Media Day 00 Notes
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Sports Information Office University of Notre Dame 112 Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN 46556 www.und.com NOTRE DAME 219-631-7516 219-631-7941 FAX WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 2000-01 Schedule/Results (32-2, 15-1) 2001 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship November Game No. 35 National Semifinal 5 Sun. Ohio All-Stars (exh.) W, 91-56 14 Tues. Finnish Select (exh.) W, 98-53 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (32-2) vs. Connecticut Huskies (32-2) 17 Fri. at Valparaiso W, 71-46 20 Mon. Arizona W, 95-65 The Date and Time: Friday, March 30, 2001, at approximately 8:30 p.m. CST. 22 Wed. at #19 Wisconsin # W, 83-56 24 Fri. vs. #6 Georgia # (ESPN) W, 75-73 The Site: Savvis Center (22,000) in St. Louis, Mo. 27 Mon. Fordham W, 89-44 Television: ESPN national telecast with Mike Patrick (play-by-play), Ann Meyers (analyst), December Michele Tafoya (sideline), Pam Ward (sideline) and Tim Corrigan (producer). 3 Sun. vs. North Caro. % (ESPN2) W, 78-55 Radio: All Notre Dame games are broadcast on WHLY-AM (1620 in South Bend) with Sean 6 Wed. Villanova * W, 64-33 Stires (play by play). This live broadcast also is available through the Notre Dame athletic 9 Sat. #6 Purdue W, 72-61 18 Mon. Western Michigan W, 84-54 department web site at www.und.com. 21 Thurs. at Marquette W, 75-56 Websites: Notre Dame (www.und.com), Connecticut (www.uconnhuskies.com). 28 Thurs. at USC W, 70-61 31 Sun. Rice W, 80-40 TONIGHT'S GAME January Seeded first in the Midwest Region of the NCAA tournament, the Notre Dame women's basketball team 3 Wed. at Virginia Tech * W, 75-64 advanced to its second NCAA Final Four in five years with a 72-64 victory over third-seeded Vanderbilt 6 Sat. #9 Rutgers * (BETV) W, 67-46 on Monday in the NCAA Midwest Regional Final at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo. The Irish improved 9 Tues. at St. John's * W, 84-49 to 2-0 in regional finals and will meet East Regional champion Connecticut for the third time this season 13 Sat. Virginia Tech * (BETV) W, 75-55 in the second semifinal in a matchup of the only top-seeded teams to reach the Final Four. 15 Mon. #1 Connecticut * (ESPN) W, 92-76 The BIG EAST regular-season co-champions split a pair of meetings earlier in the season. Third- 21 Sun. at Seton Hall * W, 72-47 ranked Notre Dame defeated top-ranked and visiting Connecticut 92-76 on Jan. 15, in the first sellout for 24 Wed. at West Virginia * W, 87-64 a women's basketball game at the Joyce Center. The next meeting pitted not only the top two teams in 31 Wed. Providence * W, 64-44 the BIG EAST but the No. 1 vs. the No. 2 teams in the February country. The second-ranked, second-seeded and host LAST IRISH GAME 3 Sat. at Boston Coll. * (BETV) W, 81-65 Huskies won the second matchup in a 78-76 victory Notre Dame 72, Vanderbilt 64 March 26, 2001 7 Wed. Pittsburgh * W, 72-58 over the top-seeded and top-ranked Irish in the final of NCAA Championship Midwest Regional Final 14 Wed. at Syracuse * W, 75-61 the BIG EAST championship. The BIG EAST is the Pepsi Center (Denver, Colorado) 17 Sat. at #11 Rutgers * L, 53-54 first conference to have a different combination of two Vanderbilt (64) 20 Tues. Miami * W, 81-43 teams qualify for the Final Four in consecutive sea- Player min fg-a 3fg-a ft-a reb ast pf tp 24 Sat. Georgetown * W, 65-53 sons. Connecticut and Rutgers advanced to the 2000 Klimesova 40 12-19 0-1 3-4 12 2 4 27 27 Tues. at Pittsburgh * W, 82-63 Benningfield 37 1-5 1-1 0-0 7 2 0 3 Final Four. Anderson 24 6-11 0-0 2-3 4 1 5 14 McElhiney 40 3-11 2-8 4-4 2 7 2 12 March The Irish won a pair of games at the NCAA Midwest Danker 35 3-10 2-5 0-0 6 6 2 8 4 Sun. vs. Georgetown ^ W, 89-33 Regional on the strength of their defense and strong Colli 10 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 0 Hager 14 0-4 0-4 0-0 1 0 0 0 5 Mon. vs. Virginia Tech ^ W, 67-49 second-half performances from regional MVP Ruth Team 3 6. Tues. at #2 Connecticut ^ (ESPN2) L, 76-78 Riley. Notre Dame held Utah to 36 percent shooting Total 200 25-60 5-19 9-11 35 20 13 64 17 Sat. Alcorn St. (NCAA first round) W, 98-49 and limited Vanderbilt to 29 percent in the second half Notre Dame (72) 19 Sat. Michigan (NCAA second round) W, 88-54 and 13 percent below its average. Two-time All-Ameri- Player min fg-a 3fg-a ft-a reb ast pf tp NCAA Midwest Regional (Denver, Colo.) Siemon 39 8-11 0-0 0-1 7 5 3 16 can Riley scored a BIG EAST season-high 32 points Riley 34 11-21 0-0 10-12 6 0 2 32 24 Sat. vs. #17 Utah (semifinals) W, 69-54 (22 of them in the second half) vs. Vanderbilt and Haney 34 2-4 0-0 0-0 6 0 3 4 26 Mon. vs. #10 Vanderbilt (final) W, 72-64 Ratay 38 7-11 3-4 0-0 5 1 0 17 scored 18 of her 24 points in the second half vs. Utah. Ivey 38 1-3 1-1 0-3 2 9 2 3 NCAA Final Four (St. Louis, Mo.) Joyce 8 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 30 Fri. vs. #1 Connecticut 8:30 p.m. Senior Kelley Siemon (11.0 pts., 6.5 rebounds) and Hernandez 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 sophomore Alicia Ratay (14.0 pts., 7.0 rebounds, 6- Barksdale 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 2 0 Team 2 10 3PT) also were named to the all-tournament team. Team 200 29-52 4-6 10-16 62 15 12 72 * indicates BIG EAST Conference game. # Coaches Vs. Cancer Challenge, Madison, Wis., Notre Dame enters the NCAA semifinals with a 32- Vanderbilt 40 24 -- 64 Notre Dame 40 32 -- 72 % Honda Elite Classic, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. 2 record and has recorded the second 30-win season in school history, surpassing the 1997 Final Four team FG Pct: Notre Dame 55.8, Vanderbilt 41.7. 3-PT FG Pct: Notre BETV - BIG EAST Television Dame 66.7, Vanderbilt 26.3. FT Pct: Notre Dame 62.5, Vanderbilt ^ BIG EAST Championship (Storrs, Conn.) (31-7, lost to Tenn.) for the most wins in a season by 818. Turnovers: Notre Dame 10, Vanderbilt 13. Blocked Shots: Notre Dame 4 (Riley 3), Vanderbilt 1. Steals: Notre Dame 5 (Ivey Bold indicates home game. All times are local. an Irish women's basketball team. Notre Dame entered 2), Vanderbilt 5 (Klimesova 2). Attendance: 8,422 NCAA FINAL FOUR MARCH 24-26, 2001 NOTRE DAME WOMEN'S BASKETBALL GAME NOTES the NCAA tournament after reaching its fourth BIG EAST championship game in six years in the conference. The Irish earned a share of their first BIG EAST regular-season with a 15-1 record. Page 2 The 26-1 regular-season record marked the best in Notre Dame history and has guaranteed the Irish of finishing the 2000-01 season with their best record in the 24-year history of the program. The fewest losses in a season came in the first year (13-4 in 1977-78), while last year's team sported the best season winning percentage (27-5 for .843). Notre Dame regained the No. 1 ranking on March 5, ASSOCIATED PRESS POLL after being ranked second the previous two weeks. The Irish were ranked first for four weeks before (March 11) its first loss on Feb. 17. All five of Notre Dame's starters average in double-figure scoring, and the Irish are led by three of Rk. Team Record Last Wk. the best players in the country at their respective positions. Senior two-time All-America center, BIG 1. Connecticut * (32) 28-2 2 EAST player-of-the-year and Naismith player-of-the-year Ruth Riley (18.4) leads the BIG EAST in 2. NOTRE DAME (5) 28-2 1 3. Tennessee (3) 29-2 3 scoring and was the only player in the top 20 of the NCAA statistical rankings for blocks (2nd at 3.0) 4. Georgia * 26-5 4 and field-goal percentage (4th at .632) according to the most recent NCAA statistics. All-America fifth- 5. Duke 28-3 5 year point guard Niele Ivey (11.8 ppg) stands 11th in the country in assists (7.1) and has scored or 6. Louisiana Tech 28-4 6 assisted on 40 percent of Notre Dame's 958 field goals. Sophomore guard Alicia Ratay (13.0) leads 7. Oklahoma 26-5 7 the nation in three-point shooting (76-139, .547). 8. Iowa State 25-5 13 9. Purdue * 26-6 9 A large part of Notre Dame's success this season also is due to the play of its other two starters, 10. Vanderbilt 21-9 10 junior Ericka Haney and senior Kelley Siemon, who returned to the lineup against Boston College 11.