Women Prevail
December 11, 2004 02:27 PM | General
December 11, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sherell Sowho scored 24 points and Yolanda Paige added 16 to help West Virginia to a 67-53 non-conference victory over Coppin State Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.
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| Chakhia Cole scored eight points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help West Virginia to a 67-53 win over Coppin State.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
The Mountaineers (8-0) overcame a cold shooting night from its leading scorer Meg Bulger, who made just four of 17 field goal attempts to finish the game with nine points.
Sowho took up the slack, hitting eight of 14 from the floor including four of six from three-point range. Paige was looking for her shot Saturday, hitting for 16 on five of eight shooting. Paige also handed out a game-high nine assists.
“I wasn’t really looking more for my shot, it was just open,” Paige said.
Freshman Chakhia Cole grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and also scored eight points.
Coppin State (5-2) stayed close to West Virginia throughout the first half. With the scored tied at 10, the Mountaineers went on a 9-2 run to open up a seven-point lead, 19-12. But the Eagles answered with a pair of free throws by Talia Sutton and a three-point basket from Rashida Suber to trim West Virginia’s lead to two, 19-17.
The Mountaineers were stuck on 19 points for more than three minutes before Yelena Leuchanka snapped the dry spell with a jumper to put West Virginia up two, 21-19.
Leading 23-20, the Mountaineers went on a 9-5 run over the remaining 3:38 to take a seven-point lead into halftime.
In the second half, Leuchanka got West Virginia’s lead to double figures, scoring a basket inside off a feed from Bulger.
“It didn’t really affect us,” Paige said of Bulger’s cold night, “… as long as she kept shooting. We have high confidence in her shot.”
At the 14-minute mark, a nice sequence of plays by Cole turned an eight-point WVU lead into a more comfortable 13-point advantage. Cole made a steal on the defensive end and finished the play with a jumper to put the Mountaineers up 40-30. Then she produced another steal that led to a layup and three-point play.
West Virginia’s biggest lead of the game came at 10:56 when Bulger nailed a jumper to make the score 50-35.
But Coppin State narrowed West Virginia’s lead to six following a jumper by Sherrie Tucker at 5:53. Bulger answered with her only three-point basket of the game to put the Mountaineers back up by nine.
Center Leisel Harry led Coppin State with 21 points and nine rebounds. Tucker contributed 13.
The Mountaineers are off to an 8-0 start for the second time in three seasons. West Virginia will break for final examinations this week before resuming play on Tuesday, Dec. 21 at East Carolina.
“We’re going to get a lot of work in,” Sowho said. “We’ve got to work on a lot of things that we need to get better at.”
The break will also give time for Paige, suffering from an ankle sprain that kept her out of two practices this week, time to heal.
“We have a whole week so it is definitely going to help me,” Paige said.
