No. 14 Notre Dame 70, Seton Hall 55

3/1/2008 4:11 PM

By TOM COYNE
AP Sports Writer

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -With Notre Dame's seniors emotional in their final home game, sophomore Melissa Lechlitner remain poised.

Lechlitner hit a 3-pointer from the left corner as the shot clock buzzer sounded to slow a rally by Seton Hall, then she added two key baskets as the 14th-ranked Fighting Irish began pulling away. An assist helped cap a 12-2 run as the Irish won 70-55 Saturday.

``I really thought Melissa Lechlitner won the game for us,'' Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. ``She had some huge plays when everybody seemed to panic a little bit.''

McGraw thought her team, even some of the younger players, was a little too emotional.

``It was a lot of emotion out there - everyone trying a little too hard,'' she said.

Seton Hall coach Phyllis Mangina thought it was her team's effort that kept the Pirates in the game.

``Our kids have not given up on our season and continued to work hard,'' she said.

The victory locked up fourth place in the Big East for the Irish (23-6, 11-4). That means they get a bye in the first round of the conference tournament.

The loss knocked the Pirates (13-14, 3-12), losers of nine straight, out of the tournament. Seton Hall fell to 8-104 all-time against ranked opponents.

But the Pirates, who had lost two straight by at least 28 points, managed to put a bit of a scare into the Irish.

Notre Dame led by as many as 14 in the first half, but the Pirates closed to 36-27 at halftime when Ebonie Williams hit a 15-foot jumper with a second left. Then Nicole Emery hit a pair of 3-pointers for the Pirates to start the second half and cut the lead to 36-33.

The Irish extended the lead back to seven later when Lechlitner, who finished with 11 points and six assists, hit the 3 at the buzzer. But Emery answered with another 3 to cut Notre Dame's lead to 46-42.

The Pirates closed to 62-54 on a three-point play by Emery and another free throw by her with 1:26 left. But the Irish went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final 1:25, including Charel Allen scoring four of her 22 points, while Seton Hall went 1-of-4 and failed to make another basket.

``We had some open shots that if we bang down those shots, we keep it under eight and then you have a chance to foul and an opportunity to win the game,'' Mangina said.

Lindsay Schrader added 10 points for the Irish.

Emery led the Pirates with a career-high 23 points, 11 more than her previous high of 12 against Georgetown last season. Ebonie Williams finished with 20 points.