Irish, Huskies play a game for the ages
By Tim Casey
Assistant Sports Editor
STORRS, CONN.
And so this conference championship game culminated with an injured Sue Bird driving down court, stopping for a split second, falling away, and connecting on a front-rim grazing, game-winning prayer. How appropriate.
One possible season-ending injury, two buzzer-beaters, six All-Big East performers, and enough excitement that made even the normally reserved Alicia Ratay show some emotion.
Who said the female version of Dr. James Naismith's century-old sport was boring?
"I felt like every play, the way the crowd was reacting, was the game-winning play," Bird said. "Even every time we would hit just a simple lay-up."
In the sports journalism field, superlatives are written more frequently than nouns. We tend to over-hype, overanalyze and over criticize. Even unimportant regular season games are treated like something special.
But Tuesday night's final?
Forgive the following: It may have been the most memorable game in conference history. By this weekend, ESPN will probably deem it an Instant Classic.
By this weekend, Connecticut will probably erect a Sue Bird statue. According to Bird, however, if the final seconds ended differently, she would be hung in effigy. With 16.3 seconds left and Connecticut ahead 76-75, center Kelly Schumacher set a screen for Bird, who drove past Niele Ivey. Bird took a few dribbles before the ball bounced off her leg and went out of bounds for the turnover.
Forget that Bird sat out the previous night's semifinal due to back spasms. Forget that Bird finished with a team-high 15 points. Forget that 33 seconds earlier, Bird hit a three-pointer to give the Huskies a three-point lead.
"I knew if I didn't hit the game winning-shot," Bird said, "there were going to be problems in the University of Connecticut coaches' offices."
In the other coaches' office, Muffet McGraw and company must be pleased. Ruth Riley, after struggling offensively the past two games, accumulated a line (23 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks) worthy of the National Player of the Year award. The Irish shot 50.9 percent from the field, out rebounded the Huskies 42-39 and received a 16-point 8-rebound performance from All-Tournament member Kelley Siemon.
And although they lost, Tuesday's game may have been more impressive than the 96-72 win over then No. 1 Connecticut on Jan. 15. In that contest, Notre Dame played flawlessly while Connecticut seemed shocked and startled and even "gave up," according to Bird and coach Geno Auriemma.
On Tuesday, Notre Dame did not handle the Connecticut pressure as well as before, Riley got into foul trouble, and the Huskies found the gaps in the Irish zone, a defense that caused nightmares for the Huskies in January.
But even with those problems, the Irish still had a chance to win their
first-ever Big East tournament title.
"I feel better about this game [than the 54-53 to Rutgers on Feb. 17],"
McGraw said. "This game I feel we played at least pretty well. There's a lot of good things to take from it."
Auriemma had the same reaction. Sort of.
The Huskies' eighth straight tournament title was spoiled by bad news. Shea Ralph, a second-team All-Big East selection and the team leader, tore the ACL in her left knee with 5:18 left in the first half and will likely miss the remainder of the season.
Ralph, the Big East Player of the Year last season, joins forward Svetlana Abrosimova, the conference Player of the Year in 1998-99 on the sidelines for the NCAA tournament. Abrosimova injured her left foot on Feb. 1 and underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament.
Before the injury, Ralph had 11 points, 6 assists and 3 steals.
"Somebody asked me [before the tournament], `Have you seen a different look in your players eyes?'," Auriemma said. "I said `No, they all look just as dopey as before, except for Shea Ralph.' You can't play better than the way Shea was playing. It's impossible. She was on her way. She was on her way."
Connecticut is on its way to the NCAA tournament as the nation's top team. Although they will be without Ralph and Abrosimova, the Huskies have more depth than a Father Hesburgh sermon. Five players scored in double figures and eight played more than 14 minutes on Tuesday.
When the NCAA brackets are announced on Sunday night, both teams will likely be No. 1 seeds. So another game is possible.
"We're extremely hopeful that there will be a trilogy," McGraw said. For now, the focus remains on Notre Dame-Connecticut II.
A few minutes after the contest, while the Connecticut players were accepting the tournament trophy, one Husky fan in Section 109 shouted to no one in particular.
"That was a great women's basketball game," he said.
He's wrong.
That was a great basketball game.
The opinions expressed in this column are those of the columnist and not necessarily those of the Observer.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, March 7, 2001
