Notre Dame women’s basketball: Balanced scoring, late run lift Irish past Rutgers

Third-ranked Notre Dame used a 12-3 run in the final minutes to knock off pesky Rutgers, 75-63, Monday night in college women’s basketball action. Skylar Diggins scored 14 points and ripped off four steals. Becca Bruszewski had 13 points for the Irish, Melissa Lechlitner contributed 12 points and four assists, Devereaux Peters scored 11 points and Lindsay Schrader had 10 points and nine rebounds. Khadijah Rushdan scored 16 points to lead Rutgers, and Myia McCurdy added 14 points. Notre Dame (20-1 overall, 7-1 Big East) returns home to play Pitt on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. EST. Rutgers, its NCAA hopes in jeopardy, is 12-10 overall and 4-4 in the Big East. Rutgers closed to two points at 52-50, but the Irish run moved them ahead, 64-53. Diggins started the run with a pull-up jumper and added a driving layup to put the Irish up five. Ashley Barlow connected on a critical 3 to make it a seven-point Irish lead at 60-53. A pair of free throws by Lechlitner and two more by Peters made it 64-53, and the Irish were in command. Notre Dame owned a 31-23 lead at halftime. The Irish used a 10-0 run to break away and led by as many as 12 points, 29-17. But the Irish shooting touch vanished in the final minutes of the first half, as Notre Dame only hit two of its last 13 shots of the first half.