Jan. 12, 2002
Box Score
VILLANOVA, PA. - On Saturday, Jan. 12, at The Pavilion, senior point guard Mimi Riley hit a baseline jumper with four-tenths of a second remaining in the game to lift the Villanova women's basketball team to a 60-59 upset victory over defending national champion Notre Dame. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 9-5 overall and 3-1 in Big East Conference play. The Fighting Irish fall to 9-6 overall and 3-1 in conference action with Saturday's loss.
Villanova found itself down 7-2 early, just 2:43 into the contest. The `Cats would go on a 16-10 run to take their first lead of the game, 18-17, with 7:21 remaining in the half. Seeing her first playing time since breaking a bone in her right foot on Dec. 7th versus St. Joseph's, junior guard Trish Juhline came off the bench to score seven points for Wildcats during the run. Villanova would be up by as many as four points, 23-19, at the 5:29 mark of the first half, but Notre Dame outscored the Wildcats 12-2 the rest of the way to take a 31-25 advantage at intermission.
Juhline led Villanova with 12 points in the opening half, on four-of-nine shooting from the field and three-of-six shooting from three-point range. Sophomore forward Courtney Mix and senior center Stephanie Baker each had four first-half points for the Wildcats, who shot nine-of-24 (37.5 percent) from the field as a team. For the Irish, guard Alicia Ratay led the way in the first half with 15 points, shooting four-of-eight from the field and a perfect seven-of-seven from the foul line.
Notre Dame jumped out of the gate in the second half, outscoring Villanova 11-4 in the first 5:04 to take its biggest lead of the contest at 42-31. Trailing by 10 points, 44-34, at the 13:53 mark, the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run in the next 4:24 to close the gap to one point, 44-43.
The Irish came back with a 9-0 run of their own in a span of 2:15 to up the lead to double digits, 55-45, with 6:46 remaining in the contest. Five points by Juhline and a three-pointer by junior forward Katie Davis helped Villanova trim the margin to 55-53 at the 4:00 mark.
Down by the score of 59-58 with 25 seconds left in the game after a Riley layup, the Wildcats got a break. With 19 seconds remaining, sophomore guard Brandi Harris fouled Notre Dame's Kelsey Wicks giving her a one-and-one attempt. Wicks missed the front end and Villanova got the rebound. On the ensuing possession, Mix drove the lane and missed an eight-foot running one-hander, however the ball went out of bounds off of the Irish with 2.6 seconds left. After a Wildcat timeout, Juhline inbounded the ball to Riley, who made the dramatic game-winning basket.
The Wildcats had four players score in double figures in the game. Juhline led the way with 19 points, as she shot six-of-14 from the floor and four-of-nine from three-point range. Riley and Davis scored 12 points apiece for Villanova, while Mix added 11 points, seven boards and four assists.
For Notre Dame, Ratay scored 22 points and had seven rebounds and four assists, while forward Jacqueline Batteast posted 14 points and five boards.
Villanova will get back into action on Wednesday, Jan. 16, traveling to Seton Hall to take on the Pirates at 7:00 p.m.
