Women's Basketball: WVU Takes to the Road
January 31, 2003 10:12 AM | General
January 31, 2003
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The first time West Virginia faced Notre Dame it was looking to get off on the right foot.
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| West Virginia's Sherell Sowho grabs a loose ball in the second half of the Mountaineers' 54-50 loss to Seton Hall Wednesday night. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
This time less than a month later, the Mountaineers are trying to keep from losing their footing altogether. West Virginia has dropped all six of its Big East games this year and goes to Notre Dame looking to put an end to its frustrations.
West Virginia (11-6, 0-6) is the only team left without a win in conference play and is settling deeper at the bottom of the league standings. Since last year, West Virginia has lost 10 straight conference games.
Giving WVU a glimmer of hope Saturday is the fact that Notre Dame has struggled as well. The Irish are just 2-4 since defeating the Mountaineers, 66-59 on Jan. 8, and may be without one of its top players in junior guard Le’Tania Severe, who suffered a muscle strain to her chest in the loss to Boston College Wednesday night. Irish coach Muffet McGraw calls her availability for West Virginia “50-50.”
Severe keyed Notre Dame’s come-from-behind win over West Virginia three weeks ago when she scored a team-high 21 points on 6 of 9 shooting. The Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., native also handed out 5 assists.
Jacqueline Batteast is the team’s top scorer averaging 15.3 points per game. The 6-foot-2 sophomore is also pulling down a team-best 8.0 rebounds per game.
Six-three freshman forward Courtney LaVere is averaging 13.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
Notre Dame, 11-7 overall, is eighth in the Big East standings right now with a 3-4 record.
As has been the case in West Virginia’s five prior league losses, the Mountaineers’ latest setback followed a similar pattern: WVU stays in the game until midway through the second half when it loses steam and the other team takes control of the game.
West Virginia had a three-point advantage against Seton Hall early in the second half on Wednesday night before turning cold. The dry spell lasted nearly four minutes and the Pirates built an advantage they didn’t relinquish.
Kate Bulger and Michelle Carter led West Virginia with 14 and 12 points respectively, but the two combined to make just 9 of 29 field goals. As a team, the Mountaineers converted just 30.3 percent of their shots.
Overall, West Virginia’s field goal percentage has fallen to 45.6 percent after being in the low 50s through the first 10 games of the season.
Saturday’s game will get underway at 5 p.m. MSNsportsNET.com’s Internet coverage begins at 4:50 p.m.
