Jan. 25, 1997

19th-ranked Irish Hold Off Pesky Hoyas

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Senior guard Beth Morgan scored 11 ofNotre Dame’s final 12 points and finished with a game-high 27 points tolead No. 19 Notre Dame to its seventh straight with in acome-from-behind 67-63 victory over Georgetown.

Morgan, Notre Dame’s all-time leading scorer and five points awayfrom becoming the first Irish women’s basketball player to score 2,000points, scored nine straight points down the stretch in the contest. With the win, Notre Dame improved to 17-4 overall and 9-0 in the BigEast, while Georgetown dropped to 12-5 and 5-5 in the league.

Notre Dame led by 10 (36-26) at the half as the Irish were led byRosanne Bohman’s 12 points. Bohman, who finished the game with 16points and eight rebounds, was the only Irish player in double figuresat the break. Notre Dame’s defense held Georgetown to just 25 percentshooting in the first half and forced 13 turnovers.

The Irish jumped out to a 15-point lead (41-26) with 19:05 left inthe contest on a layup by Katyrna Gaither and three-pointer by BethMorgan. The Hoyas then outscored Notre Dame 27-7, including a 14-0 runthat put Georgetown up by five, 53-48, when Kim Smith nailed two freethrows. The Hoyas took the lead for the first time in the contest whenTesha Nixon, who finished with 12 points, scored on a layup and then hita free throw after being fouled by Gaither.

After Georgetown went up 53-48 with 8:13 left in the contest, theIrish defense held the visitors to just 10 points for the remainder ofthe contest.

Notre Dame went five minutes without scoring, but the drought endedwhen Morgan hit two free throws with 7:20 left in the game. Following alayup by Bohman that cut the lead to one, Sheila McMillen’sthree-pointer game Notre Dame a 53-55 lead with a three-pointer thatcame with 5:53 left in the game.

Smith tied the game at 55-55 with a layup and after Morgan’s twofree throws tied the contest, Sylita Thomas, who finished with ateam-high 18 points for the Hoyas, put Georgetown up 59-57 with a sevenfoot jumper.

Morgan’s two free throws tied the game at 59-59 and herthree-pointer with 1:42 left, gave Notre Dame the lead for good.

Gaither, Notre Dame’s leading scorer, finished with seven points andeight rebounds, and had her string of 76 straight games in doublefigures snapped. The last time she failed to score in double figureswas against Colorado (nine points) in the first round of the SeattleTimes Husky Classic on December 28, 1994.

Jeannine Augustin had a career-high seven steals in the game and aled the Irish with six assists as she played a career-high 37 minutes.

Notre Dame, after holding a 23-17 advantage on the boards in thefirst half, was outrebounded 40-38 in the game. The Irish also shot aseason-low 35.6 percent from the field and were just 8-of-27 (.296)in the second half. Georgetown was just 7-of-28 in the first half(.250), but came back to hit 15-of-31 attempts in the second half(.484).

GEORGETOWN (63)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpSmith           37  4-15   4-4   2-5  3  1   13Ahonkhai        24   3-6   4-4   1-3  1  2   10Thomas          32  7-11   4-5   6-9  1  3   18Gallon          26   2-8   0-0   1-3  1  2    4Williams        29   0-4   2-2   1-4  6  3    2Johnson          4   0-0   0-0   2-3  0  1    0Chambers        24   2-6   0-0   1-4  4  2    4Nixon           16   4-7   4-6   0-4  0  3   12Heindel          8   0-2   0-0   1-2  0  1    0_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 22-59 18-21 15-37 16 18   63_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.373, FT-.857. 3-Point Goals:1-11, .091 (Smith 1-5, Gallon 0-5, Chambers 0-1).Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 6 (Thomas 4,Ahonkhai, Nixon). Turnovers: 20 (Gallon 5,Williams 4, Ahonkhai 3, Chambers 2, Johnson 2,Smith 2, Heindel, Thomas). Steals: 9 (Smith 3,Williams 2, Ahonkhai, Gallon, Nixon, Thomas).NOTRE DAME (67)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpMorgan          35  5-12 15-16   0-5  2  1   27Bohman          37  7-15   2-2   4-8  0  0   16Gaither         27   2-9   3-4   5-8  0  4    7Peirick         22   2-7   0-1   2-4  4  2    4Augustin        37   2-5   0-0   1-2  6  3    4Mcmillen        26   2-8   1-2   1-3  1  3    7Henderson        2   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  1    0Hutchinson      14   1-3   0-0   0-3  1  3    2_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 21-59 21-25 13-34 14 17   67_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.356, FT-.840. 3-Point Goals:4-12, .333 (Morgan 2-3, Peirick 0-2, Augustin0-1, Mcmillen 2-6). Team rebounds: 4. Blockedshots: 2 (Gaither, Augustin). Turnovers: 16(Morgan 4, Peirick 4, Bohman 3, Mcmillen 3,Augustin 2). Steals: 15 (Augustin 7, Gaither 2,Hutchinson 2, Peirick 2, Bohman, Morgan).__________________________________Georgetown         26   37  -   63Notre Dame         36   31  -   67__________________________________Technical fouls: None.  A: 4,837. Officials: JackPlunkett, Jack Jones, Karen Wilhite.