Women Advance
March 06, 2004 10:53 PM | General
March 6, 2004
HARTFORD, Conn. – Yolanda Paige scored 22 points and handed out 13 assists to lead West Virginia to an 84-59 victory over St. John’s in a Big East tournament first-round game at the Hartford Civic Center Saturday night.
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| West Virginia's Kate Bulger tries to receive a loose ball in the Mountaineers' 84-59 win over St. John's in the first round of the Big East tournament. (AP photo) |
Paige set a Big East tournament record with 8 steals and also tied a tournament record with 13 assists previously held by Providence’s Shawnya Evans.
West Virginia, now 20-9, faces No. 3-seeded Villanova Sunday night at 8 pm in the final quarterfinal round game.
“Since we’ve been here we’ve always lost that first tournament game and we weren’t having that this year,” said Paige.
Joining Paige in the double-figure scoring column was Sherell Sowho with 16, Meg Bulger with 12 and Michelle Carter and Latitia Williams with 10 points each.
The Mountaineers jumped out to a 9-2 lead to start the game, but St. John’s stayed close through the first six minutes of play. Forward Angie Clark’s layup at 14:17 pulled the Red Storm to within one, 13-12.
West Virginia then went on a 9-2 run to boost its lead to nine, 23-14, and a Paige three-point basket with 9:03 left in the first half gave the Mountaineers and 11-point, 30-19 edge.
After trading baskets, the Mountaineers scored the next 12 points to take a commanding 44-21 lead. Sowho got things going with a layup basket and Kate Bulger followed with a three-point to put WVU up by 16.
A short jumper by Williams gave West Virginia at 39-21 advantage, and a jumper by Janelle Dunlap pushed the lead to 20, 41-21. Another three by Bulger completed the run.
In the second half, West Virginia led by as many as 30 on the way to recording just its third victory in Big East tournament play since joining the league in 1996.
West Virginia made 33 of 65 field goal attempts for 50.7 percent after shooting 59 percent in the first half. The Mountaineers had 15 steals and finished the game forcing 22 St. John’s turnovers.
“We knew what we had to do from the beginning and that was to come out with a quick start and finish them off by halftime,” said Paige.
Clark and Shemika Stevens led St. John’s with 11 points each. The Red Storm finishes their season with a 10-18 record.
West Virginia produced its 20th victory of the season for just the fifth time in school history and the first since 1992, when the Mountaineers went 26-4 and advanced to the “Sweet 16” round of the NCAA tournament.
All four of the higher seeded teams won today. Boston College defeated Syracuse in the first game, Virginia Tech down Georgetown in the second game and earlier tonight, Rutgers outlasted Seton Hall.
Tomorrow’s games begin at noon with Miami taking on Boston College, followed by Connecticut playing Virginia Tech, Notre Dame facing Rutgers and West Virginia battling Villanova.
MSN’s coverage of tomorrow’s Big East tournament game will begin at approximately 7:50 pm.
