Women's Basketball Falls To No. 2 Notre Dame
Feb. 20, 2001
By TOM COYNE
Associated Press Writer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Ruth Riley scored 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting andNotre Dame dominated inside as the second-ranked Irish rebounded from theirfirst loss with an 81-43 victory over Miami on Tuesday night.
The victory was the 400th career win for Irish coach Muffet McGraw and her312th at Notre Dame.
The Irish, who fell to No. 2 after losing 54-53 to Rutgers on Saturday, hadits most impressive performance since before it became the top-ranked team amonth ago. Notre Dame (24-1, 13-1 Big East) has won by an average of 21.1points this season, but had won by more than 20 points just twice in its lastseven games.
The 38-point margin of victory was Notre Dame’s largest since a 40-pointvictory over Rice on Dec. 31. It was Miami’s worst loss this season.
With about 4 1/2 minutes left in the game, the Irish crowd began chanting forMcGraw to put walk-on Karen Swanson in the game. McGraw obliged, sendingSwanson in to a loud cheer. She made a free throw with 64 seconds left, meaningall 12 players on the Irish roster scored in a game for the first time thisseason.
The Irish dominated inside, outscoring the Hurricanes 38-16 inside andoutrebounding them 47-33.
The Irish took control with a 10-1 run midway through the first half afterMiami closed to 19-15. Kelley Siemon started the run by making a free throw andcapped it with a fastbreak layup that gave the Irish a 29-16 lead. In between,the Hurricanes went 0-for-8.
The Irish, who led 35-21 at the half, put the game away with a 23-5 runmidway through the second half, opening a 73-37 lead.
Jeneka Joyce had 13 points and Alicia Ratay had 10 points and eightrebounds. Sheila James had 11 points to lead the Hurricanes, who shot only 28.1percent and had five air balls, including the opening shot of the game.
