Notre Dame Travels to #17/15 DePaul for Crucial Conference Matchup

Feb. 10, 2006

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2005-06 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 23
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-8 / 5-6 BIG EAST) vs.
#17/15 DePaul Blue Demons (19-5 / 6-5 BIG EAST)

DATE: February 12, 2006
TIME: 4:40 p.m. CT
AT: Chicago, Ill.
DePaul Athletic Center (3,000)
SERIES: DePaul leads 14-10
1ST MTG: 1/30/79 (DPU 82-53)
LAST MTG: 1/17/06 (ND 78-75)
RADIO: ESPN Radio 1580 AM
www.und.com
Sean Stires, p-b-p
TV: ESPN2 (live)
Dave Barnett, p-b-p
Rebecca Lobo, color
TICKETS: (773) 325-7526

Storylines

• Notre Dame faces a ranked opponent for the seventh time this season when it visits No. 17/15 DePaul Sunday for a 4:40 p.m. (CT) contest. The Irish are 3-3 against Top 25 teams this season.
• Sunday’s game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 as part of that network’s “February Frenzy” regionalized package.

In a season that already has had enough twists and turns to rival an Agatha Christie novel, Notre Dame turns to its next chapter when it heads to Chicago Sunday for a 4:40 p.m. (CT) game at No. 17/15 DePaul. It will be the second matchup of the season between the clubs, following a 78-75 Irish win back on Jan. 17 at the Joyce Center.

Notre Dame (14-8, 5-6 BIG EAST) is looking to rebound from a 69-65 overtime loss to Villanova on Tuesday night in South Bend. The Irish nearly pulled off a 21-point comeback win, which would have been the second-largest in NCAA history, but VU had enough left to force OT and wound up prevailing. Freshman guard Lindsay Schrader led a quartet of Notre Dame players in double figures with 16 points, while senior guard Megan Duffy scored 15 points while playing all 45 minutes.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is receiving votes in both the Associated Press poll and ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll this week.
• DePaul is ranked 17th in the current Associated Press poll and 15th in the latest ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll.

Web Sites

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

Setting The Standard
Under the guidance of 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 589-262 (.692).

Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw

• Saint Joseph’s ’77
• 19th season at Notre Dame
• 425-163 (.723) at Notre Dame.
• 513-204 (.715) 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 seven of its last 12 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 this season until the past two weeks, although they continue to receive votes in both surveys.

One of the critical elements for the Irish to be successful this season has been offensive balance. On 16 occasions, Notre Dame has had at least three players scoring in double figures (going 12-4 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 15.7 points, 4.27 assists and 2.05 steals per game, with a 1.74 assist/turnover ratio, ranking among the top 11 in the BIG EAST in all four categories. In addition, she leads the league and is 10th in the nation in foul shooting (.905).

She also has led the team in scoring 12 times and in assists 16 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 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 seven games, averaging 16.1 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 (9.4 ppg.) and tops in rebounding (5.7 rpg.), and has scored in double figures three times in the past four games (13.5 ppg in that stretch).

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 (.516) and blocks (1.27 bpg.), tying sophomore teammate Melissa D’Amico for sixth in the BIG EAST in the latter category. LaVere was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll last Monday, and has come alive in her last three games, averaging 14.7 ppg. with a .724 field goal percentage (21-of-29).

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 61.4 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 6,347 fans to Tuesday’s 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. 6, Notre Dame ranks 10th 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, 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 DePaul
It’s been a rough month for DePaul since the Notre Dame last saw the Blue Demons on Jan. 17 at the Joyce Center. Beginning with a 78-75 loss to the Irish, DePaul has lost four of its last seven games, including three in a row (two against top-10 opponents Connecticut and Rutgers) from Jan. 28-Feb. 4.

The Blue Demons (19-5, 6-5 BIG EAST) look to have righted their ship Wednesday night with a 68-53 conquest of Cincinnati at the DePaul Athletic Center. Sophomore guard Allie Quigley scored a game-high 18 points and senior forward Khara Smith notched a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Blue Demon attack. DePaul also shot 46.7 percent from the floor and held the Bearcats scoreless for six minutes in the first half while building up a double-digit lead. UC would not get closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Smith leads a trio of DePaul players scoring in double figures at 17.9 ppg., to go along with a BIG EAST-leading 10.5 rebounds per night. Quigley is second on the team in scoring (16.0 ppg.) and has a team-best 43 three-pointers this season. Junior guard Jenna Rubino, who scored 25 points against Notre Dame last month, is third in scoring (13.3 ppg.) and tops in three-point percentage (.361).

Head coach Doug Bruno is in his 20th season at DePaul with a career record of 367-215 (.631). He has a 7-4 all-time mark against Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-DePaul Series
Although the schools were conference mates for only five seasons in their respective histories, Notre Dame and DePaul have developed a fierce longstanding rivalry that dates back more than a quarter of a century. The Blue Demons lead the all-time series with the Irish 14-10, and hold an 8-4 advantage when the scene shifts to Chicago.

Notre Dame and DePaul first played one another on Jan. 30, 1979 in Chicago, with the Blue Demons coming out on top, 82-53. The teams then met in a home-and-home series in 1981-82 (at Notre Dame) and 1982-83 (at DePaul), with each winning on the other’s home court.

The following season (1983-84) marked the start of a five-year joint association in the North Star Conference. In that time, Notre Dame and DePaul played 10 times, and both sides earning five victories (3-2 at home). The Blue Demons took the final two games in the NSC era, the start of DePaul’s series-best five-game winning streak over Notre Dame.

Although they no longer were in the same conference, the Irish and Blue Demons played annually from 1988-89 through 1994-95, with a second matchup coming in the 1989 National Women’s Invitation Tournament (NWIT) – and won by DePaul, 77-69.

The series then went dormant for six seasons, while Notre Dame embarked on its new membership in the BIG EAST Conference and DePaul entered Conference USA. The Irish and Blue Demons did play a home-and-home series in 2001-02 (at Notre Dame) and 2002-03 (at DePaul), with the home team winning on both occasions. The latter contest marked Notre Dame’s last visit to the DePaul Athletic Center (a 75-59 Blue Demon win – see box score on this page).

Other Notre Dame-DePaul Series Tidbits

• The Notre Dame-DePaul series reached a landmark Sunday with the 25th meeting between the Irish and the Blue Demons. Notre Dame has played only three schools more often than DePaul in its 29-year history – Marquette (31), Dayton (28) and Butler (25).
• The Irish will be seeking to snap a three-game losing streak at the DePaul Athletic Center. Notre Dame has not won on the Blue Demons’ home floor since Jan. 11, 1991, an 81-66 decision.
• Notre Dame has won back-to-back games in the series only once. The Irish won three in a row over DePaul in the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons, taking a pair of games at the Joyce Center and one in Chicago. The ’85-86 season also represents the only time Notre Dame has defeated the Blue Demons twice in the same season.
• In each of the past five series games, the winning team has scored at least 75 points. The Irish kept that trend going with a 78-75 victory over DePaul back on Jan. 17 at the Joyce Center.
• Notre Dame is 19-14 (.576) all-time when playing in the city of Chicago, including a 10-6 (.625) mark in the Muffet McGraw era (1987-present).
• Both head coaches have ties to the old Women’s Professional Basketball League (WBL). Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw was a point guard for the California Dreams in 1979, while DePaul’s Doug Bruno was the head coach and director of player personnel for the Chicago Hustle from 1978-80.
• Bruno is the new president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), and in June 2005, McGraw was one of his first appointments to the WBCA Board of Directors, assuming the title of that body’s NCAA Division I Legislative Chair from another BIG EAST coach, Marquette’s Terri Mitchell.
• Notre Dame freshman guard Lindsay Schrader (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett HS) is the 10th Illinois native to play for the Irish, and the ninth to come from the Chicagoland area. Some of the other notable Notre Dame products from the Windy City include NCAA career three-point percentage leader Alicia Ratay (Lake Zurich/Lake Zurich HS), as well as 1,000-point scorer and 2004 Purple Heart recipient Danielle Green (Chicago/Roosevelt HS).
• Schrader is the reigning Illinois Miss Basketball, having claimed that honor last spring by the sixth-largest margin (374 points) since the award was created in 1986.

The Last Time Notre Dame And DePaul Met
Senior All-America guard Megan Duffy did a bit of everything to help No. 24/22 Notre Dame avoid another loss.

After Suzanne Morrison scored on a layup to cap an 18-0 run for No. 10 DePaul and give the Blue Demons a 12-point lead, Duffy had two assists, a defensive rebound and a steal in the span of 51 seconds to get the Irish going again, sparking their own 18-0 run.

Duffy finished with 23 points, nine assists and eight rebounds to lead Notre Dame to a 78-75 home victory on Jan. 17 over the Blue Demons, who cracked the Top 10 for the first time the previous day.

DePaul (16-2, 3-2 BIG EAST), which saw its nine-game winning streak end, had a chance to tie it at the end, but a half-court try by Allie Quigley bounced hard off the back of the rim. Television replays later showed the shot came after the final horn and likely would not have counted.

It was just the second win in six games for the Irish (11-5, 2-3). Early in the second half it appeared the Irish, who led 37-33 at the half, wouldn’t have a chance to win.

Jenna Rubino, who had a career-high 25 points, started DePaul’s 18-0 spurt with three straight three-pointers and Rachel Carney, who had 12 points, added another trey. Quigley had 19 points for the Blue Demons, who made a season-high 13 three-pointers while shooting a season-best 45 percent from beyond the arc.

But the Irish finally found DePaul’s scorers, holding them without a field goal for 8:29. The Blue Demons went 0-for-12 during the stretch, which saw Notre Dame outscored DePaul, 20-1, before Khara Smith hit a layup at the 5:01 mark to end the drought.

Junior forward Crystal Erwin scored six of her 10 points during the run, while junior guard Breona Gray added 10 points, including the three-pointer that ignited the second-half spurt. DePaul closed to 65-64 on a 3-pointer by Carney, but Duffy answered with a basket. The Irish then made 9-of-12 free throws in the final 1:37 (including four each by Duffy and sophomore guard Tulyah Gaines) to hold on.

Spine-Chiller Supremes
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).

Don’t Count ‘Em 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.

A History Lesson
With one steal vs. South Florida, 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 1,166 points and 206 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 470 career assists, putting her just 30 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.

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 Thursday. 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 142-37 (.793) 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 156-47 (.768) vs. league opponents – factoring in 23 postseason tilts, the Irish are 79-11 (.878) at home, 63-29 (.685) on the road and 14-7 (.667) at neutral sites all-time vs. BIG EAST foes.

Game #22 Recap: Villanova
Less than 90 seconds were all that separated Notre Dame from a comeback for the record books. However, it was still enough time for Villanova to put together a rally of its own.

Wildcat forward Jenna Viani scored five of her game-high 22 points in overtime, including three important free throws as Villanova slipped out of the Joyce Center with a 69-65 victory over Notre Dame before a Tuesday night crowd of 6,347 fans. The loss thwarted an Irish bid to match the second-largest comeback win in NCAA history (and the largest in BIG EAST Conference annals) – league member Marquette came back from 21 down at West Virginia on Jan. 21, while Dartmouth did likewise in an overtime win at Siena on Jan. 3.

The NCAA record is 22 points, set by Oregon vs. Arizona on March 4, 2000.

The Irish had four players score in double figures for the second consecutive game, led by freshman guard Lindsay Schrader, who tossed in 16 points and shared team-high honors with six rebounds. Senior guard Megan Duffy finished with 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals while playing all 45 minutes, her 10th complete game of the year and second 45-minute outing.

Sophomore guard Charel Allen played a pivotal role in Notre Dame’s second-half comeback, scoring all 14 of her points in the final 20 minutes of regulation, connecting on 7-of-10 shots in that span. Senior forward Courtney LaVere logged her third consecutive double-digit game with 12 points and five rebounds.

Viani paced a quartet of Villanova players in double figures, with all-BIG EAST forward Liad Suez-Karni registering a triple-double (14 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists), the first by an Irish opponent in more than 17 years. Kate Dessart Mager and Jackie Adamshick tallied 10 points apiece for the Wildcats.

The Irish (14-8, 5-6 BIG EAST) found themselves behind nearly from the opening tip, as Adamshick hit a jumper 47 seconds into the contest. The Wildcats (13-8, 4-6) mounted a 16-4 run, with Dessart Mager scoring six points to highlight the spurt. A pair of free throws by Schrader in the final moments of the first half only slightly cut into the margin, as Villanova took a 32-20 lead to the locker room.

Fortunes didn’t appear to get any better for Notre Dame in the first 3:29 of the second half, as Villanova went on an 11-2 run and opened up its largest lead of the night at 43-22 on Dessart Mager’s layup. That’s when the Irish went to work, going on a stirring 30-9 run over the ensuing nine minutes and change, tying the score at 52-52 on Schrader’s three-point play with 7:14 to go.

Suez-Karni came back less than a minute later with a three-point play of her own, but Notre Dame kept charging and when Allen canned a jumper in the lane with 2:08 remaining, the Irish had their first lead of the night at 58-56. Notre Dame then blanked Villanova on its next possession, but with the lead and the ball inside the last two minutes, Duffy saw her pass on the left wing slip through the hands of Allen and the Wildcats converted on their next trip down, as Viani tied the game on a layup at the 1:09 mark.

Allen tried to put her team back in front, but Adamshick blocked her jumper in the paint with 40 seconds to go. Villanova then opted not to call a timeout, and Viani came through again, slashing to the basket for a layup and a 60-58 edge with 22 seconds remaining. Notre Dame then tried the same strategy with success, as Duffy took the inbounds pass and raced down court, driving the left side and putting in the game-tying layup with 11 seconds to go. Adamshick got off a shot with two seconds left, but it missed and her attempt at a putback came after the horn, sending the game to overtime.

Adamshick redeemed herself in the extra session, putting Villanova ahead to stay on a layup with 23 seconds gone. Viani followed with another basket a minute later with the teams then trading two free throws. Duffy tried to bring Notre Dame back one last time, burying a three-pointer from the top of the key with 36 seconds to play. The Irish then chose to foul Viani, but she made both charities to rebuild a three-point lead with 22 seconds left. Notre Dame’s last opportunity went by the boards when Duffy’s three-point attempt, under heavy pressure from three Wildcats, was short and Viani corralled the rebound. She then sank one of two free throws to provide the final margin.

Noting The Villanova Game

• Notre Dame tied a school record with its third overtime game of the season, equalling the mark set by the 1995-96 club during its first season of BIG EAST Conference play (the Irish also went 1-2 in OT games that year).
• The Irish have lost five of their last seven games vs. Villanova, but still lead the all-time series, 13-8; the loss also was just the second in eight career matchups with the Wildcats in South Bend, with the other a 48-45 decision on Feb. 26, 2002 (snapping ND’s school-record 51-game home winning streak).
• The past six regular-season game between Notre Dame and Villanova have been decided by a grand total of 17 points (2.8 ppg.) and all six have been in doubt inside the final minute of regulation, although this was the first-ever OT game between the schools.
• Since turning the ball over 22 times in a Jan. 24 loss at Rutgers, the Irish have committed just 49 turnovers in the ensuing four games, an average of 12.25 per game; against Villanova, Notre Dame had seven turnovers at the half, then did not commit another until 5:04 remained in regulation, finishing the game with only 10 giveaways.

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 62-15 (.805) 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 Tuesday). In the 19-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-present), the Irish are 110-30 (.786) 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 suits 10 days (and three games) later on Jan. 14 at Louisville. Duffy currently has 1,166 career points, good for 17th on the Irish career scoring chart. LaVere is 19th all-time with 1,071 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 513-204 (.715) in 24 years of coaching, including 19 seasons at Notre Dame (425-163, .723). 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 10th 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 66 televised games, including 41 that were broadcast nationally. Last year, the Irish had 17 games televised, with 10 being national broadcasts.

Notre Dame is 3-3 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:

• Sunday @ DePaul (ESPN2) – 4:40 p.m. CT
• Feb. 19 vs. UConn (ESPN2) – 7 p.m. ET
• Feb. 25 @ Cincinnati (BIG EAST TV) – 2 p.m. ET During the past six seasons, Notre Dame has appeared on the ESPN family of networks 25 times, averaging nearly five 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: Connecticut
Notre Dame will enjoy a week off before it welcomes No. 4/3 Connecticut to the Joyce Center Feb. 19 for a 7 p.m. (ET) contest. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2, the third of three consecutive Irish games to be televised on the ESPN family of networks.

The series between Notre Dame and UConn has been much more balanced during the past five seasons (starting in 2000-01), with the Huskies holding a slim 6-4 edge over the Irish. However, Connecticut still has a sizeable 17-4 all-time lead in the series with Notre Dame (5-2 at the Joyce Center).

UConn (21-3, 10-1 BIG EAST) suffered a rare conference home loss on Tuesday, as Rutgers logged a 60-56 win at Gampel Pavilion. The Huskies will step of BIG EAST play Sunday with a visit to Texas, before returning home to face league member Providence on Wednesday in Hartford.