Irish roll to 69-54 victory over Utes to advance to the Elite 8
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Sports Editor
DENVER
Among a sea of red, this Notre Dame team finished strong at the end.
Utah fans packed the Pepsi Center stands Saturday night in Denver, many wearing bright red to create an atmosphere similar to Notre Dame stadium this fall when the Irish hosted Nebraska.
But this time, the "home" team came out on top, as Notre Dame (31-2) topped Utah (28-4) 69-54 Friday to advance to the NCAA regional championships. The Irish take on Vanderbilt tonight, the winner traveling to St. Louis for the Final Four.
Ruth Riley, the 2000-01 Naismith Award winner, scored 24 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and passed out a career-high six assists for the Irish.
The Utes defended Riley well in the opening half, limiting her to only six points on four field goal attempts. Despite Utah's ability to stop Riley from scoring in the post, the Utes were unable to prevent her from passing off to open teammates as Riley recorded four of her assists in the opening half.
"I figured they would probably double team me like a lot of teams have," Riley said. "I was fortunate to have teammates that were able to knock down those shots, whether they be three-pointers or lay-ups to Kelley [Siemon]."
In the second half, Riley's teammates focused on getting her the ball in the post. The senior center responded, scoring 18 of Notre Dame's 37 second half points as the Irish outscored Utah 37-29 in the final 20 minutes.
"Personally, I just needed to post up more in the second half," Riley said.
Once again, the Irish dominated thanks to a versatile attack. Point guard Niele Ivey made three 3-pointers and scored 15 points to go to along with six assists.
"We have great balance on our team," Irish coach Muffet McGraw said. "When you key on one person, you lose somebody else. We just played well together. Nobody forced anything."
Alicia Ratay also made three 3-pointers, finishing with 11 points.
Forward Ericka Haney added 10 points to go along with eight rebounds in 19 minutes.
Utah, the nation's best defensive team coming in to the game, allowed the Irish to shoot 47.3 percent from the field for the game. Notre Dame was only the fourth team this year to score more than 60 points on Elaine Elliott's team.
Utah's defensive game struggled with team leader Amy Ewert off the court at various points in the second half. Ewert played the last 16:44 with four fouls.
"She's the heart of our team in so many ways," Elliott said. "We didn't like not having her available. Her presence is sort of the glue that we all have learned to rely on and look for for a lot of things."
The Irish led only 24-23 coming out of the final media timeout in the first half. Three-pointers by Ratay and Ivey extended the margin to 30-23 with 1:35 remaining.
After Utah's Erin Gibbons bounced a 10-footer off the top of the rim to beat the shot clock, Riley saw through three swarming Utah defenders to find an open Siemon under the basket. Siemon layed the ball in to give the Irish a 32-25 halftime lead.
Coming in to the game, pundits expressed concern about Notre Dame's ability to adjust to Denver's thin air. The Irish, who play a regular rotation of only six or seven players, appeared especially susceptible.
"I don't think it was really a major factor today," Riley said. "It's more of a mental state of mind than it is a very physical thing."
In the end, it was the team from Salt Lake City that was huffing and puffing, despite playing eight players more than 12 minutes.
"The game needed to be a little bit shorter for us," Elliott said. "They wore us down."
Notre Dame takes on Vanderbilt Monday at 9 p.m.
All Sports Stories for Monday, March 26, 2001
