Womens Basketball: Irish win away at West Virginia
By KATIE McVOY
Associate Sports Editor
The Irish can officially say that January is over and, this time, they've started the month off on the right foot. Notre Dame opened the month of February by snapping a four-game home losing streak with a 69-64 victory against West Virginia on Saturday.
"I don't think I was ever so glad to turn a page in my calendar," Irish coach Muffet McGraw said. "I was so happy to be out of January and moving forward."
The Irish finally began to find what they were missing during their last four home games, and it paid off.
For starters, Notre Dame returned its usual players to their places of prominence. Alicia Ratay, last year's go-to scorer, found her rhythm again and hit 14 of Notre Dame's first 24 points on the way to 21 points, her second highest point total of the season.
"It was great to see Alicia Ratay come out and have a great game," McGraw said.
Ratay, who West Virginia expected to stand around and shoot, started to do something else on Saturday too — she started to score off the dribble. That alone was enough to throw the Mountaineers off their game plan and, despite their two-point halftime lead, they left the floor with something to think about.
"Ratay, she just took over the game. She had a great game," Mountaineers coach Mike Carey said. "What made her tough this game is she started taking it off the dribble … that made her a double threat and that made it tough."
But the best part for Notre Dame was that Ratay did not single-handedly win Saturday's game. Sophomore Jacqueline Batteast added 21 points of her own, either scoring or assisting on nine of Notre Dame's 13 field goals in the second half. Several of her five total assists went to teammate Teresa Borton, who was perfect from the field for 14 points.
"Those were some really nice passes Jackie, thank you," Borton told her teammate during the post-game press conference.
Le'Tania Severe also had her part to play. The junior guard played with some shoulder padding despite the fact that a shoulder injury she sustained against Boston College had left her questionable for Saturday's game. Severe had three assists and seven rebounds during her 32 minutes of play.
"She's the glue to our team. She doesn't have to score to be effective," McGraw said. "She probably played in a little pain but she said it didn't hurt."
The solid play of last year's all-stars, supplemented by nine points from freshman Courtney LaVere, added up for the Irish offense. The team effort removed much of the pressure on a single player that had left the Irish cornered in their last four games at the Joyce Center
"A lot of my teammates played really well tonight," Batteast said. "Teresa [Borton] was 7-for-7 and Alicia [Ratay] came out really aggressive. So I didn't feel as much pressure. It was good to see everyone was willing to help out and everyone was willing to do their job."
Notre Dame's defense had its part to play in the victory as well. Although she recorded 15 points, Notre Dame managed to neutralize the three-point threat from West Virginia's Kate Bulger. The junior guard, who leads the Mountaineers in scoring and in treys, was just 1-7 in the second half, hitting her only shot with just 18 seconds left to play. She was just 5-13 overall with three baskets outside the three-point line.
"I think we did a great job of finding her," McGraw said. "And after [the first half] we did a great job of shutting her down."
Notre Dame will take two days off before hitting the floors of the Joyce Center to start practice before taking on Georgetown on Wednesday at home.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 3, 2003
