision at Marquette, as the Golden Eagles shot 51.6 percent from the field and had all five starters score in double figures. Freshmen guards Chelsea Marandola and Catherine Bove scored 10 points apiece to lead Providence. Junior forward Shauna Snyder has been the veteran leader for the Friars this season, setting the pace in scoring (13.2 ppg.) despite missing seven games earlier this year due to injury. Meanwhile, Marandola has made a strong case for BIG EAST Freshman of the Year consideration, ranking second on the squad in scoring (12.8 ppg.) and tops in both assists (2.7 apg.) and steals (2.0 spg.) while starting every game. Senior forward/center Gayle Nwafili has made a successful return from a knee injury last year, averaging 12.7 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, trailing only freshman forward Shantee Darrian (9.4 rpg.) in the latter department. Phil Seymore is in his first season as the Friars’ head coach after a five-year run as an assistant with the PC men’s program, having helped Providence reach the NCAA Tournament in 2001 and 2004. Saturday will mark his first-ever matchup with Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-Providence Series
Notre Dame and Providence have played one another13 times during the years, all as members of the BIG EAST Conference. The Irish hold a 13-0 record against the Friars, with six of those victories coming at the Joyce Center, site of Saturday’s contest.

Notre Dame and Providence first tangled in their initial conference game back on Jan. 14, 1996 in the Rhode Island capital, with the Irish earning a 90-80 win at Alumni Hall. Since then, the teams have played six times each in South Bend and Providence, all in the confines of BIG EAST play, and have met once per season with the exception of the 1996-97, 1998-99 and 2001-02 season.

Other Notre Dame-Providence Series Tidbits

  • Providence is one of two BIG EAST Conference schools against whom the Irish have never lost (the other is Pittsburgh). The Friars are the third of four teams on the 2005-06 Notre Dame schedule against whom the Irish have a perfect record. Notre Dame improved to 19-0 all-time vs. Valparaiso (58-50 on Dec. 28), but dropped its first game to St. John’s in 16 outings (66-63 on Jan. 4). The Irish have won their only prior matchup with Cincinnati, which came in 1982, well before the Bearcats joined the BIG EAST.
  • Notre Dame’s 13-game winning streak vs. Providence is its second-longest active string against a BIG EAST Conference opponent, surpassed only by a 15-game success run vs. Pittsburgh. The Irish also have won 10 in a row vs. Marquette, following a 67-65 overtime conquest on Jan. 10 in South Bend.
  • Notre Dame scored 90 points in six of its first seven series games against Providence, but has not reached that mark since Feb. 1, 2000 (a 90-60 win at PC).
  • Providence has reached the 70-point level three times against Notre Dame (all coming in the first three series games), and the Friars have scored more than 60 points only twice in the past 10 games vs. the Irish.
  • Notre Dame has won 11 of the 13 series games against Providence by double-digit margins, with the exceptions coming on Jan. 5, 2002 (72-66 at South Bend) and Feb. 16, 2003 (67-61 at PC).
  • The Irish have averaged 82.7 points in their six prior matchups with Providence at the Joyce Center, winning each by an average of 24 points per game.
  • The Irish defense has been a key during its current five-game series winning streak. Notre Dame has limited Syracuse to 48.2 points per game in that stretch, including two games of 35 points or less.
  • Between the two clubs, there will be four former winners of the Gatorade High School Player of the Year award in their respective states. Notre Dame sophomore guard Tulyah Gaines (Nevada – 2004) and freshman guard Lindsay Schrader (Illinois – 2005) both took home the hardware, as did Providence junior forward Shauna Snyder (New Mexico – 2003) and freshman guard Chelsea Marandola (Rhode Island – 2004 & 2005).