Injury unravels 'Dogs in loss to Farmington

When Notre Dame senior center Jane Morrill was injured a minute into the second quarter, the Bulldogs lost their way.

Farmington (7-3) took full advantage and turned an early deficit into a 53-50 victory at Notre Dame on Monday night.

Morrill, who has signed to play basketball next season at Arkansas State, appeared to dislocate her index finger of her nonshooting hand, an injury that turned the tide in the Knightettes' favor.

"When Jane got hurt, we got scared and played like it," Bulldogs junior Allyson Bradshaw said. "Our defense fell apart completely, we were being lazy and we kept fouling and giving them points."

Notre Dame (9-2) built a 16-5 lead after the first quarter as it coupled defensive intensity with strong play by Bradshaw and Lacy Boeller.

"Our defense was good," Bradshaw said. "They couldn't handle our pressure, and we were running the ball well."

Bradshaw scored seven of her game-high 20 points in the first, while Boeller came off the bench and provided a spark for the Bulldogs.

"She came in and contributed," Notre Dame coach Rene Peters said of Boeller. "She ran the floor, made some excellent passes and rebounded well."

The game changed in the second quarter when Morrill went down.

"When Jane got hurt that was a turning point," Peters said. "We have to learn how to play through that. That's what's so disappointing. We forgot our fundamentals. We played hard, but we didn't execute."

The Knightettes went on a 14-2 run to start the quarter, grabbing their first lead at 19-18.

"Our defense picked up," Farmington coach Mike Lamb said. "We got some picks and went coast to coast and had some easy shots. When you play well on defense, you get happy on offense."

The Bulldogs regained the lead and entered halftime with a 23-21 advantage.

Morgan Ankrom had a team-high 19 points, 12 of them coming in the second half.

"She's been a big player for us all year," Lamb said. "She had another double-double tonight. I thought the other girls did a good job of not forcing the ball to her."

With the game tied at 28-28, Bradshaw scored the next six points for Notre Dame as the Bulldogs surged to a 34-30 advantage.

However, the Knightettes responded with a 9-0 run for a 39-34 lead early in the fourth quarter.

"They all did what they're supposed to do," Lamb said of his team. "They helped each other out a lot and played well as a team."

Notre Dame answered with an 8-1 run for a 42-40 lead, but it proved to be the Bulldogs' last gasp. The offense was out of sync the remainder of the game as the Bulldogs often turned to Bradshaw to try and take over.

"She's playing with a lot of confidence and playing tough," Peters said of Bradshaw. "The team was looking to Allyson to carry them, and that's not fair. We're more than one or two players, we need everybody to contribute. They weren't running, rebounding. We were fouling. We made mindless mistakes. We need to turn this into something to learn from hopefully."

Farmington took advantage and moved out to a 51-48 lead.

Notre Dame came within 51-50 with under a minute to play, but Farmington made a pair of free throws to push the lead to 53-50. Bradshaw missed a 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining, and Farmington closed out the win.

Farmington 5 16 15 17 -- 53

Notre Dame 16 7 11 16 -- 50

FARMINGTON (53) -- Brittany Gladbach 9, Erin Littrell 6, Jessica Hicks 3, Allie Trask 2, Morgan Ankrom 19, Whitney Heuring 5, Brittany Ernst 4, Rachel Williams 5. FG 16, FT 20-34, F 15. (3-pointers: Ernst, Fouled out: none.)

NOTRE DAME (50) -- Allyson Bradshaw 20, Brooke Bohnert 12, Meghan Dohogne 9, Jane Morrill 4, Katherine Blasiney 5. FG 18, FT 12-15, F 26. (3-pointers: Bradshaw 2, Fouled out: none.)