Bustamante scores 21 off the bench in win over Syracuse
By KATIE McVOY
Associate Sports Editor
Freshman Allison Bustamante sent Syracuse a message Tuesday night — the bench can be as dangerous as the starting line-up.
Prior to Tuesday night, junior Alicia Ratay or freshman Jackie Batteast led the Irish in scoring. On Tuesday, while the Orangewomen of Syracuse were focusing on those two Irish players, Bustamante hit the court and hit five 3-pointers to lead the Notre Dame to a 71-46 win.
"Whenever an opposing team is playing some sort of zone, I'm thrilled because I like to find the areas and take the open 3s," Bustamante said. "But you know, they left me open ... I guess maybe they did forget me."
But Syracuse won't be forgetting the freshman any time soon. By halftime, Bustamante had topped her previous career best of 12 with 14 points. At the end of the game, she had toppled that and tied her career-high with five rebounds in 25 minutes of play off the bench. Her 21 points accounted for half of the 44 points the bench provided.
"Quite frankly, we were aware of [Bustamante] but we weren't aware she could shoot the ball as well as she shot," said Syracuse head coach Marianna Freeman.
Although she led the team in scoring, Bustamante had some help. Sophomore guard Le'Tania Severe added a spark to the Irish offense with a career-high nine assists while Batteast racked up her eighth double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds.
"I think [Batteast] did a great job on the boards," said Irish head coach Muffet McGraw. "Particularly in the second half."
The Orangewomen took an early lead in the first half as starting point guard Julie McBride hit a 3-pointer less than a minute into the game. That was the last time Syracuse would be on top. Batteast scored the first Irish points on the first of Severe's nine assists and Ericka Haney scored shortly after on an assist from Batteast.
The Orangewomen managed to pull within two five minutes into the game, but for most of the game, the Irish were leading with double digits.
Offensively, the shorter Syracuse team just couldn't stop Notre Dame's quick zone.
"We like to play against a zone," McGraw said. "We haven't had a lot of opportunity this year, but with the shooters we have — Allison, Alicia, Jackie, Kelsey — I think our eyes widen a little bit when we play zone."
Although the Irish had a 14-point lead at halftime, they really didn't take off until the second half. In the opening nine minutes of that half, the Orangewomen did not make a single basket from the field, scoring their four points from the foul line.
Bustamante grabbed five of the 15 points the Irish scored in that nine minutes and Batteast scored on her own rebound to add five rebounds and two points. With those points, she grabbed the double-double, her first since a win against Miami on Jan. 2.
"When I wasn't in foul trouble after the first half I could go after the ball a little bit more," Batteast said. "So I'm glad to get another double figure in rebounds."
That run allowed McGraw to play her entire bench — including freshman Jill Krause and crowd favorite Karen Swanson. Swanson collected three points and Krause added an assist.
"It's always great to play the whole bench," McGraw said. "Especially Karen Swanson and Jill Krause, they do such a great job at practice."
Defensively, the Irish dominated. The Orangewomen, who were fourth in the Big East in scoring, had a season low 46 points and 29.6 percent from the field. The taller Notre Dame squad threw off the Syracuse shooting game and the team could not recover.
"I thought that this was probably the poorest game we have played, but of course I thought that Notre Dame had a lot to do with that," Freeman said. "... If we don't shoot the ball very well because of our size we don't do a very good job."
Notes:
u Before the game, the Irish were tied for third place in the Big East with Syracuse. The win moves Notre Dame into a tie with Boston College, while Virginia Tech, previously in second place, fell to Connecticut.
u Early in the first half, McGraw caught a pass on the sideline. Despite the fact that she was open for a three, she decided to pass the ball back to her players.
"I was open," she said. "I was looking for the three."
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, January 30, 2002
