Bulger Sinks Pitt
January 03, 2004 06:44 PM | General
January 3, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Kate Bulger scored a season-high 28 points including 17 in the second half to lead West Virginia to a 65-58 victory over Pitt in the Big East opener Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.
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| Kate Bulger scored 17 of her game-high 28 points in the second half to lead West Virginia to a 65-58 win over Pitt. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Bulger made 6 of 11 three-point field goals including two key threes in a span of two minutes late in the second half to help turn a 51-all tie into a nine-point Mountaineer lead with 3:26 left.
“It was a must win and losing wasn’t an option today,” said Bulger. “It’s always fun playing your hometown team but more important thing is it’s a Big East game and we’ve got to get on a roll. We’ve got to get things going.”
“Kate’s got the green light,” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey. “If she thinks she has a shot then she needs to take the shot.”
Bulger has been particularly effective against teams from Pittsburgh, averaging 19.4 points per game in 11 career games against hometown teams entering today’s contest against Pitt. Bulger has been particularly effective against the Panthers in games at the Coliseum, scoring 22, 26 and 28 points in three career games – all West Virginia wins.
It appeared the Mountaineers were going to run away with the game at the start, scoring the game’s first 16 points. But seven first-half three-point field goals by Pitt got the Panthers back into the game.
“That’s been the story of our lives,” said Bulger. “We come out as hard as we can in the first half playing smart. And then I think we get a little tired and we start to let down a little bit. No matter who we’re playing this is what we always do. Against better teams we can’t do that because we can’t pull out wins like this.”
Trailing 23-8 with 9:25 left, the Panthers got things going with a three by Danielle Taylor. A steal by Brooke Hughes and layup cut the gap to 10 and a pair of threes by Jessica Allen and Taylor closed Pitt to within four.
WVU was able to boost its margin back to eight, 27-19 at 6:31 off a running jumper by Kate Bulger, but Allen answered with a pair of threes to make the score 27-25, West Virginia. Allen eventually tied the game at 28 on her fourth three-point basket of the first half.
The two teams traded a pair of baskets to end the half tied 32-all.
Pitt took the lead at the start of the second half on a short jumper by Hughes, and led once more at 36-35 on a jumper by Cheron Taylor.
WVU managed to build its lead to six, 45-39 and also led 51-45 before Pitt scored six straight points to tie the game following two free throws by Latoya Kincaid.
After making seven threes in the first half, Pitt was only able to convert one in the second half.
“Sherell Sowho did a great job (defending) in the second half,” said Carey. “In the first half we didn’t really believe they could shoot the three. We kept backing off making them prove themselves. After about four I think they proved themselves and we made that an issue at halftime.”
The Mountaineers (9-3, 1-0) made 24 of 53 field goal attempts for 45.3 percent including 8 of 16 from three-point distance.
Pitt (4-7, 0-1) was just 21 of 61 from the floor for 34.4 percent. Pitt finished the game 8 of 20 from three-point range for 40 percent.
The Panthers held a substantial 43-32 edge in rebounding.
“In the beginning we were only giving them one shot and we were getting out on the break,” said Carey. “We can run the break with anybody but we need to rebound first before we can run the break.”
“We’re playing people a lot of minutes and we could have gotten some people out here and there we might have been a little fresher but we’ve got to get used to doing that,” said Carey.
Michelle Carter added 12 points and grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds for West Virginia.
“I thought Michelle stepped it up today,” said Carey. “This is probably the best she’s played since she’s been back. That’s a good sign because we need somebody to step up in the post and she did today.”
Pitt got 13 points off the bench from Taylor, 12 from Allen and 11 from Kincaid.
West Virginia has little time to celebrate its victory over Pitt. No. 1 Connecticut, an upset loser to Duke earlier today, comes to Morgantown for a game against the Mountaineers this Wednesday at 7 pm.
