Mountaineers Prevail
November 30, 2006 10:53 PM | General
November 30, 2006
BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Britney Davis-White came off the bench to score 17 points to lead West Virginia to a 73-47 victory over Houston Thursday night at the WVU Coliseum.
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| West Virginia's Olayinka Sanni tries to secure the basketball during Thursday night's 73-47 win over Houston at the WVU Coliseum.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Davis-White scored her 17 points in 17 minutes of action, hitting 5 of 9 shots including 3 of 5 from 3-point range.
“I was glad to see Britney come off the bench and do well because she needs that confidence,” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey.
Sparkle Davis started in place of Davis-White and finished with 10 points, as did LaQuita Owens. Olayinka Sanni just missed a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds.
“I thought the first half we took care of the ball,” said Carey. “Even though they tried to slow us down we were able to execute and get some things going. Defensively I thought at times we played well. In the first half I thought we did a good job on the boards. The second half we gave up way too many offensive rebounds.”
Under-manned Houston without two of its top players, managed to shoot just 27.1 percent and was 1 of 12 from 3 for 8.3 percent.
“This team tried to slow us down and this is the first team that has really tried to do that to us, so I was glad to see that we didn’t get too excited and start forcing up shots,” Carey said.
In addition to Davis-White, Carey was pleased with the boost Lateefah Joye gave the team coming off the bench. Joye finished with seven points, seven rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block in 21 minutes.
“I think Lateefah is going to continue to get better and better once she gets comfortable with what’s going on,” Carey said. “She’s one of the players that we will let push the break because she finds the open person and can really push it.”
Carey is beginning to see the fruits of his team’s efforts after enduing a rough early season schedule that included a pair of nationally ranked teams in LSU and Texas A&M.
“We were 3-3 coming into this game and I don’t remember one game that we didn’t play great defense and out-rebound the other team,” Carey said. “Our struggles have been on the offensive end with turnovers and missed shots. Tonight we missed two or three wide open lay ups. If we can score we’ve got an opportunity to win because our defense is going to be there and our rebounding is going to be there.”
The Mountaineers (4-3) have just one day to prepare for a Saturday afternoon game against Coppin State at the WVU Coliseum.
“The game we play Saturday against Coppin State will be totally the opposite,” Carey said. “They went to the NCAAs last year and they are picked this year to win their league. They are very athletic and really run and gun. You’re going to see a different type of game on Saturday.”
The contest has been set at 1 pm to accommodate the West Virginia-Rutgers football game that will kickoff at 7:45 Saturday night.
