Womens Basketball: Huskies hustle past Irish for 65th straight
By JOE HETTLER
Sports Editor
After trailing most of the first half against the No. 1 team in the country, Notre Dame tied Connecticut at 28-28 on a field goal by Teresa Borton with 1:30 left before halftime.
But there would be no upset Sunday in Storrs, Conn.
The Huskies (26-0, 13-0 in the Big East) responded by ending the half on a 5-0 run and never looked back, en route to a 77-59 victory over the Irish (15-9, 7-6).
"We didn't finish the [first] half strong. We took quick, bad shots and they went down and got easy ones,'' Irish coach Muffet McGraw said. "And the beginning of the second half was the same thing, and all of a sudden we're down 15.''
The five-point halftime lead was extended to 16 after Connecticut broke off a 16-5 run early in the second half. Their lead reached as many as 22 before the game ended.
That six-minute stretch was the difference in the game, Irish coach Muffet McGraw said in the post-game press conference.
"We let down our guard for the last minute of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half, and UConn capitalized, and that was the difference in the game," McGraw said. "Once we got our bearings about us again, we played them even."
The win was Connecticut's 65th straight, extending their own NCAA record.
Surprisingly, Notre Dame outrebounded the defending national champs 43-40, led by Jacqueline Batteast's career-high 18 boards. It was only the third time Connecticut had been outrebounded this season.
"I was pleased with our post game and rebounding," McGraw said. "I thought the rebounding was especially strong on the offensive end. [Batteast] had a tremendous day on the boards, and she helped us in other ways besides scoring."
However, poor shooting and too many turnovers prevented the Irish from snapping the Huskies streak. Notre Dame shot only 33.9 percent from the field and turned the ball over 18 times. The Huskies were able to shoot 44.3 percent and only had 10 turnovers all day, including just one in the last 10:21 of the game.
"We just had one of those days when the shots weren't going down and that's going to happen," McGraw said. "Against a team like Connecticut you can't afford to have a down day when it comes to shooting from the field."
Notre Dame had a few offensive bright spots in Borton and Courtney LaVere. Borton had a game-high and career-high 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting. She also knocked in all seven of her free throw attempts and grabbed six rebounds. But she was shut down during the Huskies run in the second half and didn't score again until their were six minutes left and the game was out of reach for the Irish.
LaVere made 5-for-8 shots and scored 13 points for the Irish.
Notre Dame's two leading scorers coming into the game, Batteast and Alicia Ratay, both struggled to find their touch. Batteast was held to only 2-for-12 shooting and five points, ten under her season average while Ratay hit only 2-for-10 shots and ended the day with ten points.
The Huskies did not have one shooting star Sunday, but used a balanced offensive attack. All-American Diana Taurasi led Connecticut with 13 points, while reserve Wilnett Crockett added 12 more points as the Huskies had five players score in double figures.
Up only five at halftime, Connecticut started the second half by forcing turnovers on four straight Notre Dame possessions and scored six points off those turnovers. The Huskies also shot 50 percent in the second half, hitting 19-of-38 field goal attempts.
Connecticut jumped out to an early 10-2 lead over the Irish on a pair of 3-pointer by Ann Strother in the first half. Strother had 11 points on the day. Barbara Turner, who scorched Notre Dame for a career-high 25 points in Connecticut's 72-53 win over Notre Dame on Jan. 20, came off the bench to collect a team-high 12 rebounds.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 24, 2003
