Women's Basketball: Paradise Jam Tournament
November 26, 2003 10:52 AM | General
November 26, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Three games in three days is what awaits the West Virginia University women’s basketball team this weekend when the Mountaineers play in the Paradise Jam Tournament in St. Thomas, Virginia Islands, Thursday, Nov. 27, through Saturday, Nov. 29.
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| Tehana Geist drives to the basket during last Sunday's win over East Carolina at the WVU Coliseum.(All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
West Virginia, now 2-0 after wins against Bucknell and East Carolina, will take on Southwest Missouri State (0-0) on Thursday at 4:45 pm, Georgia Tech on Friday at 3:30 pm and James Madison on Saturday at 3:30 pm.
In its most recent win last Sunday against East Carolina, West Virginia got 26 points from senior Sherell Sowho and 17 from senior Kate Bulger.
Sowho leads the Mountaineers with an average of 22.5 points per game, followed by Bulger (18.0 ppg.) and junior guard Yolanda Paige (11.0 ppg.).
Southwest Missouri State -- West Virginia’s Thursday opponent -- is coming off an 18-13 season last year that was good enough to qualify the Lady Bears for the NCAA tournament.
Second-year coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson’s team was the preseason pick to win the Missouri Valley Conference this year and is led by sophomore guard Kari Koch, a preseason all-MVC pick.
Thursday’s game is SMS’s season opener.
Georgia Tech is also coming off an NCAA tournament season, but enters this year with a new head coach in 33-year-old MaChelle Joseph, a former All-American guard at Purdue. Joseph was a two-year assistant under Agnus Berenato before being promoted last spring when Berenato took the Pitt job.
Joseph has 12 letterwinners and four starters returning from last year’s team that posted a 20-11 record and advanced to NCAA play for just the second time in school history.
Georgia Tech comes into the tournament with a 1-0 record, having defeated Florida Atlantic, 73-62 on Friday, Nov. 21. Fallon Stokes, a 5-foot-10 senior forward, led Georgia Tech with 25 points and 14 rebounds. She is a preseason all-ACC pick.
James Madison comes into the tournament with a 1-0 record after its 68-64 victory over Jacksonville State on Sunday, Nov. 23.
Lesley Dickinson led three JMU double-figure scorers with 15 points in that game. Mary Beth Culbertson scored 11 and Shirley McCall contributed 10 for the Dukes, coached by former JMU men’s player Kenny Brooks, now in his second season.
West Virginia owns a 4-3 record against James Madison and last played the Dukes in 2002, dropping a 74-56 decision in Harrisonburg, Va. West Virginia has faced Georgia Tech once in 1984 in Tampa, Fla., winning 86-78.
The Mountaineers will be playing Southwest Missouri State for the first time.
Following the Paradise Jam Tournament, West Virginia is back in action on Thursday, Dec. 4 at Wright State.
