January 13, 2001

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The third-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame jumped out to a 19-4 lead at the outset and never looked back in defeating the Virginia Tech Hokies 75-55 here Saturday afternoon. The victory extended the nation's second longest active home court winning streak to 31 games.

Notre Dame (16-0, 5-0) shot 58.6 percent (17-29) from the field in the first half to build a 45-27 advantage at intermission which proved to be too much for the Hokies to overcome. Tech (10-5, 1-3) shot only 32.3 percent (10-31) in the opening half and finished the game shooting just 34.5 percent (20-58) for the afternoon.

The Irish placed four players in double figures led by Ericka Haney and Alicia Ratay with 17 points each. All-American center Ruth Riley, who scored 27 points in Notre Dame's 75-64 win on Jan. 3 in Blacksburg, was held to 14 points followed by Niele Ivey's ten point effort. Ratay also had ten rebounds while Ivey handed out eight assists.

Virginia Tech's only player in double figures was Chrystal Starling with 11 points off the bench including three treys.

Notre Dame ended any hopes of a Virginia Tech second half comeback with a 24-10 run to build its largest lead at 75-44 with 6:54 remaining on a three-pointer by Ratay. Those were to be the last points the Irish would score on the afternoon as Tech closed the game with an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to it's final margin.

Virginia Tech plays at Boston College on Wednesday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. and will be in search of its first BIG EAST road win.