Women's Basketball: WVU Prevails
January 15, 2005 04:16 PM | General
January 15, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – With West Virginia struggling of late, sophomore Meg Bulger has decided to put the Mountaineers on her shoulders. Saturday afternoon the Pittsburgh native scored 30 points to lead West Virginia to an important 64-56 victory over Seton Hall.
 |
||
| West Virginia's Olayinka Sanni fights for a loose ball during Saturday's game against Seton Hall. West Virginia won 64-56.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Bulger hit nine of 15 field goal attempts and was eight of nine from the foul line for her game-high total. Bulger became the first WVU player to record three-straight 20-point games since Lisa Szymczak did it in 1994 and it’s the eighth time this season Bulger has scored at least 20 points in a game.
Bulger also becomes the first player in 24 years to record 30 or more points in two consecutive contests. J.D. Drummonds was the last to accomplish the feat in 1980 with 30 points each against Western Michigan and Mount Mercy.
The Pittsburgh native scored a game-high 36 points in a loss against Marshall Tuesday night.
Saturday’s game had a little bit of everything. Seton Hall pounded West Virginia on the glass 41-34 but managed to hit just 35.6 percent of its field goal attempts (21 of 59).
West Virginia was a little better from the field converting 22 of 50 for 44 percent, but was miserable from the free throw line making just 14 of 30 for 46.7 percent.
Despite its cold shooting stroke, Seton Hall rebounding kept it in the game in the first half. The Pirates were able to post a 23-11 first-half advantage on the boards which enabled it to overcome a 15-point West Virginia lead at the 9:07 mark.
A Blake stick back lay up started a 16-3 Pirate run to reduce West Virginia’s lead to two. An Amber Bush lay up cut West Virginia’s lead to seven, 24-17 and another Bush lay up got the Pirates to within five, 26-21, at 4:49.
An Amber Harris basket got Seton Hall to within four, 27-23, and a pair of Harris free throws with 3:26 remaining made it, 27-25, Mountaineers.
Bulger stopped the bleeding with a three-point basket and finished the half strong by scoring the final 10 points for WVU.
A Bulger three gave West Virginia a 10-point lead at 40-30 and the Mountaineers were able to increase their lead to 15 once again after a Yolanda Paige jumper made it 49-34 with 14:04 remaining. A lay up by freshman Olayinka Sanni kept West Virginia’s lead at 15, 51-36, and Bulger gave the Mountaineers their biggest lead of the game at 17 on a three-point basket with 9:45 remaining.
West Virginia held a double-digit lead until a jumper by Ashley Bush got the Pirates to within eight, 56-48, at 7:03. Seton Hall trimmed its deficit to six on an Asia Carroll three before Sherell Sowho answered with a big three-point basket at 2:31 remaining to put WVU back up by nine.
Sanni contributed 10 points and nine rebounds for West Virginia, now 11-4, 2-2. Sanni could have had several more but left eight points at the free throw line, hitting just two of 10 for 20 percent. Sanni was also four of nine from the field.
Blake led Seton Hall with 15 points and nine rebounds. Bush scored 13, Amber Harris tacked on 12 and Carroll finished with 11.
Seton Hall slips to 10-6, 2-3.
West Virginia’s victory snapped a seven-game Seton Hall winning streak against the Mountaineers dating back to 1999.
West Virginia resumes conference play at nationally ranked Boston College on Thursday, Jan. 20, for a 7 pm match up.
