Women's Basketball: WVU Battles Maine Friday
March 17, 2005 10:23 AM | General
March 17, 2005
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women’s basketball team will face Maine in a Women’s National Invitational Tournament first round game Friday night at the WVU Coliseum.
The Black Bears were upset by Boston University in the first round of the America East tournament in Hartford, Conn., on March 10. Maine shot just 26.3 percent for the game in a 12-point loss to BU. Six-foot forward Monica Peterson led Maine with 14 points and 10 rebounds in that game.
Five-seven guard Missy Traversi with an average of 13.3 points per game. The Attleboro, Mass., native is shooting 40.3 percent and ranks second on the team with 50 threes.
Six-one guard Bracey Barker is the only other Black Bear player averaging double figures at 12 points per game. Barker’s 5.8 rebounds-per-game average is second to Peterson, who pulls down 6.7 rebounds per contest.
Maine (20-9) is shooting 43.2 percent as a team and has made 39.3 percent of its three-point field goal attempts. The Black Bears are being slightly out-rebounded 34.4-34.0.
Maine shows non-conference wins over St. Joseph’s of the Atlantic 10 and Michigan of the Big Ten.
West Virginia, meanwhile, is making its second consecutive post-season appearance under fourth-year coach Mike Carey. Last year the Mountaineers made their first NCAA tournament trip in 12 years, losing at Ohio State in a first round game.
This year West Virginia produced a 17-12 record, losing to nationally ranked Notre Dame in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament back on March 6. The Mountaineers managed a 7-9 record in Big East play.
West Virginia’s top player is 6-foot sophomore Meg Bulger, recently named a Kodak All-America finalist. Bulger led the Big East in scoring all season and currently shows a 19.3-points-per-game average. She is shooting 45.9 percent from the field including 43.7 percent from three-point range. Bulger’s 73 threes are seven behind Connecticut’s Ann Strother for the Big East lead.
Senior point guard Yolanda Paige will have to take up some more of the scoring slack with the announced indefinite suspension of senior guard Sherell Sowho, who was second on the team in scoring with an average of 12.6 points per game.
Paige is averaging 11.8 points per game and has handed out a conference-best 254 assists.
Freshman guard LaQuita Owens is expected to take Sowho’s place in the starting lineup. The Charlotte, N.C., native has made one start this year and has played in 22 of West Virginia’s 29 games this season. Owens averages 2.1 points per game and is shooting 30.0 percent.
The rest of the WVU lineup will be comprised of freshman forward Chakhia Cole and freshman center Olayinka Sanni. Cole is pulling down a team best 7.0 rebounds per game while Sanni has continued to make progress, boosting his scoring average to 6.6 points per game and her rebounding average to 4.5 boards per game.
West Virginia and Maine will be meeting for the first time in women’s basketball. The Mountaineers are making their second WNIT appearance having first been invited in 1985.
The winner of the West Virginia-Maine game will meet the winner of the St. John’s-Delaware game at a site and time to be determined.
Friday’s game is scheduled to tip off at 7 pm. Tickets are priced at $6 for the general public and $4 for WVU students.
