Mar. 2, 1997

No. 14 Notre Dame Whips Rutgers 86-58 In Big East Tournament

STORRS, Conn. — Senior Jeannine Augustin scored a career high 19 points and added seven assists and 14th-ranked Notre Dame defeated Rutgers 86-58 in the quarterfinal round of the BIG EAST Conference Tournament on Sunday night.

The Irish, 26-5 overall, will face Georgetown tomorrow night in the semifinal round. Game time is set for 8 p.m. The Scarlet Knights finished the season with an 11-17 record.

Augustin, a Rochester, Mich. native, connected on seven of 12 attempts from the field including two of three from three-point range for the Irish which won for the 16th time in 17 games.

Senior Beth Morgan scored a game-high 23 points and added seven rebounds in 29 minutes of action. The Bloomington, Ind. native has scored 23 or more points in each of her last three games.

Senior Katryna Gaither scored 15 points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for the Irish.

Notre Dame never trailed in the game building a 46-32 halftime advantage on the strength of 57.7 percent field goal shooting. For the game, the Irish connected on 30 of 57 shots for 53 percent while holding Rutgers to 31.7 percent shooting from the floor. Rutgers never got closer than 15 points after intermission.

The Irish enjoyed a 36-10 advantage in points scored in the paint.

RUTGERS (58)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpMartin          28   1-7   4-7  8-13  1  3    6Lillard         30   2-8   0-0   2-2  2  5    5Clemente        32   3-8   5-6  6-11  1  2   11Hartmann        18   0-2   0-0   1-2  0  1    0Gilmore         32  9-24   1-3   2-4  2  3   21Eggleston       14   1-3   1-2   1-4  0  2    3Young           23   3-7   2-2   1-3  4  2   10Somogyi         16   0-3   0-0   1-1  1  0    0Honeycutt        7   1-1   0-0   1-1  0  0    2_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 20-63 13-20 23-41 11 18   58_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.317, FT-.650. 3-Point Goals:5-13, .385 (Martin 0-1, Lillard 1-2, Gilmore 2-6,Young 2-3, Somogyi 0-1). Team rebounds: None.Blocked shots: 3 (Martin, Clemente, Gilmore).Turnovers: 21 (Lillard 5, Young 5, Martin 4,Clemente 3, Somogyi 2, Gilmore, Hartmann).Steals: 8 (Clemente 3, Lillard 2, Young 2,Honeycutt).NOTRE DAME (86)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpMorgan          29  6-13   7-9   0-7  1  1   23Bohman          23   4-5   1-5   1-3  2  4    9Gaither         34   5-8   5-6   2-8  0  1   15Peirick         26   2-6   0-0   1-3  3  4    6Augustin        32  7-12   3-4   1-3  7  2   19Jordan          10   2-2   0-0   1-1  1  0    4Mcmillen        31   3-8   2-2   2-4  3  2    8Henderson       15   1-3   0-0   2-2  1  4    2_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 30-57 18-26 10-31 18 18   86_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.526, FT-.692. 3-Point Goals:8-17, .471 (Morgan 4-7, Bohman 0-1, Peirick 2-4,Augustin 2-3, Mcmillen 0-2). Team rebounds: 5.Blocked shots: None. Turnovers: 18 (Augustin 3,Bohman 3, Gaither 2, Henderson 2, Jordan 2,Mcmillen 2, Morgan 2, Peirick). Steals: 11(Gaither 4, Augustin 3, Peirick 2, Jordan,Mcmillen).__________________________________Rutgers            32   26  -   58Notre Dame         46   40  -   86__________________________________Technical fouls: None.  A: 10,027. Officials:Frank Geiselman, Jack Plunkett, Jo Ann Aldrich.