Irish overcome delays, easily defeat Mountaineers
by NOAH AMSTADTER
Assistant Sports Editor
At least something worked in Morgantown Wednesday night.
After mechanical problems with the scoreboard caused two separate delays in the first half, the Irish pulled away for an 87-64 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers in front of a season-low crowd of 364.
The No. 1 Irish, who remain the only undefeated teams in Division I NCAA women's basketball, improve to 19-0 on the season and 8-0 in the Big East.
Conference foe West Virginia drops to 4-13 overall and 2-4 in the conference.
Despite the lopsided final score, the Irish were slow to establish their dominance.
After five minutes of play, the score was knotted at 6-6.
Then the offense woke up. Over the next seven minutes, the Irish outscored the Mountaineers by 23 to six to take a commanding 29-12 lead.
West Virginia would never pull closer than within 13 points.
Senior All-American center Ruth Riley led the way for the Irish. Riley, who finished with a game-high 28 points, scored 18 in the opening half, overpowering a Mountaineer offense that double-teamed her the entire game.
Sharp-shooter Alicia Ratay returned to her early-season form for Notre Dame.
Ratay, whose scoring has been down as of late, scored 24 points on 8-13 shooting and added a team-high nine rebounds.
Irish head coach Muffet McGraw was more concerned with her opponent's offensive output than her stars' production.
"I'm very disappointed in our defensive effort," McGraw told the Associated Press. "Basically, the team on the floor decided that we would outscore (them) today. It certainly wasn't my plan."
The Irish were playing their second road game in four days, flying to Morgantown Tuesday night less than 48 hours after returning from Sunday's game against Seton Hall in New Jersey.
"Our goal is to play whoever we are playing with the same intensity," McGraw said. "We're just didn't do that tonight."
Although the defense may have lacked intensity, it did not lack in effectiveness.
A shorthanded West Virginia team that dressed only nine players shot just 29 percent from the field in the first half.
The Irish, however, were far from perfect on offense.
The nation's top team committed 15 turnovers, which led to 20 Mountaineer points. West Virginia's 64 points were the fourth-highest total allowed to an Irish opponent this season.
While the Irish may have shown fatigue, it was evident to West Virginia coach Alexis Basil why the Irish are undefeated.
"When you're No. 1, you do what you have to do to win a game, even if you're not on," Basil told the Associated Press. "They might not all have been on at the same time like they were against Connecticut, but they did what they had to do and that's the mark of a champion."
Point guard Niele Ivey scored 10 points and added nine assists but also had six turnovers in 29 minutes.
5-foot 7 guard Darya Kudryavtseva led West Virginia with 21 points and eight assists.
Back court mate Kate Bulger added 18 points and five rebounds, despite shooting only one of six from behind the three-point arc.
The Irish now have a week of rest before hosting Providence in the Joyce Center on Wed., Jan. 31.
All Sports Stories for Thursday, January 25, 2001
