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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Luke Harangody hit a pair of free throws with 4 seconds left to finish with 19 points and Tory Jackson scored nine of his 18 points in the final 5:40, driving inside repeatedly, to lead Notre Dame to a 65-62 victory over South Florida.

Jarrid Famous had a chance to tie it with a free throw with 8.3 seconds left after he scored on a dunk, but missed. After Harangody's free throws, Dominique Jones missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer as the Bulls (15-8, 5-6 Big East) saw their league winning streak end at four games.

The Irish (17-7, 6-5) led by 15 in the first half, but by halftime the Bulls tied the game at 34.

Jackson drove inside to tie the game at 60, then his three-point play with 61 seconds left gave the Irish the lead.

Chris Howard led the Bulls with 23 points.

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Skylar Diggins had 23 points and 10 rebounds, both season highs, and Lindsay Schrader added 18 points to beat Pittsburgh 86-76.

Diggins was 9-of-11 from the free-throw line and the Fighting Irish (21-1, 8-1 Big East) were 21-of-29. Pittsburgh (12-10, 1-8) was 9-of-15 and coach Agnus Bernato was complaining throughout the game about the lopsided calls.

After the Irish went on a 14-2 run in the first half to open a 13-point lead, the Panthers gradually cut the deficit to four late in the first half. But the Irish led 45-37 at halftime, then used a 10-2 run early in the second half take a 48-45 lead.

Notre Dame extended the lead to 81-62 when Ashley Barlow hit a 3 as the shot clock sounded with 5:13 left. Pitt used a 14-3 run to cut the lead to 84-76 on a jumper by Jania Sims, but couldn't get any closer.

Skylar Diggins scored 14 points and Becca Bruszewski added 13 to help No. 3 Notre Dame beat Rutgers 75-63 on Monday night in Piscataway, N.J.

Melissa Lechlitner added 12 points for Notre Dame (20-1, 7-1 Big East), which beat Rutgers for the first time since 2005.

Khadijah Rushdan scored 16 points and Myia McCurdy matched her career high with 14 -- all in the second half -- for Rutgers (12-9, 4-4), which has lost three straight games.

Despite winning their last five games, the Irish have been inconsistent since losing their only game of the season to No. 1 Connecticut on Jan. 16. Notre Dame trailed by double digits against Louisville and West Virginia, and blew a 15-point lead against Syracuse before rallying for the late win.

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PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Mike Rosario scored 24 points and Hamady Ndiaye blocked two shots by Luke Harangody in the final minute as Rutgers ended a nine-game losing streak with a 74-73 victory over Notre Dame.

James Beatty hit three free throws in the final 31.1 seconds as the Scarlet Knights (10-11, 1-8) became the last Big East team to win a game in the conference this season.

Dane Miller and Jonathan Mitchell added 12 points apiece and Beatty and Ndiaye had 10. Ndiaye had all six of his blocks in the second half.

Harangody had 19 points on a dreadful 8 of 26 shooting to lead Notre Dame (15-7, 4-5). Ben Hansbrough added 18, including two 3-pointers in the final 3 seconds and Tim Abromaitis had 17 as the Irish lost for the fourth time in five games.

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Ashley Barlow swished a 3-pointer with 34.2 seconds left, and No. 3 Notre Dame held off Syracuse 74-73.

After the Irish's Lindsay Schrader missed the front end of a 1-and-1, a held ball gave Syracuse a final possession with less than a second left. Tasha Harris' inbounds pass to Kayla Alexander in the lane was deflected away and the Irish escaped with a win.

Juanita Ward's three-point play had given the Orange a 73-71 lead, but Barlow got open on the wing and saved Notre Dame (19-1, 6-1 Big East), which has beaten Syracuse (16-5, 3-5) 22 times in 23 meetings.

Freshman guard Skylar Diggins matched her season high with 21 points, Barlow had a season-high 19 points, and Brittany Mallory 11.

The South Bend Tribune reports: Is Notre Dame ready for the "RAC" -- the Louis Brown Athletic Center, home of Rutgers?

"It's the RAC; they're all on you, right on top of you," said Irish senior guard Tory Jackson. "(Ben Hansbrough's) got to put (the Villanova) game behind him, 'cause they're even worse over there."

The Irish will end a two-game league road swing on Saturday.

Get the full story at southbendtribune.com.

By Brian Hamilton

A roller-coaster recruiting season continues for Notre Dame's new staff, as another player has switched allegiances less than a week before Signing Day.

This time it was running back Giovanni Bernard from national powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel is among several outlets reporting the move, in which Bernard switched commitments from the Irish to North Carolina.

While the change of heart was anticipated somewhat given Bernard's recent visit to Chapel Hill, it does rob the Irish of a player Rivals.com rates as a four-star prospect. He finished his high school career with 2,603 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns despite an injury-hampered senior season.

ESPN takes a look at Notre Dame's football recruits:

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PHILADELPHIA -- Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher each scored 17 points to help No. 3 Villanova get off to the best start in history -- a season after advancing to the Final Four -- with a 90-72 win over Notre Dame.

The Wildcats are 19-1 for the first time and are the only Big East team unbeaten in conference play (8-0). Reaching the program's first Final Four in 24 years was only a start for coach Jay Wright's program.

Reynolds and Notre Dame's Luke Harangody were each expected to state their cases for Big East player of the year. Harangody delivered on his end for the Irish (15-6, 4-4) with 21 points and nine rebounds in 37 minutes.

Harangody played hard until the end and kept alive Notre Dame's early bid for its first win over a top-10 team on the road since 2001.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Starting this year, the Paul Hornung Award will honor the nation's most versatile college football player.

The Louisville Sports Commission announced Wednesday the creation of the new award, named after the 1956 Heisman Trophy winner from Notre Dame.

Hornung played quarterback, defensive back and kicked for the Fighting Irish. During his Heisman-winning senior season he led Notre Dame in passing, rushing, scoring, kickoff and punt returns, punting, field goals and points after touchdowns.

He went on to a Hall of Fame career as a running back with the Green Bay Packers.

The winner will be picked by a selection committee of 12-16 former players and media members, including former New York Giants quarterback and current CBS analyst Phil Simms.

The South Bend Tribune reports: Blake Lueders, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound defensive end prospect from Zionsville, Ind., has changed his commitment from Notre Dame to Stanford, his father Dan verified.

Lueders had been committed to the Irish since June. The loss leaves the Irish with 18 players for the recruiting class of 2010.

Tom Lemming, CBS recruiting analyst, called the loss a "major blow" for the Irish.

Get the full story at southbendtribune.com.

Tribune News Services

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- No. 16 West Virginia could contain fourth-ranked Notre Dame and Lindsay Schrader only for a half.

After being held without a shot in the first half, Schrader went 6 for 8 from the floor in the second half and scored eight of her 16 points during a decisive run as the Fighting Irish (17-1, 4-1) rallied for a 74-66 victory.

Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said the Irish usually turn to Schrader when they need a key basket.

"Everybody on our team knows when we're not scoring we're going to try to find Lindsay," McGraw said. "Not to the exclusion of anybody else, but that's going to be a look we want because she has so many mismatches. They had guards trying to guard her down there and we needed to take advantage of that."