Sharp Shooter
December 19, 2005 10:09 PM | General
December 19, 2005
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| Bulger |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Meg Bulger says it was nice going down the floor the first time against Cleveland State and not seeing a box-and-one or triangle-and-two defense designed specifically to stop her. So far teams have gone to junk defenses to try and take away West Virginia's leading scorer.
“Inside I had the biggest smile on my face. It was a big sigh of relief and I was thinking, ‘Thank you,’” she said. “It was nice and comfortable not running around like crazy against a box and one.”
Cleveland State coach Kate Peterson said she never considered using a junk defense to stop West Virginia’s best player.
“We haven’t worked on that and we won’t need it for our conference season,” she said. “We won’t see an individual player with these capabilities in our conference. Spending time on a box-and-one or a triangle-and-two to close the gap another 15 points? I didn’t feel like the benefits were there.”
In reality, it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway the way Bulger was shooting. She tied a WVU record with 38 points and the Mountaineers had little trouble handling the Vikings Monday night, winning 82-39.
“We came out and did exactly what we should have done against a team that’s not as good as us,” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey. “The defense got some turnovers early; we got some easy shots. They never did guard Meg and she had great looks all night.”
Bulger outscored Cleveland State by 10 (26-16) at halftime, and the only question was whether or not she was going to break Christie Lambert’s seven-year record for points in a game.
Bulger scored her 34th point at the 10:17 minute mark of the second half and got her 36th point 17 seconds later. After a short rest, Carey gave her one more crack to get the record with seven minutes remaining. Bulger tied it with a short jumper in the lane at 6:09 and fired up a couple of more shots before Carey pulled her for good.
“They kept telling me she needed two points to tie the record and three points to break it, but she goes in there and starts falling on the ground and gets tied up for jump balls and all that,” said Carey. “Those records … I want to see her do it in a one or two-point game.
“It’s not worth it getting someone hurt and I didn’t want to embarrass the other team,” Carey said. “She had a couple of shots to get it; she tied it and that’s enough. Cleveland State came in here and played hard but we just had more talent than them.”
The junior admitted feeling awkward when her teammates found out she was getting close to the mark.
“I hate when it’s like, ‘Go get the ball.’ I just like having the flow of the game, keep playing the same game, keep running our offense and that’s when it comes,” Bulger said. “It gets a little confusing but it was nice of them to try.”
“We quit reversing the ball, quit moving and were just trying to give her the ball,” said Carey. “It’s just not worth it. She’s going to set a lot of great records here before her career is finished.”
Bulger finished the game hitting 15 of 28 from the floor, including 8 of 16 from 3-point distance in just 28 minutes of action. It was her sixth career 30-point game, tying a school record held by Rosemary Kosiorek and Talisha Hargis and she also set the Coliseum mark for 3-pointers (eight) in game and points in a half (26).
“I was telling one of our grad assistants on the bench during the game that I forgot that she was actually that good,” said freshman guard Sarah Bucar, once a high school teammate of Bulger. “She just came out and couldn’t miss tonight.”
Bulger got help from sophomore Olayinka Sanni, who scored 12 and grabbed four rebounds in 19 minutes of work. Yelena Leuchanka came off the bench to contribute 10 points and grab a game-high eight rebounds.
West Virginia shot 50 percent for the game (33 of 66), the sixth time in the last seven games it has exceeded 50 percent shooting. WVU held a 46-25 advantage on the backboard but committed 24 turnovers, causing Carey to frown.
“My biggest concern going into the Big East is turnovers,” said Carey. “I try to gear it toward the Big East and we’re not going out-rebound the those teams like we’re doing right now so we’ve got to take better care of the basketball.”
The Mountaineers (6-2) have now won three straight games after losing 72-70 at UNC Greensboro back on Dec. 3. Cleveland State drops to 2-7.
West Virginia plays its third game in a span of four days on Wednesday night, facing Kennesaw State at the Coliseum at 7 pm.
