Women's Basketball: WVU to Face Kentucky
March 28, 2005 02:09 PM | General
March 28, 2005
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| Paige |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women’s basketball team battles Kentucky in a WNIT semifinal game in Lexington, Ky., Monday night. It is West Virginia’s deepest post-season run in school history.
The Mountaineers (20-12) advanced to the semifinals by defeating Wake Forest 65-52 in Morgantown last Thursday night. West Virginia got 18 points from Meg Bulger and 15 from freshman center Olayinka Sanni in the victory.
WVU was able to pull away from the Demon Deacons late by hitting seven of its final eight free throws.
Senior Sherell Sowho contributed 14 points including hitting a big three-point basket late in the game. The Mountaineers are expected to use a starting lineup consisting of Bulger (19.3 ppg.), Sanni (7.2 ppg.), Sowho (12.6 ppg.), senior Yolanda Paige (12.3 ppg.) and freshman Chakhia Cole (6.9 pp.).
Paige continues to lead the country in assists with an average of 8.6 per game while Cole is the team’s top rebounder averaging 7.2 boards per contest.
West Virginia has struggled on the road going 3-7 in games at its opponent’s gymnasium. By contrast, Kentucky (18-15) has forged an impressive 15-3 mark in Memorial Coliseum this year.
The Wildcats defeated Eastern Michigan, Tennessee-Chattanooga and Xavier, all at home, to reach the semifinals. Six-foot senior forward Sarah Potts has been outstanding in the WNIT averaging 27.3 points and having back-to-back 30-point games to become the first Kentucky player to do that since 1983.
Potts is averaging a team-best 15.2 points per game.
Five-foot-p10 freshman guard Samantha Mahoney averages 10.8 points per game and 6-foot-6 freshman forward Sarah Elliott averages 10.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Elliott has started UK’s last six games and is tied for third on the school single-season list for blocks with 44.
Angela Phillips, a 5-foot-5-inch sophomore guard and Chante’ Bowman, a 5-foot-10 freshman forward, round out Kentucky’s starting lineup. Bowman averages 4.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game while Phillips averages 4.7 points per game and leads the team with 111 assists.
Kentucky is shooting an impressive 55.2 percent in its three WNIT wins including 38.3 percent from three-point distance. The Cats have won 12 straight non-conference games at Memorial Coliseum dating back to last year.
West Virginia and Kentucky last met 13 years ago in 1992 when UK downed the Mountaineers 73-63 in the second game of the Amana Iowa Hawkeye Classic. Kentucky also defeated West Virginia 70-63 in a 1984 game in Lexington in its only other meeting.
Monday night’s broadcast will be carried on WAJR-AM in Morgantown, WAJR-FM in Clarksburg, WHIS in Bluefield, WDNE in Elkins, WSWW in Charleston and Yahoo! Sports through the Internet. Air time is 6:50 pm.
The winner of the West Virginia-Kentucky game will meet the winner of the Southwest Missouri State-Iowa winner in the WNIT championship at a site to be determined.
