Updated BIG EAST Notes

Two days after the historic men’s game between Notre Dame and Louisville, the women’s teams square off on the same court Monday night as the No. 2/3 Irish (22-1, 10-0 BIG EAST) welcome the No. 11/11 Cardinals (20-4, 8-2 BIG EAST) at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

The game will feature some of the top guards in the league as BIG EAST Player of the Year Skylar Diggins directs the Irish with team highs of 15.7 ppg, 5.7 assists and 2.8 steals. For the Cardinals, junior Shoni Schimmel leads the team in scoring at 14.1 ppg and 3.5 assists. She was a unanimous Preseason All-BIG EAST selection.

The teams do not have an overtime contest in their 12-game series history, but have each played an overtime game this season, each on Jan. 8. Notre Dame won at USF 75-71, while Louisville took down Rutgers 66-57. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 8-4, including a 5-2 edge in BIG EAST regular-season matchups. It is the 10th matchup between top-25 teams in BIG EAST play this season.

Keep An Eye On February 9, 2014

The longest women’s basketball regular-season game was a triple-overtime thriller that saw Georgetown beat Miami on Feb. 9, 1993. February 9 also is the date of Saturday night’s 5OT men’s contest as well as the date of the previously held men’s record of 4OT which saw Notre Dame beat Georgetown 116-111 on Feb. 9, 2002.

In league action on Sunday, No. 3/2 Connecticut (22-1, 9-1 BIG EAST) won its 10th in a row with a 91-44 victory over DePaul. Junior Stefanie Dolson scored 23 points in just 24 minutes to lead the offense. She shot 6-of-8 and was 10-of-11 from the free throw line. DePaul (17-7, 6-4 BIG EAST) played without leading scorer Anna Martin (16.2 ppg) who is still injured and saw second-leading scorer Brittany Hrynko (15.6 ppg) held without a field goal shooting 0-of-15.

Elsewhere, Marquette (12-11, 4-6 BIG EAST) won at Villanova 60-56. The game had nine ties and 12 lead changes, with neither side leading by more than five points. MU junior Katherine Plouffe had a team-high 15 points and helped the Golden Eagles hold a 42-27 edge in rebounding. Redshirt-senior Laura Sweeney scored a season-high 26 points to lead Villanova (16-7, 5-5 BIG EAST). She shot 9-of-12  from the field, including a 2-of-3 effort from 3-point range and a 6-of-8 effort from the foul line.

USF (16-6, 5-4 BIG EAST) blew past Providence 82-54 in the Ocean State. The Bulls led by just five at halftime (28-23) but scored 54 points of the final 20 minutes. Senior Inga Orekhova had a game-high 21 points, including five 3-pointers to lead USF. Providence (7-16, 2-8 BIG EAST) has lost four of its last five.

Material from interviews, school websites, the Associated Press wire service as well as league and team sources was used in this report.