No. 8 Notre Dame 89, Seton Hall 38

Published Feb. 9, 2011 3:22 a.m. ET

foxsports

Even against a team winless in the Big East, Skylar Diggins was impressive.

Diggins had 14 points, six assists, seven rebounds, and five steals to help No. 8 Notre Dame beat Seton Hall 89-38 Tuesday night.

''She's doing everything, and she's just starting to peak,'' Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said.

Notre Dame's defense suffocated Seton Hall the entire night, limiting the Pirates to 24.6 percent shooting from the floor and forcing 24 turnovers. ''I was really pleased with the defensive intensity,'' McGraw said. ''I thought we had a great focus.''

Jasmine Crew led the Pirates with 10 points despite fouling out with 10:18 remaining in the game. Seton Hall (7-16, 0-10) has yet to win a Big East matchup this season.

Notre Dame (21-4, 10-1) made its first nine field goal attempts. Fighting Irish guard Kaila Turner was injured with 7:57 to play and did not return.

Kandice Green, Seton Hall's leading scorer and rebounder on the season, went down with a left ankle injury with 16:26 remaining in the first half and didn't return.

''What we tried to do is concentrate a lot on their pressure,'' Seton Hall coach Anne Donovan said. ''We practiced it for two days, and it went completely out the window.''

Natalie Novosel scored 16 points and Brittany Mallory had 12 points and five steals for Notre Dame, which got out to an early 19-4 lead.

''We got it going, we got layups, people were just really finding each other today,'' Diggins said. ''We're getting better every game.''

Seton Hall's Brittany Morris stole the ball from Natalie Achonwa and Turner on consecutive possessions to cut the score to 26-13 with 9:55 to go.

The Irish stretched the lead back to 44-23 at halftime, and went on another run in the second half, leading 63-25 with 13:06 to play.