In Overdrive
February 22, 2005 10:23 PM | General
February 22, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia’s precision shooting in the first half spurred a runaway 99-59 victory over visiting Providence Tuesday night in BIG EAST women’s basketball action at the WVU Coliseum.
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| Yolanda Paige drives to the basket to score two points against Providence. Paige finished the game with 11 assists.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
The Mountaineers shot a sizzling 71.4 percent on 20-of-28 shooting from the floor in the first half before finishing the game with a 65.5 (38-58) percentage.
Sophomore guard Meg Bulger had the hottest hand for the Mountaineers (16-9, 7-7) scoring a game-high 28 points as she nailed 12 of her 14 shots including a perfect four of four from three-point range. It marked her BIG EAST leading 13th 20-point game on the year.
Bulger collected 21 points in the first half and head coach Mike Carey removed his starters seven minutes into the second half by the time WVU established a 40-point lead, 75-35.
“We came out and shot extremely well and had a lot of people score,” Carey said. “It’s good to get a lot of people scoring and getting a lot of people playing time. We did what we had to do against this team and we came out and we dominated early and we kept it going.”
The 99 points were the most WVU scored since a 100-84 home win vs. Miami in the 2002-03 season.
Five Mountaineers scored in double figures, including freshman center Olayinka Sanni who tossed in 18 points on seven of eight shooting. Sanni, who led the team with five rebounds, benefited from WVU’s excellent shooting as the Friars spread their defense to defend the outside shot.
“Yinka did exactly what she needed to do,” Carey said. “I wanted her to be more active on the boards. They couldn’t hold her down low. She got going when they expanded and she was one-on-one on the post and was able to score.”
Joining Bulger and Sanni in double figures in the scoring column were sophomore guard Kate Glusko who scored a career-high 14 points on five of seven shooting and four of five from three-point range, after entering the game off the bench, while freshmen starting guards Chakhia Cole and LaQuita Owens netted 12 and 11 points, respectively.
In all, every West Virginia player that entered the game registered at least two points. Senior point guard Yolanda Paige, who played 27 minutes and still managed to outdo her NCAA-leading assists average of 9.0 with a game-high 11 helpers, was the only starter not to reach double figures with three points. Paige moved into 15th place on the all-time NCAA career assists list during the game as she now has 832.
“We were very unselfish and we didn’t force anything,” Carey added. “I was happy about that.”
Providence (1-24, 0-14) had three players score double digits as sophomore forward Shauna Snyder tallied 23 points on 10 of 18 shooting and three of nine from 3-point range. Sophomore guard Jill Furstenburg and freshman center Kristen Brown compiled 17 and 11 points, respectively.
West Virginia led 48-22 at the half after mounting a 10-point lead 4:45 in the game on a 14-4 run. Cole’s lay-up with 11:53 left in the first half secured the double-digit advantage for good and five minutes later a Sanni field goal gave WVU a 20-point lead, 32-12.
The game belonged to Bulger, however, who netted her 21st point of the game with a three-pointer with two minutes remaining in the half giving the Mountaineers a 48-20 lead.
“To me, Meg could’ve had a lot more points,” Carey said. “She kept distributing the ball. Meg’s such an unselfish player. We’ve played everybody but Notre Dame and Connecticut this year and I wouldn’t trade her for anybody. She continues to develop; she’s something special and she’s going to get better and better.”
The Mountaineers also got a big boost tonight when Georgetown was able to knock off St. John’s and Seton Hall lost to Villanova to give West Virginia sole possession of sixth place in the BIG EAST standings.
West Virginia gets nationally ranked foes in Notre Dame and Connecticut in its next two games visiting the Fighting Irish Saturday, Feb. 26, at 2 p.m., before hosting the three-time defending national champion Huskies on Tuesday, March 1, at the WVU Coliseum at 7 p.m.
West Virginia, 4-1 in its last five games, has now won 25 of their last 29 home games and 15 of 19 in the BIG EAST home contests.
