Notre Dame Struggles but Still Defeats Trojans

Nothing came easy for Notre Dame against USC.

The 13th-ranked Fighting Irish turned the ball over 20 times, struggled from the free-throw line down the stretch and scored in spurts, yet still managed to beat the 24th-ranked Trojans, 73-62, Sunday at South Bend, Ind.

“We’d kind of like to have one where it just looked good and felt good the whole game,” Irish Coach Muffet McGraw said. “But I think that’s the way it’s going to be for us this year.”

McGraw was most pleased that the Irish didn’t let the mistakes get them down.

“In the end, when we just couldn’t make a free throw. We had possessions where we couldn’t make a rebound, I thought we just kept battling,” she said. “I think that was one of the turning points for this young team. I think one of our worries was that when they made a lot of mistakes they might put their heads down.”

The Trojans trailed, 63-60, with 3:11 left, but were one for nine from the field the rest of the way. The drought included two air balls, and missed front ends of two one-and-ones.

The Irish (4-0) pulled away despite missing six straight free throws in the final minutes. Lindsay Schrader drove end-to-end for a layup to give the Irish a 65-60 lead and start the decisive run. Megan Duffy, who had 19 points, followed with a layup off one of her six steals.

Chloe Kerr led USC with 15 points and 11 rebounds. USC (2-2) shot just 31.9%.

“If we could have shot around 36%, who knows?” USC Coach Mark Trakh said.

No. 1 Duke 69, Auburn 37 -- Monique Currie and Abby Waner each scored 14 points to help Duke (5-0) win its tournament at Durham, N.C.

Marita Payne and Whitney Boddie led Auburn (3-2) with 10 points apiece.

No. 4 Ohio State 75, Western Illinois 36 -- Jessica Davenport had 20 points and 11 rebounds for Ohio State (3-0) in the Buckeye Classic championship game at Columbus, Ohio.

Zane Teilane led Western Illinois (3-1) with 12 points.

No. 5 Baylor 74, Marshall 47 -- Sophia Young scored 22 points in 21 minutes in the Caribbean Classic game at Cancun, Mexico, and Baylor (6-0) extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 26 games

Reshundra Smiley led Marshall (2-2) with 11 points.

No. 8 Connecticut 85, Cleveland State 51 -- Ann Strother and Mel Thomas each scored 19 points to lead Connecticut at Cleveland. The Huskies (5-0) used a 34-8 run late in the first half and early in the second to rout the Vikings (2-2).

No. 15 Stanford 66, No. 14 Texas Tech 63 -- Brooke Smith scored 21 points at Lubbock, Texas as the Lady Raiders (1-4) lost their third in a row.

Texas Tech’s LaToya Davis had a chance to tie it at 64 with 2.2 seconds remaining but missed the first of two free throws. On Davis’ second attempt, Erin Grant got the rebound for Stanford (3-1) and was fouled.

No. 17 DePaul 76, Wisconsin 57 -- Khara Smith had 24 points and 10 rebounds to help DePaul win the Rainbow Wahine Classic at Honolulu. DePaul (5-0) used a 15-2 run to extend a three-point halftime lead and put the game out of reach for Wisconsin (4-1).

No. 21 Temple 81, Hampton 38 -- Candice Dupree scored 20 points and had four blocked shots to lead Temple at Hampton, Va. Kamesha Hairston added 16 points for Temple (5-0). Hampton is 0-4.