Feb. 2, 1997

Notre Dame Rolls Past St. John’s, 75-47

JAMAICA, N.Y. — Five Irish players scored in double figuresas No. 19 Notre Dame won for the ninth straight time, a 75-47 victoryover St. John’s at Alumni Hall on Sunday afternoon.

Notre Dame is 19-4 overall and 11-0 in BIG EAST action and has itslongest win streak since the 1994-95 Irish team won nine consecutivegames. St. John’s fell to 4-16 overall and 2-10 in league competition.

The Irish, who have not lost since a 74-67 setback at Ohio Stateon January 3, scored the first 10 points of the game and never lookedback. Notre Dame led 41-21 at the half on the strength of 60 percentfield goal shooting.

The Irish built the lead to 60-27 with 12:21 remaining beforesettling on the final 28-point margin of victory. Notre Dame led bydouble-digits the final 37 minutes of the game and enjoyed a 20-pointadvantage the last 24 minutes of the contest.

Irish senior forward Beth Morgan and junior guard Mollie Peirick ledall scorers with 15 points apiece. Morgan, who became the first NotreDame player to surpass 2,000 career points earlier in the week,connected on 6-of-9 attempts from the field while adding fourrebounds. Peirick posted six rebounds, five assists and four steals inaddition to her 15 points.

Senior center Katryna Gaither shook off a slow start to tally14 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Sheila McMillencame off the bench to score 12 points while senior forward RosanneBohman added 10 points and six rebounds.

Notre Dame, which has not won 10 consecutive games since the1990-91 team claimed 15 straight wins, will be back in action onThursday when the Irish host Syracuse. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at theJoyce Center.

NOTRE DAME (75)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpMorgan          25   6-9   2-3   0-4  2  1   15Bohman          25  5-10   0-0   4-6  2  1   10Gaither         19   5-9   4-4   3-9  2  2   14Peirick         32   4-7   5-5   1-6  5  1   15Augustin        25   0-0   0-0   0-1  5  1    0Jordan          12   1-2   0-0   0-0  0  1    2Mcmillen        26   4-9   3-5   0-1  1  0   12Henderson       17   2-4   1-4   1-2  0  3    5Hutchinson      19   1-3   0-0   2-4  3  1    2_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 28-53 15-21 11-33 20 11   75_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.528, FT-.714. 3-Point Goals:4-8, .500 (Morgan 1-2, Peirick 2-2, Mcmillen1-4). Team rebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 10 (Bohman3, Peirick 2, Hutchinson 2, Mcmillen, Henderson,Morgan). Turnovers: 15 (Augustin 3, Gaither 3,Morgan 3, Henderson 2, Hutchinson, Jordan,Mcmillen, Peirick). Steals: 11 (Peirick 4,Augustin 2, Mcmillen 2, Bohman, Henderson,Morgan).ST JOHNS (47)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpPericic         16   1-3   0-0   1-1  0  3    2Bedalov         32  2-13   0-0   2-3  0  1    4Mrdjen          24   1-4   2-2   2-4  1  4    4Wilson          34  3-16   0-0   2-5  2  2    8Gunnels         25  3-10   0-0   3-3  3  1    6Jones           18   1-1   0-0   0-0  1  2    3Jorif           24   2-3   6-6  7-11  0  5   10Duggan          27  4-17   0-0   3-5  3  1   10_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 17-67   8-8 20-32 10 19   47_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.254, FT-1.000. 3-Point Goals:5-19, .263 (Pericic 0-1, Wilson 2-9, Gunnels 0-1,Jones 1-1, Duggan 2-7). Team rebounds: 9. Blockedshots: 1 (Bedalov). Turnovers: 18 (Duggan 5,Gunnels 4, Jones 3, Pericic 2, Wilson 2, Bedalov,Mrdjen). Steals: 8 (Bedalov 2, Gunnels 2, Pericic2, Jorif, Mrdjen).__________________________________Notre Dame         41   34  -   75St Johns           21   26  -   47__________________________________Technical fouls: None.  A: 463. Officials: BillTitus, Mark Parker, Lawson Newton.