Turning the Paige
January 23, 2004 11:36 AM | General
January 23, 2004
MORGANTOWN. W.Va. – West Virginia coach Mike Carey can’t afford to give Yolanda Paige a break.
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| Guard Yolanda Paige has played every single minute of the last 10 West Virginia games. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
The junior point guard has played every single minute of the last 10 games, helping West Virginia to a 6-4 record over that stretch.
The Mountaineers (12-5) only have nine available players and just one backup point guard in freshman walk-on Lisa Costello. That means Paige has to handle the load and try to keep herself healthy enough to make it down the stretch.
“I just look back to my freshman year and I figured if I could do it then I can do it now,” she said. “It’s tiring, though.”
Paige was asked to play more minutes than any other player her freshman season back in 2001 – Carey’s first season coaching the Mountaineers. She performed well, handing out a team-best 153 assists while scoring 319 points to average 11.4 points per game. But she did have 109 turnovers and her legs grew weary near the end of the year.
Having had that experience before, Paige knows this year she has to invent new ways to stay fresh as the season wears on, “When I’m on the weak side that’s when I try to get in a little breather,” she admitted. “If I’m guarding someone and they’re standing there I try to get a quick rest in before they get the ball.”
In he had his druthers, Carey would prefer to have Paige rest a little during the games and be fresh at the end. He was able to do that earlier this year when Ashley Dunn was on the team. He had developed the former walk-on to the point where she could contribute and keep the offense running smoothly. But Dunn decided to give up the game to concentrate on academics. That decision put Carey in a quandary.
His only alternative was to play Paige and hope she could get through it.
So far she has and incidentally, she is also having the best year of her career. Paige says having a small bench can actually pull a team together.
“It makes us focus more because we really can’t afford to mess up,” she said. “We have to try to play perfect the whole game. We’re going to make some mistakes but you just have to pick it up and not get down on yourself.”
The 5-foot-6 junior is coming off a 19-point, 12-assist performance against Marshall and has handed out an average of 9.3 assists over her last 10 games. During that same stretch she has also turned the ball over just 44 times.
“The main thing I try to do is to focus on turnovers because it’s kind of hard playing 40 minutes and not turning the ball over,” she said. “Your legs get tired.”
Paige currently leads the Big East and is fourth in the country in assists with an average of 7.9 per game. When she hands out more than 10 assists in a game West Virginia has a great chance of winning; the Mountaineers are 11-3 when she has 10 or more assists in a game.
“Yolanda Paige leads the Big East in assists and one of the reasons is because she pushes the break every time down the floor,” said Carey. “Our young ladies do a good job of spotting up and she does a good job of getting them the ball.”
Paige has also become more of an offensive force as well. She fired in a career-high 32 in a road win at Duquesne, and has increased her scoring average to 12.5 points per game.
The Virginia Beach, Va., native has never been a great shooter, making 40.7 percent of her career field goal attempts and is just 26.6 percent from three point distance, but she is getting better. Paige made 7 of 9 field goal attempts against Marshall and is 13 of 22 from the floor in her last two games – West Virginia victories.
West Virginia is also playing its best basketball at the very time it needs to make a move. The Mountaineers recently snapped their long conference road losing streak at St. John’s, upset Notre Dame at home and beat an improving Marshall team decisively to piece together a modest three-game winning streak. Games coming up at Syracuse, at home to Georgetown, at Pitt and at Providence will determine of West Virginia is going to make a move toward the top of the conference standings.
“I feel we’re coming together as a team and we know what we have to do to win games,” Paige said. “We have to get it done for the seniors.”
Paige is once again a candidate for the Nancy Lieberman Award given to the nation’s top point guard. Last year she made the semifinal cut of 12.
Yolanda is also making her way up the WVU record books. She now ranks third in career assists with 486 and has the highest career assist average at 6.7 per game. She needs to finish this year strong and have another good season next year to make a run at All-American Rosemary Kosiorek’s assist record of 725. Paige can get it if she maintains her current rate.
Notebook: West Virginia travels to Syracuse for an important Big East game Saturday afternoon at Manley Field House … The Mountaineers needed overtime to defeat the Orangewomen last year at the WVU Coliseum … Like West Virginia, Syracuse doesn’t have a deep roster with only nine available players … New coach Keith Cieplicki has Syracuse off to a 6-9 record with victories over Binghamton, Massachusetts, Navy, Pitt, Rutgers and Providence … Cieplicki pieced together a 127-53 record in six seasons at Vermont … Senior guard Julie McBride is Syracuse’s top scorer averaging 17.1 points per game … McBride is the only Syracuse player averaging double figures … in its last game at home against Notre Dame, Syracuse used only seven players in a 64-35 loss to the Irish … Chinese Nwagbo was the only SU player to reach double figures with 13 points … Syracuse made just 12 of 52 field goal attempts for 23.1 percent … Cieplicki’s best win so far has come against Rutgers, defeating the Lady Knights 59-57 at home in overtime … McBride led Syracuse with 25 points in that game … All six of Syracuse’s wins this year have come when the Orangewomen have held their opponents to less than 60 points in a game … former West Virginia standout point guard Mandy Ronay is an assistant coach for the Orangewomen … MSNsportsNET.com will have live Internet coverage of Saturday’s game beginning at 11:50 am through Yahoo! Sports.
