Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/79478
home floor of No. 1 Baylor, led by the dominant 6-8 Brittney Griner, re- sulted in a 94-81 setback that tempo- rarily shook the Irish — who a week later found themselves trailing top-10 ranked Duke by 18 in the second half. After Notre Dame rallied to defeat the Blue Devils, a sense of normalcy returned. "As the season went by, we settled The Nov. 20 showdown on the is what we've worked hard for, to have the opportunity to play college basketball, to enjoy the college expe- rience. I think we've had a great time this year with each other and with our success, and handling our failures just the same." McGraw realizes the lights are in and got it on the ball, got it roll- ing, figured out we needed to calm down," said Diggins, who also saw her teammates pull it together last year after a 21-point loss at Connecti- cut in February. "You have to credit the coaching staff for that." "We were trying too hard to get much more intense this year than "merely" as a No. 2 last season. "The team that wasn't supposed to get to the Final Four — that made it a lot more fun," McGraw said of last season's joy ride. "This year, it will be a little more business-like." Fortunately, business has been back that championship game in ev- ery game we were playing," fifth-year senior guard Brittany Mallory admit- ted. "We realized we couldn't get it back, so we just had to kind of re- focus and look at what was happen- ing this year … and not try to win that championship game in each play that we were having in a game this year." Undefeated Baylor remains the odds-on favorite to capture the 2012 national title, but Notre Dame will be arriving with plenty of motivation. "We proved ourselves last year, but Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said her players bounced back well from an early season loss to No. 1 Baylor and have adjusted well to playing with a target on their backs. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND in the Big East Tournament — Mc- Graw was pleased with the way her squad avoided letdowns. "Coming off of the Baylor loss, I in the end we lost," senior swingman Natalie Novosel said. "There's defi- nitely a little more pressure on us, but we invite it and we're ready for it. That's what is so hard, especially as a senior. You don't want to rush the season, but we're definitely excited to finally be here." Other than the 65-63 hiccup loss at home to West Virginia Feb. 12 — which the Irish avenged with a 73-45 bloodletting against the Mountaineers balance during the 33-game regular season with Diggins (17.0), Novosel (15.0), fifth-year senior Devereaux Pe- ters (12.2) and McBride (11.6) all in double figures. The sixth woman, 6-3 sophomore The Irish had remarkable scoring TEAM BALANCE think we really learned a lot from that game," McGraw said. "We came back and played really well throughout the season. I thought we took each game individually, we focused, we had great practices all year long. I think we're used to the target on our back, and we'll expect that again." The players take their cue from the intense Diggins, who still remains even-keeled in her approach. "I think sometimes people get caught up in the numbers part of it and things like that — it's a game," said the dynamic point guard. "This Irish Advance To Sweet 16 points. The Irish raced out to an 11-0 lead in the first 1:40 and never looked back while liberally playing their bench in the second half. The game against scrappy Cal provided a stiff challenge before a 23-6 explosion by Notre Dame to start seed Cal before prevailing with a hard-fought, 73-62 victory two days later to advance to the Sweet 16. Both games were played at Purcell Pavilion, Notre Dame's home floor. In the opener, sophomore Kayla McBride made her NCAA Tournament debut with a team-high 15 the second half broke a 31-31 halftime deadlock. In their final home game, guard Natalie Novosel and center Devereaux Peters stuffed the box score. Novosel scored 28 points, converting 18 of 20 from the foul line, while adding nine rebounds and four steals. Peters tallied 11 points and paced the Irish in rebounds (14), blocked shots (seven) and assists (five). Junior point guard Skylar Diggins contributed 21 points and four assists. Notre Dame was scheduled to meet No. 5 seed St. Bonaventure on March 25 in Raleigh, N.C., with the After an opening-round, 74-43 romp versus Liberty March 18, Notre Dame was given a stern test by No. 8 booming in the Irish women's basket- ball office. center Natalie Achonwa, averaged 7.4 points and was third in rebounds with 4.2 per game, behind Peters (9.4) and McBride (4.7). Defensive main- stay Mallory averaged 5.8 points, but was second in assists (72) and third in three-point shots made (35 at a 34.1-percent clip). The real testament to Diggins' value is she handed out a whopping 189 assists (117 more than anyone else). With 11 more in the NCAA Tournament, she would become only the third player in school his- tory with 200 in a season, and the first since Irish assistant coach Niele Ivey had a record 247 for the 2001 national champs. In the first-round 74-43 romp over Liberty March 18, Diggins took only six shots, but pulled in a game-high nine rebounds and dished out a game-high six assists. "Scoring doesn't mean SHOOT," she told her 159,000-plus followers on Twitter. "I consider myself a scorer, [because] of my ability to set up my- self or another teammate with a good shot." "She does what she has to do to get winner meeting the victor of the Maryland-Texas A&M contest on March 27 for the right to go to the Final Four. The Aggies defeated the Irish, 76-70, in last year's national title game. 54 APRIL 2012 — Lou Somogyi everybody else open and get every- body else going on the team," Peters praised. "What makes us great is any- body can come out and have a great game any night because she's such a great point guard and makes sure of it." ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED