COLUMBIA, S.C. - Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw's Final Foul smile vanished for a second and she dead-panned:
''The only problem is our vice president, Father (William) Beauchamp says Notre Dame isn't allowed to play on Good Friday,'' McGraw said. ''But we're going to Cincinnati anyway ...''
That's because Notre Dame, the basketball team that could, earned a trip to the women's Final Four with 62-52 victory over the George Washington in the East Regional final Monday.
Notre Dame takes on Tennessee Friday at Riverfront Coliseum.
The Irish, the sixth seed in the East, will be an underdog in Cincinnati. Consider: Notre Dame is only the third team seeded lower than fourth to make the Final Four in tournament history.
When the season started, no one - even South Bend residents - gave the Irish much of a chance to get to Cincinnati. Before this season, Notre Dame had one a total of one NCAA game.
''This program has gone from no where to the Final Four,'' McGraw said.
Said ND star Beth Morgan: This is just an unbelievable feeling. It's something we dreamed about. We've been persistent and resilient this year. It's just unbelievable.''
Unbelievable when you consider Notre Dame only has eight healthy players, and one of them was a manager until January.
But Notre Dame's emergence as a Final Four team is testimony to seniors Morgan and Katryna Gaither. Both have scored 2,000 points in the their careers.
Gaither, the 6-foot-3 center, carried the Irish Monday, just as Morgan had in the semifinals.
Gaither scored 25 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. She outplayed GW's Tajama Abraham (15 points, 12 rebounds), a third-team All-American.
Gaither was named the region MVP. Morgan added 15 points annd six rebounds. Morgan had scored an East Region record 36 points to key ND's upset of No. 2 seeded Alabama in the semifinals.
The Irish (31-6) controlled the game from the start. Morgan made a three-pointer seven seconds into the game. The Irish quickly went out to a 10-2 lead.
But fifth-seeded George Washington (28-6) hung tough. The Colonials, who had won 25-of-26 games, took the lead (39-38) 8ï minutes into the second half.
But disaster struck for GW. Abraham and Noelia Gomez each picked up their fourth fouls in a 30-second span.
Abraham went to the bench, and Notre Dame went on a 12-2 run. That made it 50-41 with 6:55 to play, effectively out of reach for a GW team suffering through 31.4 percent shooting day.
''It must not have been meant to be,'' GW's Colleen McCrea said. ''We missed shoots that we've made all year.''
Notre Dame did not play anything close to a flawless game - the Irish turned the ball over 24 times - but Gaither's quickness made her difficult to guard.
''When she breaks free,'' McGraw said, ''She's too quick to guard. Katryna did a good job going to her strength.''
As a result, Notre Dame is going to Cincinnati.
Old Dominion 53, Florida 51
Tennessee 91, UConn 81
Stanford 82, Georgia 47
FINAL FOUR WEEK EVENTS
NOTRE DAME (62)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Bohman 31 3-8 2-3 2-6 4 3 8
Gaither 36 10-18 5-8 6-16 1 2 25
Peirick 25 0-4 0-0 3-9 5 4 0
Augustin 30 2-4 2-3 1-6 3 2 7
Morgan 36 5-10 4-5 0-6 0 1 15
Mcmillen 28 3-7 0-0 0-4 2 0 7
Henderson 8 0-3 0-0 0-2 0 3 0
Hutchinson 6 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 23-55 13-19 13-50 15 15 62
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Percentages: FG-.418, FT-.684. 3-Point Goals:
3-9, .333 (Peirick 0-1, Augustin 1-1, Morgan 1-4,
Mcmillen 1-3). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 3
(Peirick 2, Bohman). Turnovers: 24 (Augustin 7,
Bohman 6, Mcmillen 4, Morgan 3, Gaither 2,
Henderson, Peirick). Steals: 8 (Morgan 4,
Augustin 2, Bohman, Peirick).
GEO WASHINGTON (52)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Cermignano 38 3-13 0-0 2-5 4 2 9
Gomez 34 7-13 1-2 2-6 2 5 15
Abraham 36 7-19 1-3 3-12 0 4 15
Myers 23 2-7 0-0 1-2 4 5 4
Mccrea 35 1-7 0-3 0-1 7 1 2
Egleston 25 2-11 0-0 2-3 1 1 6
Mcglynn 2 0-0 1-2 1-1 0 1 1
Deas 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 22-70 3-10 11-30 18 19 52
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Percentages: FG-.314, FT-.300. 3-Point Goals:
5-22, .227 (Cermignano 3-11, Myers 0-1, Mccrea
0-1, Egleston 2-9). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked
shots: 6 (Abraham 6). Turnovers: 13 (Mccrea 5,
Gomez 4, Deas, Egleston, Myers). Steals: 12
(Mccrea 5, Abraham 2, Myers 2, Cermignano, Deas,
Gomez).
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Notre Dame 32 30 - 62
Geo Washington 25 27 - 52
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Technical fouls: None. A: 2,678. Officials:
Dennis Demayo, Melissa Barlow, Frank Geiselman.
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