Dunking the Deacons
March 24, 2005 09:35 PM | General
March 24, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Meg Bulger scored 18 points and freshman Olayinka Sanni added 15 to lead West Virginia to a 65-52 victory over Wake Forest in a WNIT quarterfinal-round game at the WVU Coliseum Thursday night.
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| Meg Bulger scores two of her game-high 18 points Thursday night to help West Virginia defeat Wake Forest 65-52 in a WNIT semifinal game at the WVU Coliseum.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
The Mountaineers (20-12) will face Kentucky on Monday night in Lexington at 7 pm in one WNIT semifinal game. The Wildcats defeated Xavier earlier tonight.
The other four teams vying for the second semifinal game are Arkansas State, Iowa, Southwest Missouri State and Texas A&M.
“It was up and down, up and down, but when the game was on the line we stepped up and won the game,” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey. “I’m very proud of them. That gives us 20 wins back-to-back and that says a lot about our program right now where it has come. But we still have a lot of work to do to continue to grow.”
Senior Sherell Sowho added 14 points to help West Virginia record back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in school history. WVU won 21 games last year on the way to an NCAA tournament appearance.
Erin Ferrell scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Wake Forest, which finishes its season with a 17-15 record.
Wake came into the game as one of the country’s top three-point shooting teams but managed to make just five of 30 for 16.7 percent. Overall the Demon Deacons were 21 of 61 from the field for 34.4 percent.
“They were averaging eight and a half and taking 20-some threes a game,” said Carey. “We felt we had to get out and contest and I thought we did a good job on the perimeter.”
Both teams got off to a rough start shooting the basketball. Wake Forest missed its first six shots before Liz Strunk hit a lay up at 15:41 to close West Virginia’s lead to 7-2.
“I thought we came out and started extremely well defensively,” said Carey.
The Mountaineers couldn’t capitalize on Wake’s troubles from the floor until late in the half when WVU used a 16-4 run to turn a 16-15 Demon Deacon lead into a 31-20 West Virginia halftime advantage.
“We had some good looks early after we were up and we had four or five possessions and just missed some easy ones,” Carey noted.
Sanni finally got things rolling with a pair of baskets and Chakhia Cole was able to convert a three-point play to put the Mountaineers up four, 22-18.
Leading 22-20, West Virginia used a 9-0 run to finish the first half. Paige hit a lay up to put WVU up 24-20, and Sowho hit a driving lay up and a three from the wing to make it 29-20. After a Wake Forest turnover, Paige made a runner off the bank board just ahead of the halftime buzzer.
“At the end of the first half I thought we hit some good shots and got the lead back up to 11,” Carey said.
The Mountaineers had their biggest lead of the game at 13, 40-27 on a three by Bulger with 15:29 remaining.
But Wake Forest battled back and got West Virginia’s lead to five, 45-40 after a Porsche Jones three-point play with 8:05 left.
Two Sowho free throws and a LaQuita Owens steal and lay up pushed WVU’s lead back out to nine, 49-40, but once against the Demon Deacons battled back.
Wake Forest used a 9-0 run over the next six minutes to tie the game at 49. Paige finally broke the scoreless spell for West Virginia with a tough pull-up jumper with 2:48 remaining.
On the other end Jones missed a driving lay up for Wake Forest and the Mountaineers were able to convert that into a pair of free throws when Bulger was fouled grabbing the rebound. Sowho followed with a steal under Wake Forest’s basket and was able to hit a lay up on the other end to put the Mountaineers up six, 55-49.
Thirty nine seconds later at 1:16, Sowho made a three-pointer from the corner that was the dagger for Wake Forest. West Virginia was able to make seven of its final eight free throws to give the Mountaineers their double-digit victory.
“Give them credit they hit some buckets and came back and tied the game up … they didn’t quit,” said Carey of Wake Forest.
West Virginia made 24 of 55 from the field for 43.6 percent. The Mountaineers held a two-rebound advantage at 38-38. Sanni and Cole each pulled down eight rebounds for West Virginia.
A crowd of 2,056 was announced for tonight’s game.
“The crowd was great once again,” said Carey. “I want to thank the fans for coming out and cheering us on because it really helped us when the game got close down the stretch.”
