Women's Basketball: WVU Disposes of Wichita St.
November 26, 2004 08:54 PM | General
November 26, 2004
 |
||
| Paige |
MIAMI – Yolanda Paige scored a season-high 18 points and Sherell Sowho added 17 to lead West Virginia to a 61-40 victory over Wichita State Friday night in the opening round of the Florida International//Herald Thanksgiving Classic in Miami.
Paige came into the game with 32 assists and only handed out four tonight, but she made up for it by shooting seven of 11 from the field. Sowho was also proficient making seven of her 13 field-goal attempts.
Meg Bulger also reached double figures with 13 points to help the Mountaineers improve to 3-0. Like it did in its first two games, West Virginia once again used a smothering half-court defense to jump out to a big first-half lead.
At the outset Wichita State was successful at slowing down the game and keeping the Mountaineers from getting out into the open court and using their running game. West Virginia led 4-2 at the 14:45 mark and 14-6 at the second media timeout at 11:11.
A Sherell Sowho steal and layup gave the Mountaineers a 16-9 advantage and Sowho later gave the Mountaineers their first double-figure lead with a pair of free throws to make the score 20-9.
After a Kiki Stephens stick-back layup cut West Virginia’s lead to 20-11, the Mountaineers went on an 11-0 run to take a commanding 20-point lead at 31-11.
Bulger got things started with a three and Yolanda Paige added a pair of free throws and a basket inside. Another Sowho steal and layup preceded a Bulger 16-footer.
Stephens stopped the run by making one of two free throws. Stephens tacked on her sixth point on another follow-up basket before West Virginia’s Ramika McGee finished the half with a tip-in basket of her own right before the buzzer.
The Shockers used an 11-5 run at the start of the second half to cut West Virginia’s lead to 15, 40-25, but WVU responded with a 9-1 run to push its lead back to 22. The Mountaineers’ biggest lead of the second half was 28 after a backdoor layup by Bulger made it 55-27.
Aubrey Cameron led Wichita State with 9 points.
West Virginia will play host Florida International in the championship game Saturday night at 7 pm. FIU defeated Elon 56-44 in the first game Friday night.
Wichita State (1-3) will play Elon in the consolation game at 5 pm.
