Ivey excels despite foul trouble
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Assistant Sports Editor
Niele Ivey went from tears to fears on Senior Day, but in the end all she could hear were the cheers.
Following an emotional pre-game ceremony in the Joyce Center on Saturday, the No. 2 Irish (25-1, 14-1 Big East) struggled to build a lead over conference foe Georgetown (15-12, 6-9) before finally pulling away in the game's final 10 minutes to win 65-53.
Ivey re-entered the game with 12 minutes, 47 seconds remaining, carrying four fouls into the crucial final minutes of the game.
In the next three minutes, Ivey drained a 3-pointer, found Ruth Riley under the basket and hit a free-throw. By the time the clock read 9:34, the four-point deficit turned into a four-point Irish lead.
"Niele did a great job of playing with four fouls," Irish coach Muffet McGraw said after the game. "It was a big decision whether or not to put her in the game. She's the floor general. We've got to have her on the floor."
Ivey finished the day with 10 points, nine rebounds and three steals. She rebounded from a first half in which she committed two fouls while hitting only one of nine field goal attempts.
The Irish shot only 37 percent from the field in the opening half and trailed by as many as four points before scoring nine of the final 14 points of the half.
McGraw blamed her team's sluggish start on emotions before the game.
"I think I set the tone for the first half," McGraw said. "I couldn't control my emotions before the game and it overflowed into some of the players."
Ruth Riley led the Irish with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor. Riley also hit seven free throws in her 38 minutes of play. Riley was also surprised by the emotion she felt before the game.
"It didn't really hit me until I stood up there and saw the other seniors up there," Riley said. "It came over me a little bit, because so many times, you come out on the court in practice and in games — you don't take it for granted, but you don't realize how lucky you are to be out there."
Fellow senior Kelley Siemon continued her improvement since coming back from a hand injury, chipping in 13 points and seven rebounds. Siemon teamed with Ivey for multiple fast-break baskets. The power forward realizes that the Irish likely have two more NCAA games in the Joyce Center, and wasn't quite as choked up by the days festivities.
"I know we have two more games," Siemon said. "Those will probably hit me a little harder."
Senior guard Katie Smrcka-Duffy led Georgetown with 19 points. The senior guard has competed against the likes of Ivey, Siemon and Riley for four years, but was not lacking confidence entering the game.
"We didn't come in and roll over," Smrcka-Duffy said. "We didn't say, `Oh they're one, two, three, whatever they're ranked.'"
Rebekkah Brunsen, one of the top first-year players in the Big East, scored 12 of her team's first 18 points. She then was held scoreless for the remainder of the game. McGraw observed that the Irish defense was able to adjust her style of play as the game progressed.
" I think as she got a little further away from the basket, we had a little more pressure when she shot the ball," McGraw said. "In the first half, she got a bunch of open looks. In the second half, we were a little closer to her and made her shoot contested jumpers."
Hoyas' coach Pat Knapp has seen his team fall 107-45 to Connecticut, yet was not satisfied with simply putting out a solid effort against one of the nation's elite teams.
"It's very disappointing today," Knapp said. "I think our team did a lot of good things, we probably played Riley as good as we can play her. We had some good shots in those last ten minutes — we had to have enough offense to beat Notre Dame today."
The game had been sold-out for weeks. McGraw joked the Irish kept the game close for entertainment purposes.
"We want to entertain the crowds and we want to have them stay in their seats," she said. "We're going to drag that out and keep it close as long as possible."
Then the head coach became more serious, explaining how games like Saturday's game serve as good preparation for the postseason.
"Handling that kind of pressure is going to help us in the tournament because it's going to happen," McGraw said. "We're going to have games where we don't shoot well. Now we've had six of them and we've won them all."
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 26, 2001
