Riley Shoots Notre Dame Past Providence

Ruth Riley scored a school-record 41 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead seventh-ranked Notre Dame to its eighth consecutive victory, a 97-59 Big East Conference win over Providence Saturday night at Providence, R.I.

Riley made 18 of 22 shots and five of seven free throws, helping Notre Dame (17-2, 9-2 Big East) to its best start in school history.

Riley scored 26 points in the first half as Notre Dame held Providence (3-16, 2-10) to 29% shooting and took a 51-34 halftime lead.

Riley broke the record of 40 points set by Katryna Gaither against Ohio University on Nov. 29, 1996. Riley’s 18 field goals also broke Gaither’s single-game record of 17.

“It’s a great honor to have that record,” Riley said. “My sister was at the game the night [Gaither] scored 40. When she told me about it, I said, ‘Forty points in a college game? That’s awesome.’ ”

Even without playing the final 9:15, Riley fell just a point short of the Big East single-game record of 42 points, set by Cozette Ballantine of St. John’s against Providence on Feb. 13, 1991.

Riley’s previous career-high, 36 points, also came against Providence--at South Bend on Jan. 10 in a 79-56 Notre Dame victory.

“She is so strong and supplements that with her great soft touch,” Providence Coach Jim Jabir said. “We couldn’t move her and we couldn’t double-down quick enough.

“She is a fundamentally tough athlete to defend.”

Chrissy Vozab scored 11 points for Providence, which has lost eight of its last nine.

Sheila McMillen and Danielle Green added 14 and 13 points, respectively, for Notre Dame.

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Betty Lennox scored 21 points and fellow reserve Takeisha Lewis had 20 as No. 3 Louisiana Tech (17-2, 3-0) cruised to a 110-50 victory over New Orleans (8-10, 1-3) at Ruston, La., for its 50th consecutive regular-season win in the Sun Belt Conference. . . .Becky Hammon had 36 points, seven rebounds and six assists to lead No. 6 Colorado State (22-1, 7-0) to a 91-55 Western Athletic Conference victory against Nevada Las Vegas (11-7, 3-4) at Fort Collins, Colo.

Julie Lake made 15 of 16 free throws and finished with 21 points as No. 10 Texas Tech (19-2, 8-1) cruised to a 65-42 Big 12 victory over Baylor (11-9, 3-5) at Lubbock, Tex. . . . Tasha Pointer scored 18 points as No. 13 Rutgers (18-4, 10-1)--rebounding from a one-point loss three days earlier to fifth-ranked Connecticut--earned a 61-48 Big East victory over Villanova (9-10, 5-6) at Piscataway, N.J.

No. 16 Iowa State (15-3, 7-1) used its height for a 44-33 rebounding advantage over Missouri (9-9, 2-6) in an 80-54 Big 12 victory at Columbia, Mo. . . .Kristi Rohr of No. 25 UC Santa Barbara (15-3, 6-0) scored 21 points in an 85-59 Big West victory over UC Irvine (8-11, 4-4) at Irvine.