Women Improve to 6-0
December 04, 2004 07:41 PM | General
December 4, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Meg Bulger scored a career-high 30 points to lead West Virginia to a 74-54 non-conference victory over Duquesne Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum.
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| Yolanda Paige handed out 13 assists in helping West Virginia to a 74-54 win over Duquesne Saturday night.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Sherell Sowho contributed 17 points and Kate Glusko came off the bench to score 10 to and Yolanda Paige produced 13 assists to help the Mountaineers improve to 6-0.
“I thought Katie Glusko came off the bench and gave us a big boost,” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey.
West Virginia used a 13-2 run during a six-minute span in the first half to turn a 7-7 tie into a 20-9 lead at 8:11 following a jumper by Glusko.
The Mountaineers matched their biggest lead of 11 in the first half at 35-14 after another Glusko basket at 5:11.
The Mountaineers led 35-27 at halftime.
Early in the second half Duquesne cut West Virginia’s lead to four, 41-37, on a three by Aiga Bautre before WVU used a 9-2 run to push its lead back out to 11. After Bautre’s three, Sowho answered for West Virginia with a three of her own. Bulger followed with another three after Bautre made a shot jumper, and a third three by Glusko gave the Mountaineers a 50-39 edge with 12:57 remaining.
Duquesne (1-4) was able to cut West Virginia’s lead to nine on a three-pointer by Bautre, but the Mountaineers outscored the Dukes 17-6 over the remaining 6:40 to run away with a 20-point win.
“We pretty much went with five guards for most of the second half,” Carey said.
Bulger made 12 of 25 field goal attempts including five of 11 from three-point range for her career-high 30. The Mountaineers were eight of 21 from three-point distance for 38.1 percent. Overall, the Mountaineers were 29 of 67 from the field for 43.3 percent.
“(Meg) knows she has the green light,” said Carey. “She knows up front if she has her shot take it. I’ll yell at her if she doesn’t take it. She’s our shooter and she’s liable to miss five, but she’s also liable to hit five in a row.”
West Virginia held a 43-36 rebounding advantage.
“When they went box and one and triangle and two some of our players stood around and didn’t know what to do,” Carey said. “That’s something that we really need to work on. When Katie Glusko and Ramika McGee came off the bench they didn’t stand around … they knew what to do. That’s what we need people to do.
“We went shorter on our bench tonight because of the way they played us,” Carey noted. “I told the players after the game that they can sit there and feel sorry for themselves or you can know a little bit about basketball and know that this was the type of game it was and we had to play the way we played.”
Bautre led Duquesne with 21 points off the bench. She made seven of 16 field goal attempts including four of nine from three-point distance.
Loui Hall scored 13 and Maria Stankevich contributed 11 for the Dukes.
An announced crowd of 3,906 watched the women play Duquesne. The game preceded the men’s game against Radford.
“I thought it was great because of the crowd,” said Carey of playing a doubleheader with the men. “I don’t know if it’s great for Coach Beilein but it’s great for us.”
West Virginia continues play at home on Tuesday, Dec. 7, when the Mountaineers play host to St. Francis, Pa., coached by former WVU women’s basketball student assistant Jill Poe, younger sister of West Virginia sports information director Shelly Poe.
