LADY BULLDOGS NET VICTORY, STYLE POINTS AGAINST 'JAYS

Almost from start to finish, Notre Dame coach Jerry Grim wore a toothy grin, happy to finally return to action, happy to lean back and take in his team's leisurely victory over visiting Charleston.

Then, late in the third quarter, Jessica Seratti rebounded her own miss as she tumbled to the floor, instinctively flung up a "shot" while seated on the hardwood, and Grim and the rest of the Notre Dame bench nearly guffawed themselves silly.

Monday night was all fun and games as Notre Dame played for the first time in more than three weeks and sent Charleston packing, 64-32.

"When you're winning, it's easy to have a good time," Grim said. "They (the players) were laughing and cutting up, but they did some good things out there too, and that's what's important to me."

Of utmost importance to Grim and the Lady Bulldogs (6-6) is to see senior guard Randi Senciboy, who underwent knee surgery last October, return to previous years' form.

Senciboy took a big step toward that goal by scoring 16 points on 6 of 7 shooting from the field in limited action as reserves played a lot of minutes.

"This was the first time all year long that I was back on my game, and I'm finally starting to score again," Senciboy said. "I'm back full swing. I'm keeping up with the team defensively and offensively."

Said Grim: "Randi had a lot of points, and she's coming around. She's still not back 100 percent, but she's coming around."

Notre Dame turned the ball over only two times in the first half as it held a 20-4 lead early in the second quarter and carried a 31-18 edge into halftime.

The Lady Bulldogs finished with just seven turnovers after four fourth-quarter miscues while forcing 23 Charleston turnovers.

"Turnover-wise, I think it was the best game we've ever played in the four years I've been here," Senciboy said.

"Since we haven't played in over three weeks," Grim said, "that's good, because we've got some tough games coming up. We wanted to work hard on defense, and I thought we did that at the beginning."

Seratti, a 5-foot-11 junior, finished with 10 points off the bench, Jill Huber had nine points and 5-10 freshman center Deana McCormick scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds.

"Jill Huber played hard on defense," Grim said, "and I thought Deana McCormick did a real good job inside."

Jodi Bledsoe's 14 points paced Charleston (5-7).