Netters cruise to yet another easy victory
By TIM CASEY
Sports Writer
Another game, another victory.
The women's basketball team continued its dominance Wednesday wit a 70-52 win at Villanova (14-9, 7-5). The 5th-ranked Irish (22-2, 13-0) have now won a school-record 18 in a row.
Ruth Riley's 14 points led Notre Dame's balanced scoring attack Danielle Green (13 points), Alicia Ratay (12) and Ericka Haney (10) also scored in double figures.
The Irish shot 53.8 percent for the game as all the scholarship players saw action. Notre Dame also controlled the boards, with a 36-21 advantage.
The teams were close for the first 18 minutes of the game before the Irish reeled off eight straight points to go into halftime with a 33-23 advantage. Notre Dame's defensive intensity was turned up a notch at the beginning of the second half. Villanova only managed four field goals in the first 10 minutes of the half, as Notre Dame raced out to a large lead.
Riley's six points during an 8-0 run expanded the lead to 17, at 46-29. A Green fast-break lay-up off a steal with 3:57 remaining gave the Irish a 65-39 advantage, their biggest lead of the game.
For the game, the Wildcats connected on just 17 of 58 shot attempts for a 29 percent field-goal percentage. Jen Skeeters paced Villanova with 17 points on 6 of 22 shooting, while Trish Juhline had 13, including three 3-pointers. Those two players accounted for all of the Wildcats first half points.
The road to an undefeated Big East season now leads to Piscataway, N.J., where the Irish face Rutgers Saturday. The Scarlet Knights improved to 17-5 on the season after a 56-51 victory over Syracuse Tuesday night.
The two teams split their two meetings last year, with Rutgers winning 77-57 in the middle of February. The Irish returned the favor in the semifinals of the Big East tournament, upending the Scarlet Knights by a 68-61 margin.
All Sports Stories for Thursday, February 17, 2000
