Nine in a Row
February 10, 2004 10:28 PM | General
February 10, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The pretenders have now become contenders.
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| Michelle Carter works her inside for two of her nine points Tuesday against No. 21-ranked Virginia Tech. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
West Virginia overcame an 11-point Virginia Tech lead with 5:54 left in the game to upset the No. 21-rated Hokies, 69-66 before a spirited crowd of 1,234 Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum.
The win gives West Virginia a firm grip on second place in the Big East standings with a 9-2 record. Just No. 1-ranked Connecticut has a better record with an 8-1 league mark. The Mountaineers (18-5) Tuesday snapped a 36-game losing streak to AP ranked teams dating back to 1992 and it was only the fifth win against a ranked team in school history.
West Virginia’s last win over a rated team came in the 1992 NCAA tournament when West Virginia defeated No. 20 Clemson in Morgantown.
“What can you say? The girls didn’t quit and we executed going down the stretch and got some good looks for Kate Bulger. She’s a senior and our best shooter and she stuck the ball in the hole,” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey.
Bulger scored a game-high 23 points including her 1,600th career point to lead the Mountaineers. The senior now shows 1,601 points and is fifth on the school’s career scoring list.
“It seemed like in years past we would get down to teams like this and never dreamed of coming back,” said Bulger. “Tonight we came back.”
Janell Dunlap contributed 14 points and 5 rebounds and Yolanda Paige recovered from a miserable first half by scoring 11 points and handing out 4 assists.
West Virginia made 16 of 18 free throws in the second half and finished the game making 22 of 28 for 78.6 percent.
The turning point in the game came with 4:18 left when the Mountaineers were able to get their deficit under double digits on a pair of free throws by Paige.
A driving layup by Sherell Sowho cut Tech’s lead to seven and a huge three-point basket by Kate Bulger with 2:28 left brought the Mountaineers to within four.
“That three by Kate really gave us the confidence to come back,” said Dunlap.
With the crowd now on their feet, Paige was able to steal the ball from Hokie freshman guard Carrie Mason and drive to the basket to get the Mountaineers to within two. Mason fouled Paige on the play and the Mountaineer junior hit the free throw to make it 61-60, Virginia Tech.
“That was the spark that put the intensity back in us and we knew then that we had a very good chance of winning the game,” said Bulger.
West Virginia forced another Virginia Tech turnover and Bulger responded with her third three-point basket of the night to give West Virginia its first lead since leading 12-11 early in the first half.
Virginia Tech finally ended its drought with 1:02 left when Dawn Chriss hit a short jumper to tie the game at 63.
After a Virginia Tech timeout, West Virginia was able to retake the lead on a pair of free throws by Dunlap, and extended it to three on two more free throws by Paige with 27 seconds left.
Mason hit two foul shots on the other end for the Hokies with 11 seconds left. On the West Virginia inbounds play Ieva Kublina fouled Dunlap with 10 seconds remaining. The Memphis, Tenn., native coolly stepped up and converted both foul shots to give West Virginia a 69-66 advantage.
“We pulled it through,” said Dunlap. “I was confident. I just went up there and I put them in.”
With no timeouts remaining, Tech came down to attempt a three-point shot on the game’s final possession. Kublina’s three-point look grazed off the rim and West Virginia was able to run out the clock.
“As long as the crowd was in it we felt we had a chance,” said senior Michelle Carter who finished with 9 points and a team-best 8 rebounds. “The crowd really helped us out tonight.”
The Hokies (17-5, 6-5) began the game dominating the boards and getting easy shots inside. By halftime Tech built a 33-25 advantage and shot 50 percent from the floor. Meanwhile, West Virginia was just 9 of 28 from the floor including 1 of 8 from three-point distance.
Late in the second half with West Virginia on offense near its bench, Carey was able to call out plays and help his team get open looks. WVU hit 13 of 26 shots in the second half to finish the game with a more respectable 40.7 field goal percentage.
“We could talk and get them into position,” said Carey. “We called out the pick and roll where we were able to get Janell a basket or two; we could say ‘Dive, Dive’ because they overplayed us,” said Carey.
At the same time West Virginia got hot the Hokies went cold, hitting just 10 of 26 second-half shots for 38.5 percent. Tech finished the game making 22 of 50 field goal attempts for 44 percent.
“I thought we had legs at the end of the game where they didn’t,” said Carey.
The Hokies were able to hold a 40-32 advantage on the boards but committed 21 turnovers.
Mason paced Tech with 17 points and Kublina added 16 points and 6 rebounds, though she sat out a good portion of the first half with foul trouble. Kerri Gardin added 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The victory over Virginia Tech was the first by West Virginia since the Hokies joined the Big East.
“I may look calm right now but I’m the happiest person in the world,” said Virginia Beach native Yolanda Paige, who wasn’t recruited by the Hokies. “We waited until the last minute but we stepped it up.”
The Mountaineers have now won nine in a row and face No. 25 Boston College Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum following the men’s game against Villanova.
“I remember playing here my freshman year with five people in the stands; it was pretty much my family,” said Bulger. “To play in front of a crowd like this and beat a good team hopefully we can keep it going.”
“We’ve got Boston College on Saturday so it doesn’t get any easier,” added Carey.
Things may not get easier, but at least West Virginia can savor this win for a night before preparing for the Eagles this weekend. That game will be televised by the Mountaineer Sports Network and is scheduled to start at 3 pm.
