Womens Basketball: Late lead finally preserved as Irish top 'Cats
By KATIE McVOY
Associate Sports Editor
Reading a recap of Saturday's game against Villanova may recall memories of the recent Irish loss to Rutgers — the Irish hold a double-digit lead late in the game, the opposing team ties, things start to look bad for Notre Dame.
But watching Saturday's victory against the Wildcats would tell a very different story.
Although Villanova made a run to tie the Irish, who led by 11 with seven minutes left, Notre Dame's 58-56 win showcased a more confident, focused Irish team than has taken the court in any of their recent losses.
"I though we really played a smart game," sophomore Jacqueline Batteast, who scored 12 points and added nine rebounds, told the South Bend Tribune. "We knew they would make a run, and we knew we could make ours. We played 40 intense minutes."
The final few of those 40 minutes were crucial.
With 2:24 left to play, Wildcats Trish Juhline hit a trey that tied the game at 51, and images of the loss to Rutgers started to come to mind. But this time in the final minutes of the game, Notre Dame made sure its game worked.
In the final 2:30, Alicia Ratay hit two field goals and Le'Tania Severe hit three free throws, while the defense took away any Wildcat three-point attempts to give the Irish the two-point victory.
"You can't get eight or 10 points behind with four minutes to go and expect to win every time," said Wildcats head coach Harry Peretta. "I think we've done it three times this year."
But the final two minutes weren't the only things that were different about Notre Dame.
The most obvious change for the Irish came in the starting line-up. After extended discussions with her assistants, head coach Muffet McGraw decided to try bringing freshman post player Courtney LaVere off the bench in order to spark what could be an inert Irish team. She gave classmate Megan Duffy her first career start.
LaVere, who had held the starting spot since Notre Dame's Dec. 31 game against Marquette, provided just what the Irish needed.
With just under 15 minutes remaining in the first half, LaVere came off the bench and sparked a 9-0 Irish run.
"I really didn't care [about getting the start]," LaVere said. "I just want to do my job. We knew we were going to have a good size advantage. People were able to get the ball down low to me, and we had a good defensive effort to go with that."
The decision was a hard one for McGraw, but saw a big payoff in the end. LaVere added a fifth double-double to her season total with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
"We thought bringing [LaVere] off the bench could fix a problem," McGraw said. "It was a big decision because she has played so well as a starter. For someone to come off the bench and be the team's leading scorer and rebounder, that's real impressive."
What was also noticeably different about Saturday's game was Notre Dame's control of the ball. The Irish have been plagued by their own mistakes in recent losses to Rutgers and Connecticut, but managed a season-low 12 turnovers against Villanova. In addition, although the Wildcats had only five turnovers, three were forced by the Notre Dame defense. Villanova had three turnovers on shot clock violations.
"That gave us some confidence in our defense," McGraw said.
The victory snapped Villanova's nine-game home winning streak and provided Notre Dame with its seventh true road victory. DePaul is still the only team that has defeated the Irish on the road. The Irish will have a few days to recover before heading back on the road to face Boston College Wednesday.
All Sports Stories for Monday, January 27, 2003
