December 7, 1996

No. 7 Notre Dame Wins Big East Opener

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Four Notre Dame players scored indouble figures to lead seventh-ranked Notre Dame to a 91-75victory over Providence in the Big East opener for the FightingIrish. The Irish are now 7-2 overall and 1-0 in the Big East,while the Lady Friars fall to 3-4 and 0-2.

Notre Dame, which lost to Purdue on Thursday night to snap afour-game win streak, was led by Mollie Peirick’s season-high18 points. Rosanne Bohman and Beth Morgan added 17, whileKatryna Gaither added 16. Bohman’s 18 points marked acareer-high for the senior forward.

Gaither, Notre Dame’s leading scorer was in foul troublethroughout the contest and played only 14 minutes. Morgan addeda game-high 10 rebounds for the Irish.

Providence was led by Nadine Malcolm and Kerri Chatten, whocombined for 57 points. Malcolm had a game-high 32 points andgrabbed 10 rebounds, while Chatten had 25.

Notre Dame led by 10 at halftime after shooting 61.1 percentfrom the field. The Irish jumped out to an early 19-10 leadwith 13:22 left in the first half on Bohman’s four-foot jumperin the lane.

The Lady Friars then went on a 15-5 run to take a 25-24 leadon Malcolm’s 15-foot jumper with 10:20 remaining. Notre Dameoutscored Providence 10-0 over the next two minutes to take a52-42 lead at the half.

Notre Dame led by as many as 16 points in the second half.

The Irish outrebounded Providence 38-34 in the game andforced 22 turnovers and limited the Lady Friars to 39.1 shootingfor the game and just 31.1 percent in the second half.

Providence hit on seven three pointers in the first half,but was missed all six of its attempts in the second half.

Notre Dame returns to action at the Joyce Center on Monday,December 9 when the Irish host Wisconsin at 7 p.m.

PROVIDENCE (75)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpChatten         30  8-14  6-10   0-4  0  5   25Hinds           34   2-7   0-0   1-3  0  2    4Malcolm         36  8-16 15-16  4-10  0  1   32Saunders        23   2-4   0-0   0-0  4  1    5Wheeler         40  3-12   0-0   1-5  9  4    8Davis           19   0-2   0-0   0-1  1  1    0Sullivan         7   0-1   0-0   0-2  0  1    0Simonelli       11   0-2   1-2   1-5  0  3    1_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 23-58 22-28  7-30 14 18   75_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.397, FT-.786. 3-Point Goals:7-19, .368 (Chatten 3-6, Hinds 0-1, Malcolm 1-1, Saunders 1-1,Wheeler 2-10). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 1(Malcolm). Turnovers: 22 (Chatten 6, Wheeler 5, Malcolm4, Davis 2, Hinds 2, Saunders, Simonelli, Sullivan).Steals: 8 (Malcolm 3, Wheeler 2, Chatten, Hinds,Simonelli).NOTRE DAME (91)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpMorgan          37  7-19   1-1  0-10  8  1   17Bohman          26  7-10   3-6   1-4  3  5   17Gaither         14  7-10   2-3   1-6  1  5   16Peirick         27   5-7   5-6   2-5  5  2   18Augustin        32   1-2   0-0   0-2  5  1    2Jordan           3   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0Mcmillen        22   3-5   2-3   0-1  0  0    8Henderson       15   3-5   0-0   2-5  1  5    6Hutchinson      24   2-5   2-2   1-3  4  3    7_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 35-63 15-21  7-36 27 22   91_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.556, FT-.714. 3-Point Goals:6-12, .500 (Morgan 2-4, Peirick 3-3, Augustin 0-1, Mcmillen 0-2,Hutchinson 1-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots:3 (Morgan, Jordan, Hutchinson). Turnovers: 20 (Morgan 5,Augustin 3, Peirick 3, Bohman 2, Gaither 2, Henderson 2,Hutchinson 2, Mcmillen). Steals: 9 (Gaither 3, Morgan 2,Peirick 2, Augustin, Mcmillen).__________________________________Providence         42   33  -   75Notre Dame         52   39  -   91__________________________________Technical fouls: None.  A: 687. Officials: RayBomeli, Dennis Taylor, Mark Parker.