Notre Dame women's basketball: Skylar says 1-on-1 with Manti no contest

Al Lesar Commentary

7:14 p.m. EST, November 19, 2012

SOUTH BEND -- Linebacker Manti Te'o of the No. 1-ranked Notre Dame has faced some rugged assignments this season on the football field.

But could Te'o handle a tough challenge on the basketball court?

Recently, Notre Dame women's basketball player Kayla McBride bounced over to where Irish All-American Skylar Diggins was being interviewed, and playfully interrupted.

"They asked me if I thought you could beat Manti in a (basketball) game of one-on-one," McBride told Diggins after a media interview of her own. "I said you could, 5-4."

Diggins responded cold-bloodedly, "It wouldn't be that close. Maybe 5-2."

Diggins then turned back to the interviewer.

"Manti and I have been talking for a long time about playing basketball," Diggins said. "It hasn't happened yet."

Focusing on ND

No. 7 Notre Dame (2-0) hosts Mercer (3-0) on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. EST. The Irish beat Mercer in record fashion last season, 128-42.

Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said she isn't game-planning for Mercer as much as she's working the Irish in targeted areas.

"I think at this point in the season, we really want to concentrate on us, and try to feel like we're executing, we're running the stuff that we want to run, that we're in the right spots defensively," McGraw said. "I was a little disappointed with our rotation, so I think we'll probably work on that and see if we can do a better job getting charges and helping each other more. I think we still have work to do to defensively, but offensively, I think we're heading in the right direction."

Shooting numbers

Notre Dame has hit 40-of-45 free throws in its two games (89 percent), but the Irish have hit only 3-of-20 shots from 3-point range (15 percent).

"I think we're a really good shooting team," McGraw said. "I expect us to shoot (free throws) that well every game. I think we're a much better 3-point shooting team than we showed (3-14 Sunday vs. Massachusetts). I thought we settled for some. Some were a little bit quick. I thought we could have had a little better shot selection. I think we need to practice a little bit more. I think we'll be fine."

Inside presence

McGraw was pleased with the efforts of her three frontliners in Sunday's 94-50 victory against Massachusetts - 6-foot-3 Natalie Achonwa, 6-2 Markisha Wright and 6-1 Ariel Braker.

Achonwa had eight points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes. She also had four assists and three steals.

Wright played 24 minutes and had nine points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Braker played 13 minutes and scored seven points, with two rebounds and one steal.

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