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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw learned something about her team Monday night. The top-ranked Irish can win ugly.The Irish struggled at times on offense, but Arike Ogunbowale scored 13 points to help them beat a pesky Fordham squad, 67-36 in a preseason WNIT quarterfinal game.Ogunbowale, who earned ACC player of the week honors earlier in the day, had a steal and layup to put the Irish up by 20 points early in the fourth quarter, just four minutes after Fordham had cut the lead to eight.Its a great thing to learn about this team, that we can win ugly, McGraw said. We missed a lot of shots and we were frustrated early, but we kept our composure.After shooting over 52 percent in a 60-point win over Central Michigan to open the season, Notre Dame shot 42 percent against Fordham, including making just one of eight 3-pointers.The offense the other night, we couldnt miss, McGraw said. Tonight, we couldnt make a shot, but we kept working on defense and never let it get to us.The Rams werent any better, shooting just 23 percent, including 2 of 19 from 3.Lindsay Allen finished with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Irish (2-0).Gmrice Davis led Fordham (1-1) with nine points and 15 rebounds.PLAYER OF THE GAMEThe Irish hit just one of their first 12 shots to open the second half after ending the first half by going scoreless for nearly three minutes before Allens leaner in the paint gave them a 14-point halftime advantage.Anna Kellys jumper from the left corner with three minutes left in the third quarter cut Notre Dames lead to 36-28, but the Irish got a spark from an unlikely source. Reserve center Kristina Nelson scored the next six points while grabbing a pair of offensive rebounds.I thought Kristina Nelson was player of the game, she made some huge plays for us, McGraw said.Notre Dame loosened up from there and turned it into a rout in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Rams 20-4 in the final 10 minutes.When (Nelson) made that mini run and got those hustle plays, that revved us up a little bit, Allen said. It gave us that energy that we needed.SURPRISE VISITORFormer Notre Dame mens coach Digger Phelps stopped by the Fordham shoot around at Purcell Pavilion earlier in the day and stayed long enough to give the undersized Rams some inspiration.He just walked in out of nowhere and made a great speech to the kids, said Fordham coach Stephanie Gaitley. He talked to them about one of his teams that was small and had injuries, and they left it all out there. As you can see, we go four guards out, but I was really proud of our effort, I thought we gave a great defensive effort. Their size and talent just over-powered us at the end.BIG PICTUREFordham: Gaitley remains stuck at 99 wins in her sixth year at Fordham, which is making its first appearance in the preseason WNIT. This game also marked the first time Fordham has faced the nations top-ranked team.Notre Dame: Jackie Young, last years Naismith National High School Player of the Year, sat out a second game with a thumb injury, but could be back on Thursday as the Irish continue working toward their second ever preseason WNIT championship (2004).UP NEXTFordham: The Rams play a consolation game on either Friday or Saturday against an opponent yet to be determined.Notre Dame: The Irish host Green Bay in the WNIT semifinal round on ThursdayStitched Dodgers Jerseys . -- The plastic that was taped across the lockers in Oaklands clubhouse came down and the champagne that was on ice went back into the cooler. Wholesale Dodgers Jerseys . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night. https://www.cheapdodgersonline.com/ . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field. Hyun-jin Ryu Jersey . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. Custom Los Angeles Dodgers Jerseys . -- Whether Jeremy Hill deserves a prominent role in LSUs offence this early in the season is a matter for debate.Baylor is one of only two undefeated team in the Big 12 Conference. But the 16th-ranked Bears will get a better gauge of how just good they are when they open Big 12 play on Saturday night against visiting the Oklahoma State Cowboys at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas.The Bears played arguably the weakest nonconference schedule in the Big 12, romping to a 55-7 win over FCS Northwestern State, a 40-13 win over SMU and a 38-10 victory over Rice.The best measuring stick is going to be on the field Saturday, Baylor wide receiver Lynx Hawthorne told the Waco Tribune. Well hopefully come together and put some points on the board and get our first conference win.Oklahoma State went 2-1 in nonconference play but would be 3-0 if not for a botched call by the officials that allowed Central Michigan an extra play two weeks ago in Stillwater. The Chippewas were inadvertently awarded an extra play after the Cowboys committed intentional grounding on what would have been the games last play. Central Michigan then pulled out a 30-27 victory when quarterback Cooper Rush threw a Hail Mary pass to Jesse Kroll who then lateraled to Corey Willis for the touchdown.Oklahoma State bounced back for a 45-38 win over Pittsburgh last weekend as junior quarterback Mason Rudolph completed 26 of 46 passes and set an Oklahoma State record with 540 yards, averaging 20.8 yards per completion.Any reservations or doubts that lingered from the confusing, and controversial loss to Central Michigan were wiped with a 91-yard strike to wide receiver James Washington on the very first play. Washington finished with nine receptions for 296 yards in the contest.Mason came back. Its tough being a quarterback when you lose a game like that, Oklahoma coach Mike Gundy said of the Central Michigan fiasco.I dont think anyone who watched that game wasnt impressed with how well the quarterback throws the deep ball, Baylor acting head coach Jim Grobe said. He gets great height on the ball and that makes it really tough on the defensive backs. They have good speed at all the skilll positions offensively and a couple of running backs that are very talented.ddddddddddddBaylors defense is off to an outstanding start, ranking third nationally in scoring defense by allowing 10 points per game and seventh in total defense by allowing 249.3 yards per game. Opponents have completed just 31 of 90 passes for 291 yards and a touchdown through the first three games.The Bears, who led the nation in both scoring offense and total offense for the last three years, have sputtered at times so far this season. Baylor is averaging 557.3 yards in total offense -- nothing to sneeze at -- but that ranks just fourth in the pass-happy Big 12 and eighth nationally. Part of the reason for that have been some unusually slow starts to games.Wed like to figure things out a little quicker, Grobe said. Slow starts are a little bit of a problem but weve played pretty good overall. I think going forward, with the Big 12 games getting cranked up, we probably would like to start faster.The Bears failed to score in the first quarter last week at Rice -- thats headline material for this offense -- but quarterback Seth Russell, inconsistent at the start for the second straight game, rebounded to pass for 337 yards and three touchdowns. KD Cannon continued to show he can be Baylors go-to receiver as he hauled in nine passes for 213 yards and two TDs.Baylors ground game is averaging 282 yards per game which leads the Big 12 and ranks ninth nationally. Three running backs -- Shock Linwood, Terence Williams and JaMycal Hasty -- are averaging at least 71 yards per game. Linwood finished with 57 yards rushing at Rice and passed Walter Abercrombies career rushing mark at Baylor in that contest. He now has 3,674 yards for his career with nine games left.Oklahoma State leads the all-time series with Baylor, 19-15. The Bears won 45-35 last year in Stillwater, Okla., however, and are hoping for more of the same Saturday. ' ' '