Sunday, March 25, 2012

2012 NCAA Tournament In-Game Notes: #1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs #5 St. Bonaventure Bonnies

2012 NCAA Tournament: Notre Dame, Maryland advance to Elite 8 meeting in Raleigh


The #1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the #2 Maryland Terrapins advanced on to an Elite 8 match-up after beating the #5 St. Bonaventure Bonnies and the #3 Texas A&M Aggies respectively at the Raleigh Regional of...

St. Bonaventure Bonnies warming up to face the Fighting Irish - Peter Koutroumpis, PKS Consulting LLC

The Leprechaun - Peter Koutroumpis, PKS Consulting LLC
The top-seeded Notre Dame Fighting  Irish tip off against the fifth-seeded St. Bonaventure Bonnies during the two teams' first-ever meeting at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C. in the second game of the Raleigh Regional of the 2012 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Tournament.

The Bonnies are playing in their first-ever Sweet 16 game.

Winner will meet the #2 Maryland Terrapins, 81-74 winners over the defending NCAA champions, the #3 Texas A&M Aggies, on Tuesday night in the Elite 8 match-up that will determine which team will advance out of the Raleigh Regional and on to the Final Four in Denver, Colo.

In-Game notes:

1st half:
  • Notre Dame scores the first bucket of the game with Devereaux Peters getting the score
  • St. Bonaventure answers back with a layup from Doris Ortega and the game is tied 2-2 early on
  • After a FT the Fighting Irish's Kayla McBride scores - Notre Dame leads 5-2
  • The Irish continue to build on the lead with consecutive scores while the Bonnies try to settle into the game
  • Just under five minutes of play in and Notre Dame leads 13-2
  • Both teams struggling to score as the score has remained the same for over five minutes
  • Shooting percentage for both teams - Notre Dame (32%) / St. Bonaventure (10%)
  • Notre Dame finally scores first basket with 10:19 remaining - Novosel gets fouled on the play and scores another - Irish lead 16-2
  • St. Bonaventure scores its first basket in over nine minutes of play since the game started - Ortega again with a FT - Notre Dame leads 16-5 with 8:56 to go
  • Game pace has definitely slowed as Notre Dame can't get any rhythm to its offense but the Bonnies are hitting as many as they need to
  • Skylar Diggins scores her first two points of the game - both on FT's with under eight minutes to play
  • McBride scores on a lauyp and the Fighting Irish are up 21-5 with under seven minutes to play
  • Ortega score again for the Bonnies and McBride drops another jumper - 25-7 Fighting Irish lead with 5:53 to play
  • Brittany Mallory doing a great job off shutting off Bonnies' top scorer, Jessica Jenkins - no points scored and 0-4 from the field
  • Natalie Ochownwa takes two FT's and scores them both
  • McBride answers with a rebound and layup
  • Ortega fronts up Peters and score antoher two - has scored seven of Bonnies' nine points - trail Notre Dame 29-9 with 2:52 remaining
  • McBride adds two the the score and then Diggins scores her first FG of the game - Fighting Irish lead 33-9 with 1:58 to play
  • Diggins misses an uncontested layup and the Bonnies come the other way
  • A FT gets the Bonnies another point - trailing 33-10
  • Diggins controls the ball and dribble-drives and pull up to hit a jumper that goes in
  • As time in the half is running out, the Bonnies' CeCe Dixon let's a long three-pointer go from the top of the arc that banks off the glass, hits the front of the rim and in
 Score at the half: Notre Dame 35, St. Bonaventure 13


Interesting notes at the half:

Notre Dame: shooting 43% - leading scorer - Kayla McBride - 10 points

St. Bonaventure: shooting 18% - leading scorer - Doris Ortega - 7 points

2nd half:

  • Notre Dame on an 8-0 run and now leading 43-13 with 15:53 remaining
  • Bonnies can't penetrate Fighting Irish defense in the paint while Notre Dame is not perfect but scoring to extend lead to 30 points
  • Diggins scores another layup on a Bonnies turnover with an assist from Peters
  • The Bonnies score - still trail by 30  points 45-15 with under 14 minutes to play
  • Ortega gets fouled and shoots FT's - scores them both
  • Notre Dame gets three points from Kaila Turner and back-to-back layups from McBride and Novesel who gets fouled - she drops the extra shot
  • Bonnies continue to struggle from the field shooting 15% while Notre Dame is hitting at a 49% success rate
  • Notre Dame leading 57-17  and will likely become the first team to score over 70 points on the Bonnies - 11:28 to go
  • Turner hits another three-pointer  and Anchowna hits one of her own to extend the lead to 64-21 with 8:30 to go
  • Bonnies get a basket from  Dixon and the Fighting Irish lead by 41 with 7:58 left
  • Notre Dame scores another few from the field and Dixon scores two FT's and is followed up by a layup from Armelia Horton - trail Notre Dame 68-30
  • Turner hits another three-pointer - lead is now 71-30 with 3:33 to go
  • Bonnies scoring more points in the last two minutes as they trail 75-35 with 1:15 to play
  • Notre Dame scores another two  as the Bonnies fight to score one of their last baskets of the season - but miss
  • Notre Dame with the ball and Miller scores
  • Bonnies turn it over and the Fighting Irish hold onto the ball as time runs out
Final score: Notre Dame 79, St. Bonaventure 35


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