If the mood inside Purcell Pavilion was your only gauge, you would have thought the 4th ranked Irish women's basketball team was on the verge of a 2nd straight loss.

Coach Muffet McGraw pulling at her hair, Skylar Diggins twitching on the bench for several minutes while taking a breather, Fraderica Miller bunching the padding beneath the basket, and fans really wanting to cheer but feeling too frustrated to.

Luckily the final eight minutes of Tuesday night's clash with Providence put those frustrations away. Muffet was able to cheer, fans were able to cheer and the Irish won 66-47 to improve to 25-2 on the season.

As for Skylar, when she still hadn't calmed down after the game.

"[Coach] is fired up, I'm fired up, Dev's fired up---with us three fired up, it can be quiet in the gym and we'd still have the place rocking," Diggins said after the game with a smile. "I'm still fired up. I'm ready to practice and get in the gym and freakin get to the free throw line."

Diggins was 4-of-7 from the free throw line, 7-of-9 from the field for 19 points, 7 assists and three steals. Really, she was very good. But from her competitive juices to get her team back to the level they were at a month ago, you couldn't tell.

Coming off Sunday's loss to West Virginia which snapped a 21 game win streak, the Irish didn't come out the way many expected. Notre Dame continued to make mistakes and actually trailed 18-17 midway through the 1st half before going on a 16-2 run. Muffet said the bad start was on her.

"I was frustrated right off the bat--I was frustrated since Sunday and I think that's probably why we came out the way we did," McGraw said after the game. "I was just so ready to get off to a good start and really wanted to challenge them and I think that was a bad way to go.

"I think i riled them up too much--subbed a little too quick and got them on edge. So I think I could have done a better job of handling it."

McGraw said she was pleased with the team's 2nd half effort and felt it was good mentally to finally feel back on track.

Dev Peters had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Notre Dame.

The Irish, 12-1 in the Big East, are off until Monday when they go on the road at Louisville for a 2pm game on President's Day.