Jan. 18, 1997
No. 21 Notre Dame Women Down Pittsburgh For Fifth Straight Win
NOTRE DAME, Ind. —- Notre Dame scored 31 unansweredpoints over a span of 13:21 as the 21st-ranked Irish postedtheir fifth straight win (longest of the season) en route to a69-45 victory over Pittsburgh.
The Irish defense held the Panthers to just one field goal inthe final 15:20 of the first half after Pittsburgh jumped out toa 14-2 advantage early in the first half.
Notre Dame, which improves 15-4, 7-0 in the BIG EAST, was led byBeth Morgan’s game-high 18 points. She led four Irish playersin double figures. Katyrna Gaither scored 15 points and grabbeda game-high nine rebounds, while Mollie Peirick added 11 andSheila McMillen scored 11 and 10 points, respectively. McMillenscored eight of her 10 points in the key first-half run thatgave the Irish the 21-point lead (39-18) at the half. Peirickalso finsihed with a season-high nine assists in the contest.
The Irish forced 32 Pittsburgh turnovers and forced the Panthersto just 31.8 percent shooting in the first half, although thevisitors hit 52.4 percent of their shots in the second half asthey outscored Notre Dame 31-26.
Notre Dame connected on just 32.4 percent of their shots in thesecond half after hitting on 51.5 percent in the first 20minutes of action. Notre Dame was just 1 of 11 from three-pointrange and had 23 turnovers in the contest.
The Irish enjoyed a 41-33 rebounding advantage.
With the loss, Pittsburgh falls to 7-12 on the season and 2-6 inthe BIG EAST.
PITTSBURGH (49) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tpThompson 23 4-7 3-7 2-6 1 2 11Senneca 30 1-4 0-0 2-4 0 2 2Howard 25 5-8 3-6 1-3 2 4 13Guzman 25 0-3 0-0 0-5 2 0 0Balich 25 2-5 0-0 1-2 2 1 6Montesano 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0Katowski 16 3-8 2-4 0-1 0 3 8Hunter 4 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 1 0Lawrence 6 0-2 0-1 0-2 0 1 0Krueger 11 1-2 0-0 1-2 2 0 2Morris 9 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0Webb 7 1-2 2-2 0-0 0 0 4Woods 18 1-1 1-2 0-1 0 0 3_______________________________________________TOTALS 200 18-43 11-22 8-28 9 14 49_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.419, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals:2-7, .286 (Guzman 0-1, Balich 2-4, Katowski 0-2).Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 3 (Thompson,Morris, Webb). Turnovers: 32 (Howard 8, Guzman 5,Thompson 5, Katowski 4, Balich 3, Senneca 2,Woods 2, Hunter, Krueger, Montesano). Steals: 9(Katowski 3, Guzman, Howard, Senneca, Thompson,Webb, Woods).NOTRE DAME (65) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tpMorgan 30 8-18 2-2 1-4 1 1 18Bohman 17 2-3 0-0 0-1 2 3 4Gaither 24 7-13 1-1 6-9 1 2 15Peirick 25 5-11 0-0 1-3 9 3 11Augustin 22 1-5 1-2 0-3 3 1 3Jordan 12 0-2 0-3 1-1 0 1 0Mcmillen 24 4-8 2-2 3-3 0 2 10Ervin 3 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 1 0Henderson 17 0-1 0-0 2-5 0 3 0Hutchinson 26 2-8 0-0 2-5 0 3 4_______________________________________________TOTALS 200 29-70 6-10 17-35 16 20 65_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.414, FT-.600. 3-Point Goals:1-11, .091 (Morgan 0-4, Peirick 1-4, Mcmillen0-1, Hutchinson 0-2). Team rebounds: 6. Blockedshots: 3 (Hutchinson 2, Gaither). Turnovers: 23(Henderson 4, Augustin 3, Bohman 3, Hutchinson 3,Peirick 3, Mcmillen 2, Morgan 2, Ervin, Gaither,Jordan). Steals: 21 (Gaither 7, Augustin 4,Morgan 3, Hutchinson 2, Mcmillen 2, Peirick 2,Jordan).__________________________________Pittsburgh 18 31 - 49Notre Dame 39 26 - 65__________________________________Technical fouls: None. A: 1,271. Officials:Frank Geiselman, Bob Trammell, Greg Smith.