Bird-Taurasi 12-pt Favorite vs. ND-UVa Winner

Our 2nd all-time great women's tournament is down to 24 teams. The seeds break the teams into eight pods of 3-teams each.  (Update - Despite Notre Dame's Ruth Riley's typical double-double, the equally tall actual twin towers of Heidi and Heather Burge kept her just in check enough that Dawn Staley's 6 steals and Tonya Cardoza's multiple "and-1s" en route to a game high 16 points gave UVa the win and trip to face 1-seed UConn 2002 - details to follow).

Our first pod features two teams in a toss-up game, both with +2 ratings to indicate this is a great toss-up game. The University of Virginia 1991 team featuring now famous NCAA champ coach Dawn Staley along with another future backcourt WNBA player in Tammi Reiss along with 6-foot-5 twins who also made the WNBA in Heidi and Heather Burge. Their opponent Notre Dame 2001 features two future WNBA players in star Ruth Riley and Niele Ivey.

The winner will be a 12-point underdog against UConn 2002, with five starters and two reserves that went to the WNBA. This includes two players each considered perhaps the greatest player ever in Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, making them the No. 1 seed in this tournament waiting to face the 16 v 17 winner in the first game.

 

UConn 2002	Height	Actual Season Stats
Sue Bird	wnba,5'9	14.4 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 5.9 Ast
Swin Cash	wnba,6'2	14.9 Pts, 8.6 Reb, 2.2 Ast
Diana Taurasi	wnba,6'0	14.5 Pts, 4.1 Reb, 5.3 Ast
Asjha Jones	wnba,6'2	14.0 Pts, 6.6 Reb, 1.7 Ast
Tamika Williams	wnba,6'2	10.1 Pts, 6.9 Reb, 1.3 Ast
Maria Conlon	5'9	4.1 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 1.8 Ast
Ashley Valley	5'9	2.9 Pts, 1.7 Reb, 1.1 Ast
Morgan Valley	6'0	3.6 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Ashley Battle	wnba,6'0	5.4 Pts, 4.7 Reb, 1.3 Ast
Jessica Moore	wnba,6'3	5.4 Pts, 3.9 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Virginia 1991	Height	Actual Season Stats
Dawn Staley	wnba,5'6	14.6 Pts, 6.1 Reb, 6.9 Ast
Tammi Reiss	wnba,5'6	15.4 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 3.2 Ast
Tonya Cardoza	5'10	15.5 Pts, 6.1 Reb, 2.4 Ast
Heidi Burge	wnba,6'5	8.9 Pts, 5.4 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Heather Burge	wnba,6'5	12.7 Pts, 5.6 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Dena Evans	5'5	5.0 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 3.3 Ast
Wendy Toussaint	5'11	1.9 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 0.1 Ast
Tekshia Ward	6'1	5.2 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Melanee Wagener	6'3	5.6 Pts, 4.4 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Audra Smith	6'2	3.7 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Notre Dame 2001	Height	Actual Season Stats
Niele Ivey	wnba,5'8	12.1 Pts, 4.1 Reb, 6.9 Ast
Alicia Ratay	6'0	12.9 Pts, 5.1 Reb, 2.2 Ast
Kelley Siemon	6'2	11.3 Pts, 7.1 Reb, 3.1 Ast
Ericka Haney	6'0	11.0 Pts, 5.7 Reb, 1.6 Ast
Ruth Riley	wnba,6'5	18.7 Pts, 7.8 Reb, 1.9 Ast
Jeneka Joyce	5'9	5.2 Pts, 1.2 Reb, 1.2 Ast
Monique Hernandez	5'9	2.6 Pts, 1.1 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Le'Tania Severe	5'8	1.9 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 0.6 Ast
Meaghan Leahy	6'4	3.1 Pts, 2.8 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Amanda Barksdale	6'3	1.4 Pts, 2.2 Reb, 0.1 Ast

UConn was 11-0 against Notre Dame until the Irish won during the regular season to move into No. 1 for the season with the team pictured. UConn barely won the rematch in Connecticut, but then the Irish won again in the Final 4. However, the UConn team pictured below from the next season (2002) then destroyed the Irish.

Date	Venue	Winner	Score	Season level
15-Jan-01	Notre Dame, IN	Notre Dame	92-76	Regular Season BE
6-Mar-01	Storrs, CT	UConn	78-76	Big East tournament
30-Mar-01	St. Louis, MO	Notre Dame	90-75	NCAA Final Four
21-Jan-02	Hartford, CT	UConn	80-53	Regular Season BE

Here are the actual cards used in these two games to determine which of these there teams goes to the Elite 8.