Notre Dame 90, Connecticut
75
ST. LOUIS (AP) – When
all looked hopeless, Notre Dame found a way to extend its season for
one last game.
Down 16 points in the first
half, its point guard in foul trouble and All-American center Ruth Riley
neutralized, Notre Dame stormed back to beat Big East rival Connecticut
90-75 Friday night to earn a berth in the women’s national championship
game.
It was the largest comeback
in a game at the women’s Final Four.
The Irish got 21 points from
St. Louis native Niele Ivey in a balanced offense and denied the defending
champions a return to the title game. Instead, it will be an all-Indiana
final with Notre Dame meeting Purdue on Sunday night.
"She’s so tough,"
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. "She’s so happy about
playing in St. Louis one more round, and so am I."
Purdue, which lost to Notre
Dame 72-61 on Dec. 9, advanced with an 81-64 victory over Southwest
Missouri State.
Alicia Ratay added 20 points
for Notre Dame and Riley, limited to two shots and two points in the
first half, finished with 18. Erika Haney added 15 points and 10 rebounds.
"The second half is
definitely what we wanted to do," McGraw said.
It certainly looked more
like the team McGraw had seen all season. But it was tense for a while.
Notre Dame (33-2) never led
until Ratay hit a 3-pointer with UConn’s Diana Taurasi in her face,
making it 61-59 with 12:37 left. Connecticut (32-3) led twice after
that, the last time at 65-63 on Tamika Williams’ reverse layup
with 10:30 remaining.
Then the Huskies went cold
and Notre Dame kicked it in.
Ratay hit a jumper, Ivey
sank two free throws and Ratay – the nation’s most accurate
3-point shooter at 54 percent – hit another from behind the arc.
That made it 70-65.
Ivey’s steal set up
two free throws by Jeneka Joyce, Riley scored on a putback and then
sank a free throw. When Haney made two free throws, Notre Dame had scored
14 straight points, the lead was 77-65 and the Irish were on their way
to the title game.
Connecticut went more than
five minutes without scoring, finally ending its drought when Taurasi
hit a free throw with 5:24 left. Sue Bird made a 3-pointer 35 seconds
later, but it was too little, too late.
Notre Dame got a scare when
Ivey, the point guard, grabbed her left ankle in pain while scrambling
for a loose ball. But she stayed in the game and directed the Irish
down the stretch. After getting three fouls in the first half, Ivey
did not pick up another.
It was the rubber match between
the two after each won on the other’s court. Connecticut had won
the most recent game, 78-76 in the Big East championship. Notre Dame
will gladly trade that for this one.
Sue Bird led Connecticut
with 18 points, while Kelly Schumacher scored 12 and grabbed 17 rebounds
– one short of the record for a national semifinal. The Huskies
shot only 33.8 percent and were 6-for-30 from 3-point range.
Taurasi, a freshman, had
become Connecticut’s go-to player after injuries sidelined All-Americans
Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph. But her shot wasn’t there Friday
night. She scored only four points on 1-for-15 shooting before fouling
out with 1:24 left and was fighting back tears as the final seconds
ticked off.
Connecticut led by 12 at
halftime and went up 52-37 on Bird’s 3-pointer at the start of
the second half. But the Huskies made only four baskets in the next
9:20 and Notre Dame put together a 24-7 run that included seven points
by Haney to finally take the lead.
"I don’t think
we could have played better than we did in the first half," Connecticut
coach Geno Auriemma said. "It all fell apart for us in the second
half. You hope it doesn’t happen, but it happened."
Previously, the largest comeback
came in the 1997 semifinals when Old Dominion rallied from 15 down to
beat Stanford.
Fouls frustrated both teams
in the first half, though Connecticut got through it much better than
the Irish.
Auriemma constantly shuffled
players in and out as the Huskies were whistled for 11 first-half fouls,
many of the calls drawing an incredulous look from Auriemma.
Taurasi sat out the final
5:58 of the half after getting her third foul. Backup guard Kennitra
Johnson was charged with three fouls while playing only eight minutes.
Notre Dame had to finish
the half with both Riley and Ivey on the bench – not a good combination
for a team with little depth. Riley sat the last 6:35 and Ivey the final
2:32.
The Irish were still in it
when Ivey went out, trailing 39-31. Connecticut then scored eight quick
points, including two baskets by little-used freshman Maria Conlon.
Conlon hit a 3-pointer to
make it 42-31 and dropped in a running scoop shot on the break less
than a minute later. She was fouled and sank the free throw to complete
the three-point play for a 47-31 lead.
Jeneka Joyce and Ratay each
hit a 3-pointer to draw the Irish to 49-37 at halftime and keep them
within striking distance. As it turned out, they were close enough and
Notre Dame fans chanted, "One more game, one more game" as
they celebrated the victory.
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