Top seeded Irish one win away from trip to Final Four
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Sports Editor
DENVER
From day one this season, head coach Muffet McGraw and the Irish women's basketball team have stressed one final destination — the Final Four.
Completing that mission comes down to tonight, when Notre Dame (31-2) takes on the Vanderbilt Commodores (24-9) in the Midwest Regional Championship game.
Both teams boast exciting players in the middle and at the point.
The pivotal match-up tonight will be in the post. Notre Dame's Ruth Riley averages 17.8 points per game on 63.7 percent shooting. The Commodores' 6-6 Chantelle Anderson hit for 21.1 points per game on a national-best 73 percent shooting during the regular season.
Both star centers are also prone to struggles with foul trouble — Riley has fouled out of 17 games so far during her Notre Dame career, Anderson has collected five fouls in seven games so far this season.
"The team that's going to win tomorrow is the team that can keep its center out of foul trouble," McGraw said.
Vanderbilt coach Jim Foster is excited about the match-up between the Associated Press first- and second-team All-American centers: Riley and Anderson, respectively.
"Your great players are measured against their performances against great players," Foster said. "Bill Russell/Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird/Magic Johnson... You need someone to challenge you, to take you to another dimension to see if your greatness can surface."
The game also features an intriguing dual of tiny leaders at the point. Vanderbilt's 5-6 sophomore Ashley McElhiney averages 7.2 points and 6.1 assists per game, Notre Dame's fifth-year senior Niele Ivey, an inch taller at 5-7, averages 12 points and seven assists per game.
"Definitely she's the heart and soul of Vanderbilt," Ivey said of McElhiney. "She's a feisty player. She's also a great floor leader. I definitely have a great match-up against her."
McElhiney sustained a stress fracture in her left foot three minutes into Vanderbilt's Jan. 27, loss at Georgia. The point guard missed the next three games, two of which Vanderbilt lost.
While both teams have premier point guards and centers, McGraw predicts that, barring foul trouble by one of the stars, the game will be determined by the teams' other players.
"Ruth is going to have a great game, Chantelle is going to have a great game," McGraw said. "The difference is going to come down to the other three players on the floor."
While the Commodores finished fourth in the SEC behind Tennessee, Florida and Georgia, Vanderbilt is the only conference team still competing. Late-season victories over Tennessee and Georgia proved that Foster's team is a force to be reckoned with.
"Sometimes Vanderbilt teams are seen as being soft and not able to handle a lot of the physical play thrown at us," Anderson said. "I think we've proven a lot of the people saying that wrong this year."
Notes:
u Vanderbilt assistant coach Pete Gaudet was an assistant men's coach under Mike Krzyzewski from 1983-84 through 1994-95, serving on the same bench as current Irish head coach Mike Brey. Gaudet served as interim head coach when Krzyzewski battled back problems in 1994-95. Under Gaudet's direction, Duke went 4-15, finishing with its only losing season in the last 18 years.
All Sports Stories for Monday, March 26, 2001
