SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- Another basketball winning streak came crashing down at Notre Dame, this time on the women's side.
|  | | Tamika Williams, Kelly Schumacher, Shea Ralph and Diana Taurasi didn't like what they saw over the final minutes of their loss Monday. |
Responding to the largest home crowd in school history, No. 3 Notre Dame beat No. 1 Connecticut 92-76 Monday to end the Huskies' 30-game winning streak and hand UConn its worst loss in more than seven years.
The Irish played almost perfectly on a momentous day in the same building where the Notre Dame men ended UCLA's 88-game winning streak with a 71-70 victory on Jan. 19, 1974.
"I'm still kind of shocked," said Notre Dame guard Niele Ivey. "I think someone hit me upside my head or something. It's just a great feeling. UConn's a great team and to come out there and have a total team effort is just incredible."
In a showdown between the nation's only unbeaten Division I teams, the Irish ended an 0-for-9 drought against top-ranked teams
and defeated Connecticut for the first time in 12 tries.
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NOTRE DAME NUGGETS
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Eager to see Connecticut and Notre Dame meet up for a rematch? You'll have to wait until the Big East tournament -- if then -- as the teams scheduled just one regular-season meeting during the 2000-2001 season.
The Big East tournament will be played March 3-6. This time, Connecticut will have the "homecourt advantage" as the league tournament will be played at Gampel Pavilion on the Huskies' campus in Storrs, Conn.
Notre Dame's victory Monday included many milestones and Irish achievements. Among them:
Notre Dame, off to its best start in program history, improves to 17-0 and is the country's lone undefeated Division I women's college basketball team. By snapping UConn's 30-game winning streak, the Irish now sport the country's longest win streak.
UConn hadn't lost since falling 72-71 to Tennessee on Feb. 2, 2000. Monday marked the Huskies' first Big East loss since Boston College beat the Huskies on Jan. 23, 1999.
Monday's game marked the first sellout crowd ever for a women's college basketball at the Joyce Center, as 11,418 were on hand. The largest crowd previously for a women's game was 8,134 (against Tennessee in 1992).
Dating back to the series opener in 1996, Notre Dame had never beaten UConn. The Irish are now 1-11 all-time vs. the Huskies.
Before Monday's win, Notre Dame was 0-for-9 against a top-ranked opponent. The Irish are now 1-for-5 against UConn when the Huskies were ranked No. 1.
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Ruth Riley, showing no ill effects from a sprained ankle two days earlier against Virginia Tech, had 29 points and 12 rebounds for Notre Dame (17-0, 6-0 Big East).
When Connecticut guarded her 1-on-1, the 6-foot-5 senior simply turned and shot. When the Huskies double-teamed her, she deftly
passed the ball to an open teammate.
"I thought her presence defensively was even more important than what she did offensively, and she had 29 points," Auriemma
said. "Her presence in the lane made us a jump-shooting team."
Connecticut, second nationally in field-goal percentage, shot just 36.7 percent and tried 33 3-pointers, making only 11. Connecticut (13-1, 4-1) missed six of its first seven shots and never led in losing for the first time since Feb. 2, 2000 -- 72-71 against Tennessee. It was their first Big East loss since Boston College beat them on Jan. 23, 1999.
"We weren't getting a lot of open shots, but for some reason people got scared to take the shot at the right time," said Svetlana Abrosimova, who led Connecticut with 20 points, but did not score in the last 13½ minutes.
When Notre Dame's Imani Dunbar hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, fans rushed from the stands to join the players and cheerleaders celebrating at midcourt as the UConn players trudged dejectedly off the floor.
"I'm embarrassed personally," said Connecticut's Sue Bird. "A lot of people did come out to play on our team, but collectively, no way. We just didn't play the way we normally can, for whatever reason."
A sellout crowd of 11,418 saw Notre Dame win for the 32nd straight time at the Joyce Center. The largest crowd previously for
a women's game at Notre Dame was 8,134 for Tennessee on Jan. 12, 1992.
Notre Dame, which used only six players until the final 19.5 seconds, did everything it needed to win. The Irish handled Connecticut's press, shot 57 percent, stayed out of foul trouble and got inspired play from Riley and their other injured starter, Kelley Siemon.
Riley went 8-for-11 from the field, sank all 13 of her free throws, blocked five shots and frustrated Connecticut's double teams with
alert passing in finishing with four assists.
"She was better than Bill Walton today," said Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw. "She was outstanding. I think she was the best
player in the country today."
Siemon, who suffered a broken left hand against Virginia Tech, played with a protective wrap on her left hand. She made her first shot
with the injured hand and finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.
"Kelley was the catalyst for the team," McGraw said. "She really set the tone for the game. She just said, 'I don't care what's wrong with my hand, I'm playing.' She gave us an outstanding effort."
Ivey had the job of breaking Connecticut's press and did it well while scoring 14 points, handing out 10 assists and making all three of her 3-point shots.
Bird had 17 points for UConn, but starter Swin Cash had only three and Shea Ralph just two.
The Huskies got plenty of shots against Notre Dame's 2-3 zone, 79, but made only 29 for 37 percent.
It was the biggest margin of defeat for Connecticut since a 94-75 loss to Stanford on Dec. 28, 1993.
"I thought right from the opening tip, Notre Dame was better," said Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma. "In all the areas you need
to play well to win the game, I thought they outplayed us."
Notre Dame led by nine points at halftime, then fought off the Huskies after they cut the lead to 52-46 on Tamika Williams' putback with 12:39 left. The Irish answered quickly, going on a 16-4 run that included seven points by Riley to open a 68-50 lead.
Siemon started it with two free throws, then got the crowd roaring when she bobbled the ball on a breakaway to the left of the basket, threw the ball at the rim as she was stumbling out of bounds and banked it in.
Notre Dame was in control the rest of the way. UConn got the lead down to 85-76 in the final minute. But layups by Alicia Ratay and Erica Haney finished it off for the Irish.
"I think our team is surprised when somebody plays well against us," Auriemma said. "That's how immature some of our players are.
They would like to phone ahead and say, 'By the way, here we come, we would like the score to be 52-30 at halftime, so could you
please go along with that.'
"And when it doesn't go like that, we're not quite sure how to deal with it this year."
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ALSO SEE
Women's College Basketball Scoreboard
Connecticut Clubhouse
Notre Dame Clubhouse
Auriemma says Irish should be No. 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Ruth Riley makes a nice up-and-under move for two of her 29 points.
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Niele Ivey causes the turnover and goes the other way for two.
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Ruth Riley finds a slashing Kelley Siemon for the hoop and the harm.
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Kelley Siemon gathers in the Niele Ivey lead pass and scores on the fastbreak.
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Ruth Riley powers her way through the lane for the basket and the foul.
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UConn's Svetlana Abrosimova hits an open 3-pointer from the corner.
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 Muffet McGraw talks about Notre Dame's stunning upset of No.1 UConn.
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Sue Bird says UConn did not come out to play as a team against Notre Dame.
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