Riley leads Irish in loss to No. 15 Fighting Illini
By KERRY SMITH
Assistant Sports Editor
Irish center Ruth Riley was the only Notre Dame player that scored in double figures when the No. 15 Fighting Illini upended the seventh-ranked Irish 77-67 on Saturday.
The loss evens out Notre Dame's record at 1-1.
"We definitely didn't play as well as we were capable of," said junior forward Kelley Siemon. "We had some mental lapses on defense and we weren't scoring in the places we're usually strong in scoring. We know we can play better than we did."
Riley started the game off strong, scoring 10 of the first 12 Irish points, giving Notre Dame an early three-point lead.
Coming up with 16 points in 16 minutes, Riley looked as if she was going to dominate on the court. But foul trouble put a stop to her run at the basket. Riley picked up two quick fouls in the first seven minutes and after earning a third, spent most of the remainder of the first half on the bench.
With Riley sidelined, the Fighting Illini took control of the court and quickly took a 12 point lead, ending the half at 40-28. The Illini never let the Irish back into the game, finishing with a 10-point cushion.
Riley came back into the game during the second half, but fouled out before the end of the game.
"It being early in the season, refs usually tend to call more picky fouls," Siemon said. "As it gets later into the season refs will be easier on Ruth. But we need to be smarter than that and realize the importance of staying in the game."
Riley's foul trouble is not a new problem for the Irish — in the team's opening contest against Toledo, the junior spent most of the game on the bench after committing two fouls in the first two minutes. Other Irish players had to step up their game in order to compensate for Riley's absence and produce a win.
"The team looks to [Ruth] for so much — leadership and scoring — that when she is out of the game we get a little worried," Simeon said.
This time around no Irish players were able to fill the void left by Riley.
Guard Alicia Ratay, who led the squad in scoring in both of the team's exhibition outings as well as in the season opener, only came up with nine. This marked the first time the freshman has failed to score in double digits this season.
Guards Danielle Green and Niele Ivey each added eight for the Irish.
The Irish defense was unable to make up for its crippled offense.
Fighting Illini guard Alison Curtain lit up the court, scoring 28 points to lead her squad to its fifth victory of the season.
The sophomore was 7-12 for 14 points from the field and tallied another 14 at the free throw line, going 14-18.
"We were focusing on two other players instead of Alison Curtain, and those two didn't have very good games so we did get the job done there," Siemon said. "But in doing that we took her for granted. She scored a lot of her points on transition and we didn't stop her effectively."
Curtain also contributed much to the Illinois' defense, tallying seven rebounds and four steals on the game.
The contest marked the first time in 17 years that the two squads had met on the court.
Notre Dame is back in action on Wednesday when it takes on Butler in its first regular-season home game of the year.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, November 30, 1999
