Riley blows Hurricanes back to Miami
By TIM CASEY
Sports Writer
Muffet McGraw paced in front of her bench Tuesday at a quicker pace than usual.
Her team was struggling against Miami, ahead by only five points, at 43-38 with 17:15 remaining.
Then the whistle blew. Ruth Riley had just been called for her third foul after making contact with the Hurricane's Martha Bodley. What was she to do with Riley, the 6-foot-5 All-American, who had scored seven points less than three minutes in the half?
"I was deliberating on the sideline for quite a while [about taking Riley out of the game]," McGraw said. "And I continued to think about it. I just thought her presence on offense was too important to us at that point in the game. We were having trouble scoring everywhere else."
Good decision.
After picking up her third foul, Riley continued to dominate, scoring 13 points in a row during a 3:28 stretch to expand the Irish lead to 62-50 with 9:40 left. That was as close as Miami (11-14, 5-9 Big East) would get the rest of the way as Notre Dame (24-2, 15-0) cruised to an 83-68 victory, its 20th in a row.
"Unfortunately, I have some experience in that area," Riley said referring to the foul trouble. "I knew I needed to be smart. I had to not go for the block if necessary, but maybe just contest the shot and play good defense. I was trying not to get another offensive foul on the other end. But I didn't really think about the fouls too much."
Miami thought about Riley all night, though especially in the second half. They witnessed the tallest player on the floor out run the defense for easy baskets. Twenty-four of her game-high 36 points came after intermission.
"She runs the floor very well," Miami coach Ferne Labati said of Riley.
"She put herself in position that she got there [to the ball] first. She didn't really have to make an offensive move to score her points. But that's her working off the basketball."
When they weren't getting outhustled by Riley, the Hurricanes were fouling the junior center. The Miami front court was getting thin, as two players (Alicia Hartlaub and Christal White) had five fouls apiece and two others (Bodley and Dalia Clarke) committed four each. In the meantime, Riley responded by connecting on 18-for-23 from the line, both school records.
"Every year, [the foul shooting] gets better," said Riley, who shoots more than 80 percent from the line. "I know now that I'm going to get a double team and expect that contact. I'm not going to make every shot but I'm going to get fouled a lot more than I was freshman year or last year. I've been working on that a lot."
After posting a 78-74 overtime victory against Rutgers on Saturday, the Irish started slowly in the first half. Notre Dame shot just 41.4 percent from the field in the half and turned the ball over nine times.
"We were very drained after that game," McGraw said referring to the Rutgers win. "It was a very emotional game. I don't think [the slow start] was looking past Miami to Connecticut [on Saturday]. I just think we were still thinking about Rutgers."
Behind Riley and their transition game, the Irish expanded the margin to as many as 21 points on three occasions in the second half.
Ericka Haney had 15 points for the Irish, more than twice her average of 7-for-10 shooting from the field. Julie Henderson and Danielle Green were the other Notre Dame players in double figures, with 10 points apiece.
Miami, who shot 34.7 percent from the field for the game, was led by Bodley's 16 points. Clarke added 15 points and seven rebounds while Hartlaub, a freshman, had 11 points.
The Irish look to extend their nation's longest winning streak when they travel to Connecticut on Saturday. A victory over Connecticut would be Notre Dame's first in 10 contests between the two teams since the Irish joined the Big East conference. It would also give the Irish their first Big East regular season title and undefeated conference record.
In order to prepare for the Huskies, McGraw has an idea.
"I'm planning on talking to Coach [Matt] Doherty because he owns Connecticut," McGraw said of the men's coach who was in attendance at Tuesday's game. "I know he's got the secret for us to beat them. I'll be talking to him a lot this week."
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, February 23, 2000
