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Reddy figures to start that high-pressure game more relaxed than she began last night's duel with the pesky Pirates. She missed four early shots before hitting two foul shots 5:08 before halftime to put ND up by 17-6, and her career total at 1,000.
That seemed to be the cue the Irish were waiting for because when Reddy threw in the second of her four 3-pointers moments later it put ND ahead 22-6. Her next 3-pointer early in the third period, followed by two foul shots and a layup, ballooned the lead to 40-17 and soon had the bench players filling the floor.
"I was nervous, over excited, and it made me shaky," said Reddy, who finished with 18 points to get her career count to 1,013. Senior sidekick Michelle Campbell led all scorers with 29 to raise her career total to 1,601, making her the fourth leading scorer in ND history and only 99 from becoming the school's all-time points leader.
"Jackie's relieved, we're all relieved she did it," coach Ann DeMille said. "Jackie has been a consistent scorer all four years, always averaging 12 a game.
"What's remarkable is that we have classmates scoring 1,000 with all the balance we have on offense," said DeMille. It's the third time Notre Dame has had 1,000-point classmates.
Last year Campbell and Karen Bolster were over that plateau, and in 1997 Danielle Grady and Monica Staniec topped 1,000.
Once Reddy's milestone point was in the book, ND, No.1 in The Trentonian Area Top 20 and No. 3 in the State Top 20, could start focusing on what it needs to beat Trenton for a second time this year tomorrow at Tornado Alley. Trenton is No.2 rated in the area and No. 4 in the State Top 20.
DeMille felt that playing Beth Fitzpatrick's Pirates was a good way to get ready for ND's tough upcoming games. "I like playing them (WW-P South) because they're a lot like us, put pressure on the ball and work hard at both ends of the court," said the ND coach.
"We were distracted early with everyone worrying about Jackie's points, but once the pressure was off in the second half we found a lot of open cutters and played some very nice defense."
Tomorrow they'll need to play a tougher brand of defense if they want to extend a CVC win streak that's at 50 games since 1998-99.
"Our goal was to improve on our last performance at Notre Dame (a 69-25 drubbing), and I thought we did that," Fitzpatrick said. "We were happy only being down 11 at halftime, and I was happier how we hung in until the end and didn't quit.
"This is where we hoped to be at this point of the season. It's been a great year so far and with some big games upcoming it could be a better season."
NOTRE DAME
M.Campbell 13-3-29, Wexler 2-2-6, Quinn 0-1-1, Reddy 5-4-18, Catanese 3-0-6, Mele 1-0-2, Drulis 0-0-0, K.Campbell 0-2-2, Ryan 0-0-0, Douglas 0-0-0, Smith 0-0-0, Fleming 0-0-0, Righter 0-0-0. TOTAL: 24-12-64
WEST WINDSOR SOUTH
R.Edwards 4-2-10, Buono 3-5-11, Williams 1-2-4, N.Edwards 2-1-6, Lackenmeyer 0-2-2, DiNaro 2-0-4, Shaughnessy 0-0-0, Skapyak 0-0-0. TOTAL: 12-12-37
Notre Dame (17-2) 13112515-- 64
West Windsor South (12-6) 3101113-- 37
3-pt. goals: ND-Reddy 4, WW-R.Edwards
