March 17, 2001

Recap?|? Box Score?|? Quotes

• Notre Dame is making its sixth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament and eighth overall. Alcorn State is playing in the tournament for the second straight season after making its first appearance last year.
• The Irish received a number-one seeding and an at-large bid to the tournament after finishing as co-champions (with Connecticut) in the BIG EAST Conference (15-1) and losing in the final of the conference tournament to the Huskies 78-76. The 16th-seeded Lady Braves received an automatic bid after winning the regular season championship of the Southwestern Athletic Conference with a 15-3 record and defeating Grambling State 86-74 in the SWAC Tournament final.
• Both teams come into this tournament with the highest NCAA tournament seeding in school history. Notre Dame has received its highest seeding in school history for the third straight season. Prior to 1999, the Irish had been seeded as high as sixth. In the 1999 tournament, Notre Dame received a fifth seed and last season, the Irish were seeded second. The Lady Braves were also a No. 16 seed last season, when they lost to top-seeded Louisiana Tech 95-53 in the first round.
• This is the first meeting between the schools and Alcorn State’s first trip to the Joyce Center. This is also the first meeting for Notre Dame against a SWAC team.
• This marks the third season Notre Dame’s Joyce Center has hosted NCAA tournament play and the second consecutive season it has hosted a subregional. Last year, Notre Dame advanced to the Mideast Regional after defeating George Washington and San Diego (UCLA was the fourth team in the subregional). The Joyce Center also hosted a first-round game of the NCAA tournament in 1994, when Minnesota topped the Irish 81-76.
• The Irish improve to 11-7 all-time in NCAA tournament play and have now won six consecutive first-round games, dating back to 1994, when Notre Dame lost to Minnesota 81-76 at the Joyce Center.
• Notre Dame improves its school-record winning streak at the Joyce Center to 37 games, the second-longest current home streak in the nation. Kent State has won 43 in a row at home.
• The Irish improve to 3-1 when playing on St. Patrick’s Day and 2-0 in the first round of the tournament on the holiday. Notre Dame downed San Diego 87-61 in the first round of last year’s tournament on St. Patrick’s Day. The Irish competed in the second round of the NCAA tournament on the holiday twice, losing at Texas Tech 82-67 in 1996 and defeating host Texas 86-63 in 1997.
• Notre Dame’s 98 points is the most-ever for the Irish in NCAA tournament play. This tops the previous high of 95 in last year’s win over George Washington in the second round (95-60). It was also the highest Irish scoring output since Dec. 4, 1999, when Notre Dame beat North Carolina 99-86 in the Honda Elite 4 in Orlando, Fla.
• The 49-point win for Notre Dame is the largest margin of victory for the Irish in NCAA tournament play. The previous largest win was a 35-point victory (95-60) over George Washington in the second round last year. This was the fifth time the Irish have won by 38 or more points this season.
• This marks the worst loss for Alcorn State this season. The Lady Braves dropped their season opener by 42 points to Stephen F. Austin 88-46.
• In opening-round games of postseason tournaments over the past two seasons, the Irish have won by an average of 36.5. Last year, Notre Dame beat Miami (Fla.) in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST tournament 67-52 and then defeated San Diego in the first round of the NCAA tournament 87-61. In 2000-01, the Irish downed Georgetown 89-33 in the BIG EAST tournament opener.
• The Fighting Irish extend their streak of victories over unranked opponents to 63 consecutive. The last unranked team to defeat Notre Dame was Boston College on Dec. 30, 1998, when the Eagles topped the Irish 78-65. Alcorn State falls to 0-2 this season against ranked teams, having also lost to 21st-ranked Illinois 73-56.
• Notre Dame has now won all 12 games this season against non-BIG EAST teams and 19 of the last 20, dating back to last year. The last Irish loss to a non-conference opponent was a 69-65 defeat to Texas Tech in last season’s regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament.
• The Irish have now won 22 consecutive non-conference games at the Joyce Center, dating back four years. The last loss to a non-BIG EAST team at the Joyce Center was on Dec. 9, 1996, when the 19th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers defeated Notre Dame 81-69.
• Today’s attendance of 8,553 is the third-largest crowd to watch a women’s basketball game at the Joyce Center. It is also the largest non-capacity crowd for women’s basketball. The two sellouts (11,418 attendance) came earlier this season against Connecticut (Jan. 15) and Georgetown (Feb. 24). This is the largest crowd to watch Alcorn State this season, topping the previous high of 6,285 at the Davey L. Whitney Complex in Alcorn State, Miss. when the Lady Braves hosted Jackson State.
• The crowd of 8,553 marks the highest crowd at the Joyce Center for a women’s NCAA tournament game. The previous high was last year’s second-round game against George Washington, when 5,521 watched the Irish advance to the Sweet 16.
• Notre Dame’s 47 points in the first half marked the most in Irish NCAA history. The previous high was in last year’s second round game, when Notre Dame took a 43-25 lead into the break.
• The Irish had five players in double figures today for the third time in NCAA tournament history. Notre Dame also had five players score 10 or more last season against George Washington and in 1994 against Minnesota.
• With the win, Notre Dame becomes the 19th Midwest number-one seed to win its opening-round contest. The only time the top seed in the Midwest lost its first game was in 1992, when Southwest Missouri State upset top-seeded Iowa 61-60 in overtime in the second round of the tournament after the Hawkeyes received a bye in the first round. Overall, top-seeded teams entered this season’s tournament 27-1 in first-round play since the adoption of the current 64-team format in 1994. In the first round of the 1998 tournament, 16th-seeded Harvard upset top-seeded Stanford in the West Region 71-67.
• SWAC teams fall to 0-9 in NCAA tournament play and Alcorn State falls to 0-2.
• Alcorn State shot 21.1 percent, the lowest percentage of the season for the Lady Braves. Their previous low was a 25.8-percent outing against San Diego. This marked the 26th time out of 31 games this season that Notre Dame held a team under 40 percent and it was the 20th time an opponent of the Irish shot worse than 35 percent. Notre Dame shot 54.5 percent from the field.
• Alcorn State matched its season high with nine three-point field goals and attempted a season-high 41 threes. The Lady Braves also made nine threes against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Mississippi Valley State. Their previous high for attempts was 23 against Alabama A&M.
• Notre Dame forward Amanda Barksdale registered career highs with 10 points and 11 rebounds for her first career double-double and the 12th by and Irish player in NCAA tournament play.
• Notre Dame guard Alicia Ratay’s 13 points are a new tournament-high for her. Her previous high was an 11-point effort against George Washington in the second round of the 2000 tournament.
• Notre Dame forward Ericka Haney’s 14 points are the most she has scored in an NCAA tournament game. She scored 10 points in the regional semifinals against Texas Tech last season.
• Irish forward Kelley Siemon matched her NCAA tournament career high with 13 points. She also scored 13 against San Diego in the first round of last season’s tournament.
• Notre Dame center Ruth Riley’s two blocked shots increased her season total to 96, which is the second-highest single-season total in school history. Riley set the Notre Dame record by blocking 101 shots in 1998-99.
• Notre Dame guard Niele Ivey’s eight assists are a new tournament-high for her, besting her previous high of four assists against Texas Tech in the second round of the 1998 tournament.
• Alcorn State guard Taresha Coleman matched her season high with 15 points, which she also did against Mississippi Valley State).
• Alcorn State center Cherea Wood matched her season-low with nine points, marking just the second time in 32 games she did not reach double figures in scoring. She also attempted 24 field goals, the most by any Lady Brave this season. Previously, she took 18 shots against Alabama State and South Alabama.