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 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
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
NCAA Tournament news on Examiner.com
2012 NCAA Tournament: Underdog St. Bonaventure takes on top-seeded Notre Dame
Guard Skylar Diggins leads the top-seeded Notre Dame Fighting
Irish (32-3) into PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C. on Sunday when they tip-off
against the fifth-seeded St. Bonaventure Bonnies (31-3), rookies in the
Sweet 16...
2012 NCAA Tournament: Maryland ready for defending NCAA champion Texas A&M
2012 NCAA Tournament: Maryland ready for defending NCAA champion Texas A&M
Women’s college basketball fans in the Triangle may not be entirely familiar with the top-level teams that are in town to compete in the Raleigh Regional of the 2012 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament...
