Notre Dame routs Red Storm in biggest win of season
By KERRY SMITH
Assistant Sports Editor
When the Irish stepped on the court Saturday, they were out to make a statement.
After a disappointing team effort in their win over the Pittsburgh Panthers earlier in the week, the Irish needed to prove that they deserved a No. 5 ranking and were still the team to beat in the Big East conference.
After 40 minutes of tough play Saturday, that statement could not have been stronger. With guard Alicia Ratay and center Ruth Riley at the helm, the Irish extended their record to 21-2 and 12-0 in the conference with a 94-51 routing of the Red Storm of St. John's.
The 43-point margin of victory marks the largest win for the Irish all season.
Ratay paced the Irish with 28 points and 12 rebounds. The freshman sharpshooter went 6-for-9 from behind the arc, recording her first career double-double.
"I thought Alicia had just an outstanding game," head coach Muffet McGraw said. "I thought that was probably her best game since North Carolina, and at both ends of the floor. She rebounded well and recorded her first double-double. She had just a great game."
Riley dominated play under the basket. Despite watching the opening tip from the bench for the first time all season because of disciplinary reasons, Riley still scored 19 points, pulled down three rebounds and recorded three blocked shots. She shot 7-for-8 from the field and hit 5-for-6 from the free throw line — playing just 16 minutes for the Irish.
McGraw denied Riley her 80th-career start because the junior All-American candidate was late for Saturday's game.
"Normally I don't encourage tardiness," McGraw joked. "But Ruth Riley was late to the pre-game shoot around and I thought she had a great game."
Riley was supposed to meet her team at 5:30 p.m., but because of a misunderstanding on her part, she did not think the team was meeting until 5:45 p.m. and showed up five minutes late.
The Irish stole a quick 7-0 lead in the first three minutes of play, but the Red Storm answ-ered back quickly, going on a 8-1 run to bring the score to 9-8.
Not wanting to lose the lead, McGraw called a timeout to motivate her squad. Coming out of the timeout, Riley led the Irish in outscoring the Red Storm 33-4, en route to a 48-24 halftime lead.
Riley scored all 15 of her first half points during the run.
"You have to respect Riley," Red Storm head coach Darcel Estep said. "She's one of the best in the nation. We did a better job of defending her when we played at our place. We made a lot of mistakes under Notre Dame's pressure tonight."
Ratay bolstered the Irish lead in the opening minutes of the second half, scoring eight points in the first six minutes of play.
"I got a lot of open looks," Ratay said. "Ruth drew a lot of attention under the basket so I was open."
Point guard Niele Ivey added 12 points and dished out seven assists for the Irish.
McGraw used her squad's large lead to give her reserves some much-needed experience before heading into their toughest week of contests this season.
"I think our bench was making a statement to me tonight," McGraw said. "I knew they were ready to play. When I put them in, they played with a lot of confidence. They played with a lot of intensity, and we need that going into this week because this is a really big week for us."
Guards Erika Haney and Monique Hernandez turned in top performances from the Irish bench, combining for 13 points.
"[Hernandez] is someone who has really come along," McGraw said. "She's very quick and she's very fiesty. I think the crowd really likes her effort and intensity out there."
The Irish turned in their record-setting 20th-straight home court win in front of a crowd of 7,530, their second-largest crowd in school history.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 14, 2000
