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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- It's not that Notre Dame did everything
right. It's more that George Washington did almost everything
wrong.
The Colonials were able to get Irish All-American center Ruth
Riley into foul trouble early but did little else right in losing to Notre Dame (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today, No. 5 AP) 95-60 Sunday night in the Mideast Regional second round.
|  | | Julie Henderson attempts to drive the lane while George Washington's Petra Dubovcova tries to stop her. |
George Washington had its worst shooting performance of the
season, a horrid 17-of-60 from the field, committed 19 turnovers
and sent the Irish (27-4) to the free throw line 45 times.
"We were getting good looks in the first half, but we started
pressing and kept missing and it just snowballed," George
Washington coach Joe McKeown said.
Still, Notre Dame's third trip in four years to the Sweet
Sixteen wasn't pretty. The Irish committed 25 turnovers in an ugly
game that featured 53 fouls and weren't seriously challenged after
the opening minutes with the Colonials (26-6) killing themselves.
After trailing by 18 at halftime, the Colonials made a run just
once in the second half, closing to 54-39 with 13:12 left. But the
Irish, who have often struggled with big leads, went on an 18-5 run
and just kept pouring it on. They maintained a lead around 30
points most of the final period.
"We have a goal every game not to bring them back," forward
Julie Henderson. "Our mentality is to kill them."
The Colonials struggled from the beginning, hitting three of
their first 22 shots. But with Riley in foul trouble early,
Danielle Green took over, scoring all 16 of her points in the first
half.
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Sun.,
March 19
Notre Dame set the tone defensively in the first half, especially without
Ruth Riley, who went out at about the 13-minute mark. Danielle Green, who doesn't get a lot of publicity, just absolutely took over. Green arrived at Notre Dame with a big-time reputation as a scorer, but she has really embraced defense. Although she had 16 points in the first half, she also helped key Notre Dame's defense, which held George Washington to 27-percent shooting in the first half.
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The Irish went up 43-25 at the half after Green hit a pair of
free throws with 7.1 seconds left, Monique Hernandez stole the
inbounds pass and Henderson put back her miss before the buzzer.
"We had a good game plan. Obviously, you want to get Riley into
foul trouble, and we did," McKeown said. "Danielle Green just
killed us. The end of the first half really killed us."
Niele Ivey scored 23 points to lead the Irish, while Riley still
managed 14 points and 10 rebounds in 17 minutes. Henderson scored a
career-high 14 and Alicia Ratay had 11 for Notre Dame.
"I think we really played as a team and everyone did what they
could at that time," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. "I was
afraid we would shut down the second half and only look for Ruth."
Elisa Aguilar scored 15 to lead George Washington, while Marlo
Egleston had 13.
Notre Dame will play the winner of Monday night's game between
Tulane and Texas Tech in the Sweet Sixteen.
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ALSO SEE
Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
George Washington NCAA Team Report
Notre Dame NCAA Team Report
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