21-0 start sets team record for consecutive wins
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Assistant Sports Editor
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass.
In the concourse at Boston College's Conte Forum sits a trophy case highlighting the Eagles' athletic accomplishments over the last several decades. The case holds a picture of the scoreboard at Notre Dame Stadium, displaying a final score of 41-39 after Boston College ruined Notre Dame's perfect 1993 football season.
Next to that picture is the Sports Illustrated cover from the week following that fateful game in 1993. The headline reads "No. 1 Goes Down (again...)."
But not on Saturday.
The Irish women's hoops squad set a school record with its 21st consecutive victory as the Irish shot down the Eagles to the tune of a 81-65 final. The No. 1 team in the country remains unbeaten at 21-0, including a perfect 10-0 record in the Big East.
Senior All-American center Ruth Riley led the way for the Irish scoring a game-high 24 points while pulling down 13 rebounds. Riley also made 10 of 12 free throws.
Riley was able to overpower the undersized Eagles' defenders. Boston College had only three players taller than 6-foot-2 to counter the 6-5 Riley.
"We were obviously trying to go inside as much as we could and take advantage of the mismatches that we had in there," said Irish head coach Muffet McGraw. "I thought she played well and shot well from the free-throw line."
Eagles' coach Cathy Inglese realized the challenge of guarding Riley and decided to double-team the senior center.
"Obviously with Ruth inside, if it's one-on-one she can score 50 points," said Inglese. "You know you've got to do some things with her."
By sending defenders over to prevent Riley from dominating inside, Boston College left Irish sharp-shooters Alicia Ratay, Jeneka Joyce and Niele Ivey open on the wing.
The fearsome threesome combined for seven 3-pointers on the night. Freshman Joyce, in particular, excelled — tying her season-high with 11 point's including three from behind the arc.
"I thought she had a great game — definitely player of the game off the bench," said McGraw. "She really had some big shots — the best she's shot in a long while."
Joyce most impressed her coach with her ball-handling skills, committing zero turnovers in 22 minutes on the floor.
"The thing about Jeneka is she's not turning the ball over," McGraw said. "For the season I think she has three turnovers. She's a smart player."
The Irish committed only nine turnovers as a team in the game, tying a school record for fewest turnovers set against DePaul on Jan. 27, 1985.
Junior forwards Nicole Conway and Becky Gottstein led the Eagles with 16 points apiece. Conway impressed McGraw, coming through on seven of 13 shots from the field.
"I thought Conway had a great game," McGraw said. "We were really on her and she made some tough shots down the stretch to really kind of keep things going for them."
Despite the lopsided final score, the game was close for most of the first half. Notre Dame never led by more than five points until Riley found Kelley Siemon open underneath the basket with 4:22 left in the opening half.
The game was Siemon's first since Notre Dame's upset of Connecticut on Jan. 15. The senior forward missed the following three games with an injured hand that still requires a padded glove.
"She didn't practice at all Friday, she was very sore. She's just so mentally tough and she can really play with a little bit of pain," said McGraw. "We'll kind of re-evaluate her on a daily basis, but we expect in the next week or so, she'll be back full-time."
Notre Dame pulled away in the second half behind 14 points by Riley and eight points from Ivey — who finished with 16 to go along with 7 assists and three steals.
McGraw was happy with the team's offensive performance, but wants to see a more complete effort in the future.
"Providence was the best defensive game we've had in a long time," said McGraw. "[Saturday] was a good offensive game. I think that we'd like to put that whole game together and have a game that we feel good about at both ends of the floor."
The Irish will have a chance to try for that perfect game as 9-11 Pittsburgh visits the Joyce Center on Wednesday night in another Big East match-up.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 5, 2001
