WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Irish seniors say goodbye to Joyce Center with 88-54 win
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Sports Editor
The Notre Dame women's basketball team said goodbye Monday night, but it was hardly a sad farewell.
In an NCAA Tournament second round contest that marked their last game of the season at the Joyce Center, the Irish toppled the Wolverines of Michigan 88-54 in front of 9,597 fans.
For the second time in three days, every player on the Irish roster scored — led by All-American center Ruth Riley's 21 points. The 2000-01 Naismith Award winner made eight of eleven attempts from the field while going a perfect five-for-five from the line.
Riley excelled despite facing many double- and even triple- teams from the Wolverine defense. Despite the tight defense, fellow seniors Niele Ivey and Kelley Siemon had little trouble getting Riley the ball under the basket.
"The key with her is just to throw the ball up and she'll grab it," Siemon said.
And when Siemon couldn't pass the ball off to Riley, she just took it to the hoop herself.
"They really were crowding [Riley] inside so it was easier for me to just drive in and shoot that easy lay-up," Siemon, who finished with 16 points, said. "You can't really triple-team on a team of our caliber because we just have so many threats offensively."
One of those threats is three-point shooting, where the Irish stuck a dagger in the Wolverines early on.
Notre Dame hit six of 10 attempts from behind the three-point line as they opened up a 44-28 halftime lead. Alicia Ratay and Jeneka Joyce each connected on three treys, including a buzzer-beating shot by Joyce that sent the Wolverines to the locker room on a sour note.
"To hit a shot at the buzzer like that I think kind of breaks your back when you're on defense," Irish coach Muffet McGraw said. "I was really pleased with the way she played."
Wolverines' coach Sue Guevara agreed.
"That hurt a lot. We were kind of making a mini-run," Guevara said. "With seven seconds left to go, we know who the shooters are."
Joyce finished with 14 points in 22 minutes, but McGraw was most impressed with the freshman's defense, which helped limit Michigan to 32.9 percent shooting from the field.
"She talked about working hard on defense every day in practice because that's something that she really needs to improve on," McGraw said. "I thought today she did a great job in the zone."
Amanda Barksdale continued her postseason surge for the Irish. Following her first career double-double in Notre Dame's round one victory over Alcorn State, the sophomore contributed five points and seven rebounds in 15 minutes.
The biggest cheers of the night came when sophomore walk-on Karen Swanson stepped on the floor with 3:09 remaining. With Swanson's jump shot in the game's final minute, each Notre Dame player has scored in every Irish game so far in this NCAA tournament.
"I was not happy with the bench early in the season and they have really worked hard to prove me wrong," McGraw said. "That's the kind of attitude that this team has. They don't quit."
While the Michigan coach credits the Irish defense, she was disappointed in her team's inability to find the basket.
"You don't have to be a graduate of Michigan or Notre Dame to look at the stat sheet and see five-for-33 from your five starters is going to be really tough," Guevara said.
Only six Wolverines played significant minutes in the game, a factor that proved deadly in the game's final minutes. With Notre Dame using its deep bench and playing successful in the transition, Michigan just couldn't keep up.
"That's what happens when you're trying to stop transition," Guevara said. "You work your tail off and you get tired."
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, March 20, 2001
