Notre Dame win pushes streak to 14
By KERRY SMITH
Assistant Sports Editor
The Irish winning streak got a little hotter Tuesday as the No. 5 women's basketball program delivered its 14th-straight victory with a 90-60 routing of the Providence Friars.
At 18-2, the Irish increased their conference record to 9-0 as they knocked off another Big East rival with ease.
Forward Kelley Siemon was a surprise off the bench, leading the Irish squad with the best performance of her three-year career.
Siemon went 10-12 under the basket and 3-6 from the charity stripe to notch a career-high 23 points. She also brought down seven rebounds for the Irish.
Guards Danielle Green and Alicia Ratay combined for one-third of Notre Dame's points with 16 apiece from the outside.
Ratay scored all but two of her points in the first half and provided the spark that sent the Irish on 29-2 run early in the contest.
Green was on fire from the line, hitting eight of nine free throws. With a game-high nine rebounds, Green came up big in the Irish defensive effort.
The Irish dominated on offense in the first half, distancing themselves from the Friars with a 25-point lead at halftime.
Despite playing through a scoring drought that lasted several minutes, the Friars were able to come up with 31 points before the buzzer sounded signaling the half.
Notre Dame's 56 first-half points came just three points shy of a school record.
The Irish took their biggest lead of the game with 8:08 remaining on the clock, increasing the gap to 34 with a 78-44 edge.
Irish head coach Muffet McGraw used her squad's double-digit lead in the second half to give her reserves some playing time.
Freshman forward Amanda Barksdale took advantage of the opportunity and had her second-straight impressive outing of the season in the paint. Barksdale stood tall on defense with seven blocked shots, two more than her previous high of five over Georgetown on Saturday.
Despite seeing action on the floor for 24 minutes, starting point guard Niele Ivey was quiet on offense. Shooting 1-5, the senior co-captain tallied only four points. She did play true to form on defense, however, snatching the ball from the Friars four times to increase her season total to 57 steals.
Providence center Monika Roberts led the Friars in the losing effort with 13 points, as forward Meghan Hinds and guard Farrah Thomas each added 10. Suffering their fourth loss in a row, the Friars fall to 9-10 on the season and 4-5 in the Big East.
Turnovers plagued the Friars all night; they gave the ball up 25 times to Notre Dame's 11.
The Irish, who shot 64.5 percent from the field, held the Friars to just 30 percent.
Notre Dame returns home for the first of three games at the Joyce Center on Saturday when it takes on its toughest Big East rival of the season, Boston College.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, February 2, 2000
