STORRS, Conn. -- Virginia Tech had an answer for Ruth Riley.
It was the rest of the Notre Dame players the Hokies couldn't
control.
|  | | Notre Dame's Kelly Siemon goes past Tere Williams on her way to 14 points and nine rebounds.
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Alicia Ratay and Kelly Siemon scored 14 points each, and reserve
center Amanda Barksdale had nine rebounds and three blocks as the
Fighting Irish cruised to a 67-49 victory in the Big East semifinal on
Monday night.
Riley, the conference player of the year, finished with two free
throws and was in foul trouble early.
"It was a bit of a rough offensive go for me," Riley said.
"They did a good job of double-teaming me, which I have faced all
year, but didn't do so well handling it tonight."
The Fighting Irish, which regained the No. 1 ranking Monday,
advanced to their fourth championship game since joining the
conference six years ago. They'll play Connecticut, which beat
Rutgers 94-66, in the championship game. A leak in the roof at
Gampel Pavilion delayed play for 90 minutes midway through the
game.
The Irish (28-1) have lost all three finals to Connecticut,
which moved up to No. 2.
The top-seeded Irish hit just two of their first 10 shots. Tere
Williams put Virginia Tech (21-8) up quickly with six consecutive points and the Hokies led 6-2 with 15:56 left in the first half. It
would be their last lead of the game.
Notre Dame then made its next four shots to start the run and
had a 36-17 lead at the break.
"Offensively, I'm surprised we struggled so much," Tech coach
Bonnie Hendrickson said. "When your three leading scorers are
3-for-30 when you go into the locker room, it is a bad night."
Tech struggled against the Irish zone and were forced to hurry
shots to beat the clock. The Hokies shot just 17 percent in the
first half and finished with 17-for-64 shooting for 27 percent.
"We went to the zone to see how it looked and it looked good.
We decided to stay with it," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said.
"It has been our best defense all year long and we did a good job
of doubling down."
Riley got in foul trouble early and sat out most of the second
half. The Hokies closed to 15 at 40-15 with 18:18 left in the
second half with 3-pointers from Lisa Guarneri and Sarah Hicks and
a bucket from Williams. Riley picked up her third foul and the
Hokies saw an opening.
The Irish countered with a 6-0 run, getting four points from
Niele Ivey, and Barksdale rejected any notion of a comeback with
two quick blocks. Siemon also nine rebounds a piece.
The Fighting Irish were coming off an 89-33 quarterfinal victory
over Georgetown, which set a tournament record for largest margin
of victory.
"Obviously the Big East (tournament) is something we hope to do
well in and we are excited were are playing tomorrow," Siemon
said.
Williams led Virginia Tech with 15 points and seven boards.
"We couldn't make shots and we were getting good looks,"
Williams said. "I just couldn't finish. I had good looks and even
on Ruth and made a move on her, but couldn't finish the shot." Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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