Women's Basketball Falls to Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame pulled away with a 15-0 run in the first half and defeated Georgia Southern 85-36 Tuesday night (Nov. 25) at the Joyce Center. The Lady Eagles dropped to 3-2 overall while the 14th-ranked Fighting Irish remained undefeated at 4-0.

“They are very physical, big, and can shoot the lights out,” said Lady Eagles head coach Rusty Cram. “They are well coached team and move well.”

Georgia Southern won the tip and jumped out to a 4-2 lead on J'Lisia Ogburn’s (Dublin, Ga.) fast break layup. The junior forward led the team in the first half with six points while pulling down three rebounds.

Notre Dame proceeded on an 8-2 run to lead 10-4 at the first media timeout and quickly separated themselves from Georgia Southern with a 15-0 run which started on a Melissa Lechlitner jumper with 13:52 remaining. The junior guard led all scorers in the first period with seven. The Fighting Irish led 37-17 at the half.

The Lady Eagles had some good looks in the first half but was unable to get the shots to fall and made just 21 percent of their field goals in the half. The Lady Eagles did win the first half rebounding battle with 18 boards.

Notre Dame continued its hot shooting in the second half and extended the lead to 30 points at the first media timeout.

The Lady Eagles continued to battle and pulled off a 15-6 run to finish the game. The run started on an Ogburn jumper with 7:01 remaining in the second half.

“I thought the girls fought hard the last eight or nine minutes,” said Cram.

Ashley McKenzie (Loganville, Ga.) scored her first points of her career at the 2:27 mark in the second half.

Notre Dame was known for forcing turnovers and forced 24 Georgia Southern turnovers. The Fighting Irish scored 37 of their 85 points off of them.

Ogburn, Ashley Rivens (Charlotte, N.C.) and Ashley Melson (Newnan, Ga.) all tied for the team lead in points with eight.

Brittany Mallory had a game high 19 points off the bench for the Fighting Irish.

The Lady Eagles return to action December 1st in Hanner Fieldhouse against Appalachian State in the conference opener at 7 p.m.

Category: Women's Basketball

Published on Tuesday, 25 November 2008 00:05