Jan. 29, 1997

Milestones For Morgan and McGraw As Notre Dame Edges Miami

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Notre Dame senior Katryna Gaither made twofree throws with six seconds remaining as the No. 19 Notre Dame women’sbasketball team defeated Miami 72-71 on a night of milestones for theIrish.

Notre Dame senior Beth Morgan scored a game-high 21 points, on 8-of-11shooting from the floor, to pass the 2,000-point plateau in hercareer. The Bloomington, Ind. native is the all-time leading scorer inschool history with 2,016 points.

Morgan wasn’t the only one celebrating a milestone as Irish coach MuffetMcGraw posted her 200th career victory at Notre Dame. McGraw, who is inher 10th season at the helm of the Irish, has compiled a 200-69 (.743)mark at Notre Dame and 288-133 (.684) in her 14 seasons as a head coach.

But McGraw’s 200th win at Notre Dame was in jeopardy until the finalbuzzer.

Notre Dame led the entire first half and went up 32-20 on a layup byGaither with 5:31 left in the second half. Gaither scored 16 points andadded six rebounds for the Irish. The Hurricanes chipped away at thelead, trailing by five points at the half.

Miami kept the Irish within six points the first ten minutes of thesecond half before utilizing a 5-0 run to take its first lead, 59-58, with7:11 left.

The lead changed hands six times in the final 7:11 of the game andOctavia Blue made a driving layup with 16 seconds remaining to giveMiami a 71-70 advantage.

That set the stage for Gaither’s heroics. The 6-3 center, who is a 71percent free throw shooter on the season and had missed her only previousattempt in the game, sank both free throws to give the Irish a one-pointvictory.

Notre Dame plays at St. John’s on Saturday before returning home to hostSyracuse on Feb. 6.

NOTRE DAME (72)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpBohman          35  8-11   0-0   3-9  5  3   16Morgan          36  7-12   4-6   1-3  1  1   21Gaither         28  7-14   2-3   3-6  4  4   16Augustin        25   0-1   0-0   1-4  5  3    0Peirick         32   4-5   1-2   0-2  8  2   10Mcmillen        27   3-7   0-0   0-4  2  1    9Henderson       14   0-2   0-0   2-3  0  1    0Hutchinson       3   0-0   0-0   0-2  0  0    0_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 29-52  7-11 10-33 25 15   72_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.558, FT-.636. 3-Point Goals:7-14, .500 (Morgan 3-5, Peirick 1-2, Mcmillen3-7). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 2(Gaither, Henderson). Turnovers: 23 (Bohman 5,Augustin 4, Morgan 4, Mcmillen 3, Peirick 3,Hutchinson 2, Gaither, Henderson). Steals: 10(Gaither 3, Mcmillen 2, Peirick 2, Augustin,Bohman, Morgan).MIAMI FLA (71)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpBlue            20   5-8   2-3   1-2  0  2   12Thomas          39  6-15   4-6   1-3  5  3   20Hope            37  7-10   1-2   2-4  1  3   15Barnhart        20   0-3   2-2   0-1  3  1    2Graziani        40   2-4   0-1   1-2 11  2    5Collinson       15   1-2   0-0   1-2  0  0    2Murray          21  4-11   0-2   2-4  1  1   10Drury            8   2-4   0-0   1-2  1  1    5_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 27-57  9-16  9-20 22 13   71_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.474, FT-.563. 3-Point Goals:8-19, .421 (Thomas 4-10, Graziani 1-3, Murray2-3, Drury 1-3). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots:4 (Murray 2, Hope, Collinson). Turnovers: 15(Barnhart 4, Graziani 4, Thomas 4, Collinson,Drury). Steals: 11 (Thomas 5, Hope 3, Barnhart,Blue, Graziani).__________________________________Notre Dame         35   37  -   72Miami Fla          30   41  -   71__________________________________Technical fouls: None.  A: 658. Officials: RicFoxen, Mark Zentz, Bill Pickett.