Women's Basketball: WVU To Battle Demon Deacons
March 23, 2005 02:53 PM | General
March 23, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women’s basketball team is looking to keep its season alive with a WNIT third-round game at the WVU Coliseum Thursday night against Wake Forest.
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| Yolanda Paige scored 24 points and made all 12 free throws in leading West Virginia to a 68-63 win over St. John's Monday night.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
The contest will tip off at 7 pm which should give local basketball fans plenty of time to return home to watch the men’s team face Texas Tech in an NCAA men’s tournament “Sweet 16” round game later Thursday night.
West Virginia (19-12) earned the right to face Wake Forest after depositing St. John’s 68-63 in a tough second-round game at the WVU Coliseum Monday night. Senior Yolanda Paige scored 24 points and made all 12 of her free throws including 10 in the second half to move WVU to within one game of having back-to-back 20-win seasons under fourth-year coach Mike Carey.
Meg Bulger contributed 15 points and rising freshman center Olayinka Sanni scoring 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Senior Sherell Sowho, of a one-game suspension for violating team rules, came off the bench to contribute 10.
Bulger leads the Mountaineers in scoring with an average of 19.3 points per game and with a basket Thursday night will become one of just 10 men or women’s basketball players to have scored 600 points in a single season. Bulger is shooting 46.3 percent from the field this season.
Paige has boosted her scoring average to 12.4 points per game while handing out a team-best 271 assists. Sowho is second to Bulger in scoring with an average of 12.6 points per game,
Wake Forest (17-14) got to Morgantown after downing an athletic South Florida team 78-63 in Winston-Salem, N.C., Monday night. Six-foot senior forward Erin Ferrell led Wake with 18 points and a career-high 20 rebounds. She secured her 10th double-double of the season and pulled down her 600th career rebound in the 15-point win.
Ferrell is one of four Wake Forest players averaging double figures at 11.7 points per game. Tops on the list 5-foot-7 junior guard Cotelia Bond-Young with an average of 15.3 points per game. Six-foot-one swing Liz Strunk averages 15.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game while 5-foot-3 point guard Porsche Jones averages 12.5 points and has handed out a team-best 148 assists.
Wake Forest struggled in Atlantic Coast Conference play winning just three of 14 league games. Wake’s ACC wins came twice against Clemson and once at Miami. The Demon Deacons also upset Virginia Tech in the first round of the ACC tournament before being knocked out by Duke.
Wake is just 4-7 away from home but is 2-2 in non-conference road games.
West Virginia is 13-3 in games played at the Coliseum this year including a 7-0 record against non-conference teams. West Virginia and Wake have met four prior times with West Virginia owning a 3-1 mark. Wake’s only victory over West Virginia came during the 1989-90 season when the Deacs captured a 74-70 decision in Winston-Salem.
Wake Forest’s 17 victories are its most since winning 23 games during the 1986-87 season.
The winner of the West Virginia-Wake Forest game will be play the winner of the Kentucky-Xavier game at a site and date to be determined.
The game will be available on the Internet through Yahoo! Sports.
Tickets for the contest are $6 for the general public and the first 500 WVU students with proper identification will be admitted free courtesy of Coca-Cola. Tickets can be purchased at the Mountaineer Ticket Office or at the gate. There are no phone sales.
Students can obtain their free ticket Thursday night beginning at 6 pm at the Gold Gate.
