Womens Basketball: Irish struggle to find rhythm
By JOE HETTLER
Sports Editor
Christmas break wasn't very merry for the Notre Dame womens basketball team.
The Irish played stiff competition and came out of the break with a 4-3 record that put them at 10-4 overall after a 71-42 blowout win at St. Johns Tuesday night.
The Irish were led by Jacqueline Batteast's 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, while Teresa Borton and Courtney LaVere had 19 points as the Irish outrebounded the Red storm 45-29.
"I thought we did a nice job on the boards," Irish coach Muffet McGraw said. "I thought we executed our offense pretty well."
McGraw was also pleased with Notre Dame's free throw shooting. The Irish nailed 19-20 from the line.
It was a good way for the Irish to shake off a tough break from classes.
The biggest challenge for Notre Dame came against No. 5 Tennessee on Dec. 28. The Volunteers held the Irish to only 30.6 percent shooting from the floor and pressured Notre Dame's guards all game. The loss made Notre Dame 0-15 all-time against Tennessee with the Volunteers average margin of victory being 22 points.
"Our goal was to come in here and compete," McGraw said. "I thought we did that. We didn't play well, and I think that's a tribute to their defense."
Volunteer Gwen Jackson led Tennessee with 16 points, while the Irish were paced by freshman LaVere who had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Notre Dame's top two scorers, Batteast (16.1) and Alicia Ratay (13.1) were shut down all game, only scoring two and five points respectively on combined 2-20 shooting.
Notre Dame was able to bounce back with a 75-68 win against Marquette Dec. 31 before facing No. 7 Purdue Jan. 4 on national television. Unfortunately for the Irish, they didn't play to their capabilities in a 71-54 loss at home.
"We didn't have anyone out there with the exception of Courtney who was saying, `Hey, give me the ball and I can score,'" McGraw said. "When you have great leadership, you can get by with young talented players. We don't have a great leader and that's what our problem is. Most of this is my fault. I need to do a better job of figuring this whole thing out."
Purdue used the same formula as Tennessee to win — shut down Batteast and Ratay, and make someone else beat them. It worked again as Batteast scored 14, but only four when the game was within reach, while Ratay was held scoreless.
Once again Lavere led the Irish on offense with 23 points, ten rebounds and three blocks, while La-Tania Severe added 10 points and six assists.
"We played scared," McGraw said after the game, which marked Notre Dame's first home loss to a non-conference opponent since 1996.
Notre Dame then traveled to face West Virginia and used an outstanding second half to beat the Mountaineers 66-59.The Irish trailed by as many as 14 before using an 18-2 run to get back into the game. Severe came up huge for Notre Dame, scoring 21 points, while Batteast added 12.
But the Irish couldn't use their momentum from the West Virginia when they came back to the Joyce center to face Miami Jan. 11.
The Hurricanes' Tamara James scored 27, while teammate Chanivia Broussard added 16 points and eight rebounds in an 80-70 Miami victory.
Miami won by forcing 29 turnovers and out rebounding Notre Dame 47-39. Teresa Borton's 13 points led the Irish, while Batteast added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
It was the first Notre dame had lost back-to-back home games since the 1994-95 season.
The Irish will face two more Big East foes in the next week, when they take on Rutgers at home Saturday and no. 1 Connecticut on Jan. 20.
Both games are at the Joyce Center.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, January 15, 2003
