November 18, 1998
No. 11/19 Notre Dame (1-0) at Butler (1-0)
Date: Wednesday, November 18, 1998
Place: Hinkle Fieldhouse (11,043), Indianapolis, Ind.
Time: 7:00 p.m.
1998-99 Irish Schedule/Results
Radio: All Notre Dame games are broadcast on WHME-FM (103.1 in South Bend). Bob Nagle will provide play-by-play for the games.
TONIGHT’S GAME — The 11th-ranked Notre Dame women’s basketball team (1-0) makes its first visit since 1994 to Hinkle Fieldhouse this evening. The Irish are coming off a 99-82 victory over UCLA. The win was the 400th in the history of the Notre Dame women’s basketball program.
Notre Dame Probable Starting Lineup1998-99 Statistics No. Name Hometown Pos. Ht. Cl. PPG RPG 50 Kelley Siemon* Edina, MN F 6-2 So. 6.0 4.0 00 Ruth Riley* Macy, IN C 6-5 So. 10.0 3.0 12 Danielle Green** Chicago, IL G 5-8 Sr. 23.0 7.0 20 Sheila McMillen*** Rochester, IN G 5-10 Sr. 11.0 1.0 33 Niele Ivey* St. Louis, MO G 5-8 Jr. 25.0 4.0Off The Bench 3 Ericka Haney Toledo, OH G/F 6-1 Fr. 4.0 4.0 11 Sherisha Hills Tampa, FL G 5-8 Fr. 14.0 1.0 32 Julie Henderson** Ann Arbor, MI F/C 6-3 Jr. -- -- 40 Diana Braendly** Staten Island, NY C 6-4 Sr. 6.0 5.0 41 Imani Dunbar* San Angelo, TX G 5-7 So. 0.0 0.0 44 Meaghan Leahy* Wilbraham, MA F 6-4 So. 0.0 1.0
* – Indicates Monograms won
UCLA REVIEW — The backcourt tandem of Niele Ivey and Danielle Green combined for 48 points to lead five Notre Dame players in double figures as the Irish cruised to a 99-82 victory over sixth-ranked UCLA in the season opener. Ivey scored a career-best 25 points and netted her first career double-double as she dished off a personal-high 11 assists. Green also finished with a career-high in scoring as she poured in 23 points and also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman Sherisha Hills had 14 points in her collegiate debut. Sheila McMillen and Ruth Riley were the other two Irish players in double figures scoring 11 and 12 points, respectively. Notre Dame shot 53.0 percent from the field, while limiting the Bruins to 43.5 percent accuracy. UCLA outrebounded Notre Dame 45-35 in the contest.
HEAD COACH MUFFET McGRAW — Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw is in her 12th season with the Irish and 17th as a collegiate coach. She has guided Notre Dame to three straight NCAA tournament appearances and five overall. McGraw led the Irish to the 1997 Final Four as her team claimed the East Reginal championship. In 1998, McGraw’s squad finished with a 22-10 mark and advanced to the Sweet 16. In her 11 seasons at Notre Dame, she has a record of 236-105 (.692), and in 16 campaign overall, her teams have registered a 324-145 (.692) ledger. Prior to coming to Notre Dame, she spent five seasons at Lehigh where she compiled an 88-41 record for a .683 winning percentage.
> SERIES RECORD VERSUS BUTLER — This will be the 24th meeting between the two schools with the Irish holding a 17-6 advantage in the series. Notre Dame has won three straight over the Bulldogs, including last year’s 71-65 victory at the Joyce Center. The two teams met regularly from 1989-95 while Notre Dame was a member of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. The Irish are 6-3 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
NOTRE DAME GETS 400TH WIN IN PROGRAM’S HISTORY — Notre Dame’s victory over UCLA on Saturday marked the 400th in the program’s history since the inaugural season in 1977-78. In the 21-plus seasons, Irish teams have compiled a 400-204 mark for a 66.2 winning percentage and have averaged 19.0 victories since the program’s first campaign.
IVEY NAMED BIG EAST CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK — For the second time in her career, Irish junior guard Niele Ivey has been named the BIG EAST Player of the Week. She shares the honor this week with Connecticut’s Paige Sauer. Ivey led all Irish scorers against UCLA with a career-high 25 points and recorded her first career double-double by also dishing off personal best 11 assists. In addition, she grabbed four rebounds and made five steals. Her 25-point outing on Saturday marked the second time in her career that she has scored 20-plus points in a contest. Ivey’s first career 20-point game came at Storrs, Conn. last season when she scored 20 points in a loss to the Huskies.
THE CAPTAIN — Sheila McMillen is Notre Dame’s captain this season. This is the first time since 1981-82, and the second time in the program’s history, that the Irish have had just one player serve as a captain during the course of the season. The only other lone captain during a basketball season was Missy Conboy, now an associated athletic director at Notre Dame.
McMILLEN EYES 1,000TH POINT — Senior guard Sheila McMillen enters this week’s two games 26 points shy of becoming the 14th player in Notre Dame women’s basketball history to reach the 1000-point plateau. McMillen has played in 101 games during her three-plus seasons and has started 39 of those contests while averaging 9.7 ppg. She has a better than 40 percent shooting percentage from the field and has hit better than 78 percent of her free throw attempts. McMillen was Notre Dame’s leading scorer a year ago, averaging 13.6 ppg. and has scored in double figures in 46 games during her career.
BIG NUMBERS IN SEASON OPENER — Notre Dame’s 99 points were the second most in a season opener (the most was 113 versus Liberty on November 24, 1989) and most by a Notre Dame team in a season opener at the Joyce Center.
LOFTY RANKINGS — For just the second time in its 22-year history, Notre Dame started the season ranked. The Irish began the 1998-99 campaign with its highest preseason rankings in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls at 17th and 19th, respectively. The win over sixth-ranked UCLA on Saturday, has propelled the Irish to 11th in the AP Poll. Two years ago, Coach Muffet McGraw’s squad was 20th in the AP and 25th in the USA Today/ESPN preseason rankings.
OUT OF THE GATES — Notre Dame’s early-season schedule certainly is the toughest in school history and one of the most challenging nationally with four of the first seven teams on the Irish schedule ranked in the preseason. While the schedule is formidable, McGraw and her team are going to enjoy the luxury of playing all of those games at the Joyce Center. Notre Dame’s faces its second ranked in opponent in a week when the Irish entertain sixth-ranked Duke on Saturday, November 21 at 7:30 p.m. The other two ranked opponents currently ranked in the Top 25 scheduled to pay a visit to the Joyce Center are 24th-ranked Illinois on Tuesday, November 24 at 7:00 p.m. and BIG EAST rival and second-ranked Connecticut on Tuesday, December 8 at 7:00 p.m.
HOME COOKING — Notre Dame starts the season by playing six of its first eight games at home. The two road games Notre Dame faces before concluding a three-game homestand against Villanova on Saturday, December 12 are against Butler (November 18) and San Francisco (November 28).
GREEN HAS A CAREER DAY — Like her backcourt counterpart Niele Ivey, Danielle Green had a career day of her own as she netted a personal best 23 points in the win over sixth-ranked UCLA hitting 10-of-18 shots from the field. Her first and only other 20-point outing came against Providence (22 points) last season. In addition to her 23 points, she also had a team-high seven rebounds in the game.
ELITE COMPANY — Notre Dame was one of just nine schools to advance to the Sweet 16 in both 1997 and 1998. The eight other schools on the short list included: Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana Tech, North Carolina, Old Dominion and Tennessee. The Irish also were one of 29 teams to earn an NCAA tournament bid each of the last three seasons.
HILLS IMPRESSIVE IN COLLEGIATE DEBUT — Sherisha Hills, who missed the first two exhibition game after suffering a concussion during pre-game collision with Danielle Green had 14 points in her debut. Hills canned her first three-point attempts and finsihed hitting three-of-seven from long-range. She played 20 minutes in the contest, while Notre Dame’s other rookie, Ericka Haney (Toledo, Ohio), played 16 minutes and finished with four points.
IRISH IN THE JOYCE CENTER — Since its inaugural season in 1977-78, Notre Dame has played all of its games at the Joyce Center. The Irish own a 185-64 mark for a .743 winning percentage since that first season. Last season, Notre Dame won school-record 12 games at home en route to a 12-1 record. Since a 78-59 loss to Connecticut on December 6 of last season, the Irish have won 12 straight home games. The record for consecutive home victories at the Joyce Center is 15 set from January 2, 1995 thru January 10, 1996.
WITH THE STUFF — Notre Dame had eight blocks on Saturday against UCLA, while the Bruins had none. Ruth Riley and Diana Braendly (Staten Island, N.Y.) each had three. For Braendly, the three blocks tied her career best.
RILEY STARS FOR U.S. SELECT TEAM — Ruth Riley starred for the 1998 USA Women’s Select Team over the summer. The team compiled an eight-game, 15-day tour of Puerto Rico, Poland and Spain and finished 7-1 mark. Riley was the team’s second-leading scorer and top rebounder with averages of 10.3 ppg. and 7.6 rpg. She registered two double-doubles in the seven games and recorded bests of 20 points and 10 rebounds ina 72-70 victory over Puerto . Riley led the team once and in rebounding on four occasions.
HENDERSON TOURS WITH BIG EAST ALL-STARS — Julie Henderson toured with the 1998 BIG EAST/Nike Women’s Basketball All-Star Team this summer. The squad finished with a 2-3 record against teams from Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Henderson was one of the bright spots onlast summer’s squad averaging 9.0 points and 3.7 rebounds. She had a personal tour high 17 ponts in the final game against Karlov Vary BBC.
PRESEASON HONORS FOR RILEY AND McMILLEN — The names of Ruth Riley and Sheila McMillen appear on preseason All-America teams of several publications. Notre Dame also is ranked in the polls of every preseason publication.
Street & Smith’s: Ruth Riley – First Team; Sheila McMillen – High Honorable Mention; Notre Dame – 24th
The Sporting News: Notre Dame -17th
Dick Vitale’s College Basketball: Notre Dame -14th
Athlon College Basketball: Ruth Riley – Third Team; Notre Dame – 18th
Basketball News: Notre Dame – 22nd
Women’s Basketball Journal: Ruth Riley – Third Team; Notre Dame – 10th
Associated Press: Ruth Riley – Honorable Mention
IRISH ON THE TUBE — Tonight’s game is being televised by WTBU in Indianapolis. For the third consecutive year, Notre Dame will be part of the BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Television Package. It’s game at Rutgers on Saturday, February 13 at 2:00 p.m. will be broadcoast by Fox Sports New York, Sports Channel Florida, Fox Sports New England and Fox Sports Chicago. WHME-TV 46 in South Bend will televise Notre Dame home games versus Illinois (November 24) and Connecticut (December 8). The Michigan State game on December 21 in East Lansing will be televised by Media One Cable. Four other road games which also will be televised include — January 2 vs. Georgetown (WNVT); January 20 at Seton Hall (CN8); January 26 at Syracuse (Time Warner Cable) and February 20 at West Virginia (Mountaineer Sports Network).
MIMI GRIFFIN ON RUTH RILEY — ESPN women’s basketball anaylst Mimi Griffin rated Ruth Riley one of the top five centers nationally. Griffin picked the top five players at each position. In addition to Riley, mentioned among Griffin’s list of top five centers were Demya Walker (Virginia), Maylana Martin (UCLA), Paige Sauer (Connecticut) and Angie Braziel (Texas Tech).
QUICK PLAYER BIOS:
* – Diana Braendly tied her career-best with three blocks against UCLA. Had four points and four steals against the Bruins.
* - Danielle Green scored a career-high 23 points (second 20-plus outing of her career) against UCLA as she hit 10-of-18 shots from the field (both career-highs). Grabbed a team-high seven boards in the contest.
* - Ericka Haney had four points and four rebounds in 16 minutes of action in her collegiate debut against UCLA.
* - Sherisha Hills scored 14 points and played 20 minutes in first college game. Hit her first three three-point attempts (was three-for-seven overall in the contest). Had missed the first two exhibition games after suffering a concussion following a collision with Danille Green in pre-game warmups of the first exhibition contest.
* - Niele Ivey had career bests of 25 points and 11 rebounds for her first career double-double in the season opener against UCLA. Played career-high 38 minutes while making five steals and grabbing four rebounds. Shared BIG EAST Player of the Week honors for her performance against the Bruins.
* - Sheila McMillen scored in double figures for the 46th time in her career registering 11 points in the season opener.
* - Ruth Riley played just 15 minutes in the season opener against UCLA because of foul trouble and scored 10 points.
* - Kelley Siemon played 31 minutes in season opener against the Bruins. Had six points, four rebounds and a career-high five assists in the contest.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
(Week of Nov. 16) Last Week1. Purdue (1-0) 52. Connecticut (2-0) 33. Louisiana Tech (0-0) 24. Tennessee (1-1) 15. North Carolina (2-0) 106. Duke (1-1) 47. Georgia (0-0) 78. Virginia (1-0) 89. Alabama (2-0) 910. Rutgers (2-0) 1211. NOTRE DAME (1-0) 1712. Texas Tech (1-0) 1413. George Washington (1-0) 1314. UCLA (0-1) 615. Old Dominion (1-0) 1516. North Carolina State (1-0) 1617. Kansas (0-1) 1118. Arkansas (2-1) 1819. Vanderbilt (2-0) 2020. Florida (1-0) T2221. Iowa State (1-0) T2222. Santa Barbara (0-0) 2423. Nebraska (2-0) NR24 Illinois (0-0) 2525. Wisconsin (1-0) NR
USA TODAY/ESPN
(PRESEASON) Final 1997-98 Ranking1. Tennessee 12. Louisiana Tech 23. Connecticut 34. Duke T7 5. Purdue 116. UCLA 207. North Carolina 38. Kansas 22 Texas Tech 1010. Georgia NR11. Rutgers 1 612. North Carolina State 413. Alabama 1314 Virginia 2315. Old Dominion 616. George Washington NR17. Stanford 1518. Arkansas T719. NOTRE DAME 1820. Florida 1221. Arizona 922. Vanderbilt 2523. Wisconsin NR24. Illinois 1425. Iowa State 24
Butler 65Notre Dame 71
November 18, 1997 * Joyce Center Butler min fg-a ft-a reb ast pf tpMarlow 31 4-15 10-11 6 4 3 20Schuetz 21 6-8 4-8 5 2 4 16Reichl 12 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 2Benzinger 32 1-8 2-2 1 2 2 5Murphy 8 0-1 0-1 0 0 0 8Baker 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0Edgar 30 1-6 1-2 5 0 3 4Lung-Negri 14 2-2 0-1 6 2 1 4Schrader 12 0-0 1-2 2 1 1 1Hurrle 14 2-5 0-0 0 0 1 5Ives 21 2-7 5-6 11 1 5 9 4Team 200 19-53 23-33 41 13 23 65
Notre Dame min fg-a ft-a reb ast pf tpPeirick 34 5-9 2-5 5 8 3 12Siemon 24 4-8 3-6 4 3 4 11Henderson 28 4-7 1-2 6 5 5 9Green 30 3-7 2-4 3 0 1 8McMillen 35 5-12 4-4 3 0 5 17Riley 11 2-5 2-2 3 0 3 6Ivey 15 0-1 1-4 0 0 2 1Braendly 17 1-5 2-3 4 3 4 4Hutchinson 6 1-3 0-0 1 0 1 3 8Team 200 25-57 17-30 41 20 28 71
Butler 24 41 - 65Notre Dame 39 32 - 71
FG Pct: Notre Dame 43.9 Butler 35.8
3-PT. FG Pct: Notre Dame 50.0 Butler 22.2
FT Pct: Notre Dame 56.7 Butler 69.7
Three-point goals: Notre Dame 4 (McMillen 3) Butler 4
Turnovers: Notre Dame 17 Butler 18
Blocked Shots: Notre Dame 2 Butler 2
Steals: Notre Dame 5 Butler 6
Attendance: 1011.
Team RecordBoston College 3-2Butler 17-6Connecticut 0-8Duke 2-1Georgetown 10-1Illinois 0-3Miami 6-2Michigan State 2-6Pittsburgh 5-0Providence 4-0Rutgers 4-5St. John's 6-0San Francisco 1-0Seton Hall 5-2South Florida 1-0Syracuse 8-1Toledo 2-1UCLA 4-8Villanova 6-3West Virginia 4-0Total 90-49 (.647)
BIG EAST PRESEASON
COACHES POLL
1. CONNECTICUT 141 2. RUTGERS 136 3. NOTRE DAME 120 4. BOSTON COLLEGE 108 5. VILLANOVA 95 6. MIAMI 83 7. GEORGETOWN 68 8. SYRACUSE 63 WEST VIRGINIA 63 10. PROVIDENCE 48 11. ST. JOHN'S 32 12. SETON HALL 30 13. PITTSBURGH 26
Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year: Svetlana Abrosimova – Connecticut
Preseason BIG EAST Rookie of the Year: Tamika Williams – Connecticut
Preseason All-BIG EAST First Team:
Svetlana Abrosimova – Connecticut
Cal Bouchard – Boston College
Kym Hope – Miami
Tasha Pointer – Rutgers
Tomora Young – Rutgers
Preseason All-BIG EAST Second Team:
Sheila McMillen – Notre Dame
Ruth Riley – Notre Dame
Paige Sauer – Connecticut
Whitney Steele – Boston College
Sylita Thomas – Georgetown