No. 16 Notre Dame 99, Marquette 76

2/13/2008 9:12 PM

By TOM COYNE
AP Sports Writer

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -Tulyah Gaines got Notre Dame's defense going, then she got going offensively.

Gaines stopped Marquette's Krystal Ellis after she burned Notre Dame for 13 points in the first eight minutes. Then Gaines scored a season-high 22 points to pace the Irish offensively in a 99-76 victory on Wednesday night.

``She really did everything we needed her to do,'' coach Muffet McGraw said. ``She just played an outstanding game. Defensively she shut Ellis down. Offensively, just a great game.''

Ellis scored 13 points as Marquette (13-11, 5-6 Big East) jumped to an early 23-17 lead on 10-of-15 shooting. But the Fighting Irish (19-5, 7-3) switched to a box-and-one defense, with Gaines guarding Ellis, and went on a 21-1 run. The Golden Eagles went more than 9 minutes without a basket. Ellis had just one shot the rest of the half and finished the game with 18 points.

``Not letting her touch the ball is the best defense,'' Gaines said. ``That's what I tried to do.''

Marquette coach Terri Mitchell said it was the same defense the Golden Eagles have seen repeatedly against Big East opponents.

``We work on it. The bottom line is, if you screen and run the plays the slips will be there,'' she said. ``And when Krystal has two defenders, someone is open so we have to score.''

The only other player in double figures for the Golden Eagles was Courtney Weibel, who scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half.

Gaines was 10-of-15 shooting, repeatedly drove for layups. She said the defensive stops helped the Irish get going.

``When your defense is playing like that you get out and run,'' she said. ``I think that's what we're good at as a team.''

Marquette, which bounced back from a 19-point deficit against Cincinnati last week, trailed 45-31 at halftime. The Golden Eagles closed to 13 points early in the second half, but the Irish quickly answered with a 7-0 run.

The Irish, who led by as many as 32, didn't make a basket in the final 3:58 as they failed to become the first team in 13 years to break 100 against Marquette.

``I would have liked to see us get 100,'' said Lindsay Schrader, who scored 17 for the Irish. ``But as long as we win I don't care.''

Charel Allen added 13 points and the Irish shot a season-high 64 percent. Marquette had not allowed an opponent to shoot better than 49 percent this season.

``When you're shooting in the paint, you're really close to the paint, you're really going to shoot well,'' Mitchell said. ``We had a bad night. Notre Dame had a great night.''