Providence College Athletics
Providence College
(6-15, 1-9)
Notre Dame
(14-7, 5-5)
Balanced Effort Lifts Notre Dame Past Providence, 66-48
2/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 4, 2006
Box Score in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Courtney LaVere scored a season-high 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting to pace four Notre Dame players in double figures, as the Irish pulled away from Providence late in the first half and posted a 66-48 BIG EAST Conference win over the Friars Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 6,800 at the Joyce Center.
Junior forward Shauna Snyder was the lone double-figure scorer for Providence, tallying 14 points, nine coming in the first half. Senior forward/center Gayle Nwafili grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for the Friars, who were held to a .283 field goal percentage, including a .188 mark (6-of-32) in the second half.
LaVere knocked down all four of her shots in the first half before her only miss of the day came 30 seconds into the second half. She then made her final five shots en route to her second consecutive double-digit outing and eighth of the season. Megan Duffy added 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Charel Allen and Breona Gray chipped in with 10 points apiece for Notre Dame, which won its second consecutive game and improves to 14-7 on the season (5-5 in BIG EAST play).
Notre Dame scored seven of the first 10 points in the contest, before PC came back with a 7-2 run of its own to take a brief 10-9 lead. However, Allen canned a three-pointer on the next Irish possession to put the hosts back ahead, and after a Snyder jumper tied the game, LaVere gave Notre Dame the lead it would never relinquish on a jumper at the 14:26 mark.
LaVere's basket ignited a 16-6 Irish run that also included four points from Melissa D'Amico. Gray capped the charge with her second three-pointer of the day for a 28-18 Notre Dame lead with 7:16 left before halftime.
Providence (6-15, 1-9) came back with five consecutive points on a triple by Ashley Etheridge and a jumper by Nwafili. The Irish then scored 11 of the last 16 points in the period, taking their largest lead just before the intermission at 39-28.
Notre Dame then put the game on ice with a stout defense that was the catalyst in a 22-7 run early in the second half. The Irish forced PC into three shot clock violations and LaVere scored eight points in the spurt, ending with a layup that produced a 62-37 lead with 7:57 to play. Notre Dame was able to clear its bench shortly thereafter, and although the Irish did not post a field goal over the final 6:15, they also limited the Friars to a single bucket in that time (Chelsea Marandola's layup with 22 seconds left).
Providence returns home Tuesday for a 7 p.m. (ET) BIG EAST matchup with West Virginia at Alumni Hall/Mullaney Gymnasium in Providence, R.I. That game will be televised by Cox Sports.
