Notre Dame Leads Syracuse, 26-14, at Halftime of Regular-Season Finale
3/1/2004 12:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame junior Jacqueline Batteast leads all scorers with eight points and the Irish are up on the Syracuse women's basketball team, 26-14, at halftime of SU's regular-season finale at the Joyce Center. Sophomore Jill Norton is pacing the Orange with six points, including SU's only three-pointer.
The Orangewomen struggled through their worst shooting half of the season, making just 5-of-30 (16.7 percent) of their shots from the floor, and 1-of-12 (8.3 percent) from three-point range. Senior Julie McBride has four points, and freshman Tracy Harbut and junior Rochelle Coleman each have two points. Syracuse is outrebounding Notre Dame, 22-20, and has 10 offensive rebounds.
Harbut scored the first field goal of the game at the 15:09 mark to tie the score at 2-2. Norton hit a jumper to make the score 10-8 in favor of Notre Dame with 10:06 on the clock, then SU went 4:40 without a field goal. Notre Dame went on a 7-2 run during that stretch with Batteast scoring all of the Irish's points.
The Orangewomen's postseason fate has largely been determined. Syracuse will be the 12th seed in the BIG EAST Tournament in Hartford beginning March 6. The Orangewomen will play the first game of the first session versus the yet to be determined fifth seed.
SU's last game marked the final home appearance for SU senior Julie McBride. McBride went out with a flourish, scoring a game-high 22 points in a 59-52 loss to ARV/#24 Boston College. McBride passed the 400-point plateau for the third consecutive season becoming the first Orangewoman ever to accomplish that feat. Junior forward Sarah Wegrzynowicz and junior center Chineze Nwagbo each chipped in with 10 points against the Eagles. SU held a 30-27 advantage on the glass, marking the first time SU has outrebounded its opponent since a November 30 win against Navy. Boston College won the game from the foul line, converting 21-of-26 free throws in the second half, including 11-of-12 in the final three and one-half minutes.
McBride is closing out the most productive career in Syracuse women's basketball history. She is the Orangewomen's all-time leader in points (1,585), scoring average (14.3), assists (572), assist average (5.2), three-pointers (229), free throws (346), minutes played (3,886) and minutes played average (35.0). She also ranks among the Orangewomen's all-time top 10 in field goals (5th, 505), three-point percentage (5th, 32.9), free throw percentage (5th, 77.2), steals (8th, 196), games played (t-9th, 111) and games started (4th, 91).
This season, McBride leads the team and ranks third in the conference at 16.8 points per game. She is also the Orangewomen's top distributor at 4.5 assists per contest, good for sixth in the BIG EAST. McBride has scored 20-or-more points 10 times this season, including a school-record four games with at least 30 points.
Freshman Lauren Kohn has been SU's second-leading scorer for most of the season. Kohn is scoring 8.4 points per contest. Despite the first scoreless game of her career against Boston College, her 210 points are the 13th most ever by an SU freshman, eight shy of passing Janice Long (1983-84) for 12th place. Kohn is tied for the team lead in three-pointers with McBride at 51, the eighth-best single-season total in school history.
Nwagbo has shown signs of waking up from her recent offensive slump. After scoring at least 13 points in the Orangewomen's first six league games, Nwagbo went six straight games without reaching double figures, including two scoreless outings. However, she has bounced back with two double-digit efforts in her last three games. For the season, she is SU's third-leading scorer at 7.9 points per game, and leads the team in rebounding at 6.1 per contest.
While the first matchup sent the Orangewomen into its current losing streak, the Fighting Irish have used the win to spark a stretch of nine wins in 11 games. The Irish sufferd a 69-55 loss at Rutgers on Saturday.
All-BIG EAST performer Jacqueline Batteast continues to pace the Irish with 15.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. In conference play, she has increased both of those averages to 15.5 and 8.7. Megan Duffy, UND's candidate for the BIG EAST Most Improved Player Award, is averaging 11.0 points per game and leads the team with 44 three-pointers and a 43.6 percent accuracy rate from deep. Duffy also leads the Fighting Irish with 119 assists (4.4/game). Courtney LaVere (9.0), Le'Tania Severe (7.2) and Teresa Borton (6.3) are all scoring more than six points per game.
Notre Dame has been effective outside the three-point line, both offensively and defensively. The Irish are shooting 38.1 percent from deep, second-best in the BIG EAST. On the other end, Notre Dame is limiting opponents to just 26.6 percent from three, the stingiest three-point percentage in the conference.
Notre Dame holds a 15-2 all-time advantage versus the Orangewomen, including an 11-0 mark in BIGEAST regular-season play. The Orangewomen are 0-7 all-time at the Joyce Center. SU defeated the Fighting Irish in the quarterfinals of the BIGEAST Tournament in 2002, snapping a 12-game losing streak to UND.
