Schrader paces No. 22 Irish as they rally to down Syracuse

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame (No. 22 ESPN/USA Today, No. 23 AP) had little trouble with Syracuse after playing Connecticut tough in its previous game.

The Irish dominated inside with five players scoring in double figures, led by Lindsay Schrader who celebrated her 22nd birthday scoring 23 points and grabbing eight rebounds in a 90-79 victory Tuesday night.

The 10-point loss to UConn on Sunday gave Notre Dame renewed confidence.

"I've seen what our team can be, and that's great," Schrader said. "I think it gives me confidence going up against the No. 1 team in the nation at their place and giving them a run for their money. I think that helps us."

Irish coach Muffet McGraw said she could see a difference.

"I think that game got to us in a good way," McGraw said. "I think we got a lot of positives out of it. I think we were able to come out and really from start to finish play well offensively, because that's probably what we didn't do at UConn."

Becca Bruszewski added 20 points and Erica Williamson added 18 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots as the Irish outscored the Orange 36-16 in the paint. It was just the fifth time this season the Orange have been outscored inside.

"They had to guard one or two of us and when they did, the other was open," Williamson said.

The Irish (19-7, 8-6 Big East) also scored 28 points from the free-throw line compared to 16 for the Orange. When Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman was asked about the discrepancy, he joked: "Are you trying to get me suspended?"

After thinking about it a moment longer, he added: "It was 9-0 in the first three minutes of the second half. That's going to affect any kind of play. That means you can't touch anybody for 17 minutes or they're going to shoot free throws."

Nicole Michael led the Orange (15-12, 4-10) with 17 points and Chandrea Jones had 16 points and 11 rebounds.

The Irish looked like they were going to win in a blow out, opening a 24-7 lead early. But a 13-0 run by the Orange late in the half, highlighted by a four-point play by Tasha Harris, tied the score at 36.

Notre Dame led 38-36 at halftime, then opened the second half with a 5-0 spurt. The Irish took control with a 12-4 run, opening a 57-45 lead when they made four free throws as Juanita Ward was called for a foul and a technical. The Irish extended the lead to 65-48 when Melissa Lechlitner made a pair of free throws midway through the half. The Orange never got closer than nine the rest of the way.

"We didn't feel like we could come in here and walk the ball and have a chance to win. I told our kids we needed to score 90 points to win, and they scored 90," Hillsman said.