Nov. 19, 2008

Box Score

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Ashley Barlow scored 19 points and No. 15 Notre Dame's defense forced 31 turnovers in a 96-61 victory over Evansville on Wednesday night.

Becca Bruszewski added a career-high 18 points in the home opener for the Irish (2-0). Ashley Austin, Anaris Sickles and Ashlee Barrett each scored 10 points to lead Evansville (1-1).

Evansville had eight turnovers in the first 8 minutes, and Notre Dame used a 15-3 run early in the first half to jump out to a 27-10 lead. The Irish increased their lead to 22 points with 7:20 left in the half following an 11-0 run. The Purple Aces had 16 turnovers in the first half, and Notre Dame increased its 49-31 halftime lead to 30 points with 6:55 to play after a 13-2 run.

POST GAME NOTES: Notre Dame wins its home opener for the 14th consecutive year (coinciding exactly with its membership in the BIG EAST Conference) and improves to 24-8 (.750) all-time in Joyce Center lidlifters ... the Irish move to 25-2 (.926) against the current Missouri Valley Conference alignment, including a 12-1 (.923) record at home; the Irish also are 16-1 against current MVC schools in the Muffet McGraw era (1987-88 to present) ... Notre Dame stretches its series lead over Evansville to 19-1 (10-0 at home) in its first game against the Purple Aces since Feb. 12, 1994 (an 89-62 Irish win in Evansville) ... Notre Dame's 96 points also were a series high-water mark, three more than in its 93-48 victory on Jan. 20, 1994, at the Joyce Center ... the Irish added to their ongoing totals when leading at halftime (147-14, .913, since the start of the 2000-01 season) and scoring at least 80 points (115-4, .966, beginning with the 1995-96 campaign) ... Notre Dame now has won 72 of its last 78 non-conference home games (.923) ... in just her second career start, sophomore forward Becca Bruszewski tossed in a career-high 18 points (7-9 FG), including a pair of first-half three-pointers after going 1-for-2 from distance her entire freshman year ... sophomore guard Brittany Mallory dished out a career-high six assists without a turnover in 20 minutes ... the Irish had five double-figure scorers for the first time this season; they were 9-0 in such games last year ... in the sisterly battle between Irish freshman guard Natalie Novosel and UE senior center Shannon Novosel, "big sis" narrowly edged out a lead in the points (7-6) and rebounding (5-3) columns, while Natalie held the upper hand in assists (4-1); Shannon played 22 minutes, while Natalie saw 21 minutes of action.