Mar. 3, 1997

No. 14 Notre Dame Routs Georgetown in Semifinals

STORRS, Conn. — Senior Katryna Gaither scored 24 of her game-high 26 points in the first half as 13th-ranked Notre Dame pummeled Georgetown 83-43 in the seminfinal round of the Big East Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament at Gampel Pavilion on Monday night.

The victory means that the Irish, 27-5 overall will face top-ranked Connecticut in the championship game tomorrow night. The Huskies, 29-0 on the season, defeated Notre Dame at home 72-49 on Feb. 9. Georgetown, the Big East 6 regular season champion, is 17-11 overall.

The Irish were in control wire-to-wire. Notre Dame shot 63.6 percent in the first half while limiting the Hoyas to 29.4 percent en route to a 47-25 advantage at intermission.

The Irish continue to play stellar defense in the second half allowing Georgetown just eight field goals in 35 attempts for 22.9 percent. For the game, Georgetown shot 26.1 percent, attempted five free throws and committed 22 turnovers. Notre Dame has now won 17 of its last 18 games.

Gaither topped the 20 point plateau for the 40th time in her career. The Mt. Vernon, N.Y. native is just 19 points shy of joining teammate Beth Morgan with 2,000 career points.

Morgan, a senior from Bloomington, Ind., scored 15 points and added five rebounds.

Junior Mollie Peirick scored 12 points with six assists and four rebounds.

Notre Dame, which lost Adrienne Jordan for the season with a hip injury on Sunday night, had just seven scholarship players dress for the game. Christy Grady, a student manager for the women’s basketball team, dressed for tonight’s game and played the final six minutes of the contest. Grady had two points, three rebounds and a steal for the Irish.

NOTRE DAME (83)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpBohman          29   4-5   0-2  2-10  5  0    8Morgan          28  5-12   4-4   2-5  0  0   15Gaither         26 12-16   2-2   1-7  1  1   26Augustin        35   1-6   6-6   2-4  9  1    8Peirick         33  5-10   0-0   1-4  6  3   12Mcmillen        24   1-5   2-2   0-1  0  1    4Grady            6   1-5   0-2   1-3  0  1    2Henderson       19   4-4   0-0   2-3  0  4    8_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 33-63 14-18 11-37 21 11   83_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.524, FT-.778. 3-Point Goals:3-13, .231 (Morgan 1-3, Augustin 0-2, Peirick2-5, Mcmillen 0-3). Team rebounds: 8. Blockedshots: 5 (Gaither 2, Peirick 2, Augustin).Turnovers: 17 (Augustin 3, Mcmillen 3, Peirick 3,Bohman 2, Gaither 2, Henderson 2, Grady, Morgan).Steals: 15 (Augustin 6, Henderson 3, Gaither 2,Bohman, Grady, Morgan, Peirick).GEORGETOWN (43)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpSmith           29  2-11   0-0   1-7  5  2    5Ahonkhai        28  7-14   0-0   3-3  0  2   14Thomas          18   0-5   0-0   0-1  0  1    0Gallon          20  3-10   0-0   2-3  2  0    8Williams        30   2-8   1-2   6-8  2  3    5Borgman          4   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  0    0Johnson         15   0-3   0-0   1-1  1  3    0Deshayes         5   0-2   0-0   0-0  0  0    0Chambers        21   0-8   0-0   2-3  0  1    0Nixon           12   3-4   1-1   0-0  0  0    7Hurley           4   0-1   0-0   1-2  0  2    0Heindel         14   1-3   2-2   0-0  0  2    4_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 18-69   4-5 16-29 10 16   43_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.261, FT-.800. 3-Point Goals:3-16, .188 (Smith 1-5, Gallon 2-3, Williams 0-1,Johnson 0-3, Deshayes 0-2, Chambers 0-2). Teamrebounds: 9. Blocked shots: 8 (Smith 3, Borgman2, Chambers, Nixon, Hurley). Turnovers: 22 (Smith6, Chambers 4, Thomas 3, Williams 3, Ahonkhai 2,Johnson 2, Heindel, Nixon). Steals: 8 (Nixon 2,Smith 2, Ahonkhai, Deshayes, Gallon, Williams).__________________________________Notre Dame         47   36  -   83Georgetown         25   18  -   43__________________________________Technical fouls: None.  A: 10,027. Officials:Dennis Demayo, Yvette Mckinney, Keith Fisher.