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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The Notre Dame players looked at coach
Muffet McGraw like she was crazy.
Foul on purpose when they were winning?
|  | | Notre Dame's Meaghan Leahy, left, reaches under teammate Kelley Siemon as she battles wih Georgia's Tiaunna Briggans for a loose ball Friday. |
But the players complied and fouled Georgia twice in the closing
seconds, disrupting the sixth-ranked Lady Bulldogs just enough for
No. 5 Notre Dame to hold on for a 75-73 victory Friday in the
championship game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Challenge.
"I don't think that's ever happened to us before," McGraw
said. "As you can see on the players' faces, when we said foul,
they were like, `No, we're winning, coach.' That's not a situation
we've worked on a lot in practice."
Notre Dame (4-0) took its two-point lead when Kelly Siemon made
the second of two free throws with 6.1 seconds remaining. Notre
Dame had four fouls to give before putting Georgia (2-2) in the
bonus, so the Irish fouled twice, forcing the Lady Bulldogs to
inbound the ball from the side with just 1.5 seconds left.
The best they could do was an off-balance, turnaround 3-point
shot by Coco Miller that hit the side of the backboard at the
buzzer, ending a back-and-forth game befitting two Top 10 teams.
"Beating a Top 10 team -- Georgia is probably a Top Five team --
really helps you see your potential," McGraw said. "We don't need
to get too excited, but it's nice to win a big game like that."
It wasn't so nice for Georgia, which is struggling to find the
right chemistry in the early going. The Lady Bulldogs' other loss
was a 29-point blowout by No. 1 Connecticut.
"It's sad when you're one deflection, one steal, one offensive
rebound, one charge away from a victory," Georgia coach Andy
Landers said. "But we don't try to make plays every possession. So
you come up short."
Ruth Riley and Niele Ivey led Notre Dame with 19 points each and
Alicia Ratay scored 16, including a jump shot over Miller that put
the Irish ahead to stay at 72-71 with 1:32 left.
Ratay then deflected a Georgia pass to Ivey, who was fouled and
sank both free throws for a 74-71 lead with 1:12 to play.
Miller's layup cut the lead to 73-74 with 33 seconds to go and
Georgia got the ball back when Ivey threw it away while being
pressed. But with the 6-foot-5 Riley blocking her path, Georgia's
Deanna Nolan lost the ball driving to the basket with 7.2 seconds
left and the Lady Bulldogs immediately fouled.
Siemon, just 2-for-8 on free throws at the time, was wide right
with an airball on her first attempt before making the second.
"Hopefully, it was just nerves, because in practice, I hit
'em," Siemon said. "I was worried about that at the end, that
they'd probably be looking to foul me. But I made the second one,
so I guess that was OK."
Siemon finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Kelly Miller led
Georgia with 18 points, Nolan scored 14 and Coco Miller 11.
Georgia, which fell behind 7-0 and 22-9, took its first lead at
46-45 on a 3-pointer by 6-5 freshman Christi Thomas. The Lady
Bulldogs built the lead to 63-57 with less than eight minutes left
before Ivey hit a 3-pointer to start an 11-0 run that pulled Notre
Dame into a 68-63 lead.
But the Lady Bulldogs rallied again and took their final lead at
71-70 on Tawana McDonald's basket with 1:58 to play.
"We could string together some reasonably good play over a
four-, five- or six-possession stand," Landers said. "But it
seems like as we did that, they didn't stop us, we came down and
did something that I wish we hadn't done."
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ALSO SEE
Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
Georgia Clubhouse
Notre Dame Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Ericka Haney passes underneath to Ruth Riley for a layup.
avi: 694 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Kiesha Brown kicks the ball out to Kelly Miller, who knocks down a jumper.
avi: 683 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Coco Miller makes a steal and takes it all the way for the hoop and a foul.
avi: 673 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Niele Ivey is all over the floor in the first half for the Irish.
avi: 1467 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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