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 Thursday Air Force 1 Low Italia . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. Air Force 1 Mid Just Do It . -- New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis is retiring after a 16-year career to become the goalie coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy. http://www.airforce1outletitalia.it/ . Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player. Air Force 1 Mid Uomo . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. Air Force 1 Alte Nere . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. Before we get to Damian Lillards expectations for his Portland Trail Blazers this season, we need his reflection on his hopes for last years team, the one everyone thought was headed to lotteryville after losing LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum and Robin Lopez.Make the playoffs, Lillard said. Last year I said we were going to make the playoffs, and we did that.Ok, so maybe it wasnt as bold a proclamation as Lillard makes it out to be. On media day last year his first reaction when the playoffs topic was raised was, I dont see why not. Then he added qualifiers, as if wary of producing a headline for a story he wasnt sure he could write.Im not sitting here saying that, Were going to make the playoffs, Lillard said that day. I would like to, and I think thats what our goal is, but its not as far-fetched as some people would make it seem.At least he isnt going around bragging that he knew the Trail Blazers would be in the second round of the playoffs, which is where they found themselves against the Golden State Warriors after bouncing back from a 2-0 deficit in the opening series while the Clippers dealt with injuries to Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.He has earned the right for us to store his 2016-17 expectations in the reality room. Hes neither selling his team short through artificial modesty, nor ordering law enforcement overtime pay to block off the championship parade route.This year I want to get to the Western Conference finals and give ourselves a chance to get to the [NBA] Finals, Lillard said. I think its possible.It is, especially if the Trail Blazers wind up away from the Golden State Warriors side of the Western Conference playoff bracket. The Oklahoma City Thunder are weakened from the loss of Kevin Durant. The Clippers have yet to prove that they can get past the second round. The San Antonio Spurs are, if not necessarily worse, different without Tim Duncan. Besides, there havent been many points in time over the past 20 years when the Trail Blazers could say theyve won as many playoff series as the Spurs over the past two seasons.Unlike last year, the Blazers brought their core back, even if it was a very expensive way to stay the same. While other teams, even the heavily stocked Warriors, need a discovery period, thee Trail Blazers already found out what they needed to know in last seasons playoffs.ddddddddddddWe learned we had some fight in us, Lillard said. We wanted it.He doesnt consider the Clippers series a fluke. He notes the Clippers were at full strength when the Trail Blazers beat them in Game 3, and Portland had the lead when Paul and Griffin went down in Game 4. And speaking of having the lead, did you know that after the Warriors controlled Game 1 of the second round, the Blazers held the lead for 137 minutes to the Warriors 61 minutes the rest of the series? They just couldnt close out games the way the Warriors did.We couldve easily laid down, even against Golden State, Lillard said. We couldve said: All right, we got out of the first round ... this [Warriors] team lost nine games. We could have laid down, but we didnt.The Trail Blazers could get credit for that last year. Not just credit, but hefty contracts for returners C.J. McCollum, Allen Crabbe,?Meyers Leonard?and?Moe Harkless, and an extension for coach Terry Stotts. All that cash means no more credit. Teams dont commit a third of a billion dollars in new contracts to be content winning five playoff games again.Two things bode well for the Blazers. First, their best player is getting better. Lillard is only 26, on the cusp of his prime, and in his fifth season he says the game is slowing down for him, making more sense, even getting easier. Second, the NBA is coming around to the Trail Blazers style of play. They used to be criticized for being perimeter-oriented, then were forced to grow even more so when Aldridge left for San Antonio. But the league as a whole shoots more 3-pointers now, and the Trail Blazers are better at it than most teams; their .370 three-point shooting percentage tied for fourth best in the NBA last season.Stotts is trying to present this season as a continuation of last season, rather than a separate entity. Retaining so much of the roster allows him to do so. His point guard sees it the same way.Lillard also sees this team playing deep into May. We never talk about vision as one of Lillards best attributes. Maybe thats about to change. ' ' '