VALPARAISO, Ind.

The war wasn't holy.

Nonetheless, the crusade was on.

Valparaiso was on a quest to end its 15-game losing streak to Notre Dame, and the Crusaders almost reached the promised land.

With just under two minutes left, the Crusaders were trailing the ninth-ranked Irish by only seven.

But the Irish won the final battle, and Notre Dame managed the 74-68 victory.

But right now, they don't want to have to fight again.

"This has been a tough place for us to play," Irish coach Muffet McGraw said. "… We're thinking about not coming here anymore."

Valparaiso came out ready to play. The Crusaders looked intense, they looked prepared, and, most importantly, they looked like they wanted to win.

"We played fearlessly," said Crusaders guard Kathy Knoester, who totaled 14 points in a strong second half of play.

Under the leadership of junior Suzie Hammel, who scored 17 points, the Crusaders played above and beyond the expectations of their opponent. In the first half, Valparaiso rebounded from a nine-point deficit to bring the game within three as the teams headed into the locker room.

"I thought Hammel was outstanding," McGraw said. "She was impossible for us to guard … We just didn't have an answer for her. She did pretty much whatever she wanted to."

The Irish, on the other hand, looked anything but ready to play and McGraw had to keep her team focused on the task at hand. In the first half, Notre Dame only out-rebounded its much smaller opponent by two. The Irish looked sluggish and, despite facing a similar defense in USC, the offense looked like it was completely unfamiliar with its opponent.

"We watched them on film and they play defense like USC and we thought that would be an advantage for us to have had a game like that, so we thought we'd be a little more ready," McGraw said. "But we actually looked really unprepared."

The Irish saw domination only once in the game. In the opening minutes of the second half, after allowing the Crusaders to score on two Jeanette Gray free-throws, Notre Dame scored 12 unanswered points in three minutes, taking a 42-30 lead with 15 minutes left to play.

"We got out and were able to transition and got some easy baskets," McGraw said. "That's what we had not been getting and did not get outside of that little stretch."

After that, it was a struggle for Notre Dame to keep the lead. With just under five minutes remaining, Le'Tania Severe, who had the best Notre Dame defensive performance along with 15 points, scored Notre Dame's last field goal. It was all foul shooting for the rest of the game. In fact, in the second half of play, Notre Dame scored 23 points on foul shots; the Irish only scored 20 points from the floor.

"There were a number of things [that didn't go well]," Irish forward Jackie Batteast said. "A lack of intensity at the beginning of the game and we didn't come out and match the way they played."

It was senior Alicia Ratay, coupled with Severe, who led the Irish on the court. Although Batteast and Katy Flecky each added 13 points, Ratay took control of the ball to keep the score close and Severe took control of her team to keep them focused. Ratay hit six field goals and one trey on the way to a team-high 21 points.

"I knew that is was getting closer and closer and I knew I had to score," Ratay said.

The Irish will have two days off before traveling to Arizona State to face the Sun Devils on Saturday.

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