Women's Basketball: WVU Travels to Cincinnati
February 14, 2006 09:49 AM | General
February 14, 2006
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| Chakhia Cole |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Two teams fighting to get to the Big East tournament in Hartford, Conn., will hook up Wednesday night in Cincinnati when West Virginia takes on the Bearcats at Fifth Third Arena.
West Virginia and Cincinnati are both 4-7 in league play and are seeking a win to remain among the top 12 teams in the conference to advance to postseason play.
The Bearcats and Mountaineers are a tie for 11th place, with Georgetown (3-8), Providence (3-9), Seton Hall (3-9) and Syracuse (2-10) bringing up the rear.
West Virginia (12-10) has two quality wins this year against Louisville and nationally ranked DePaul at home, but misfortune and tough luck on the road has the Mountaineers fighting for their postseason lives. West Virginia is just 4-7 away from the WVU Coliseum including a 1-5 road record in Big East play this year. WVU’s only league road victory came at Syracuse more than a month ago on Jan. 7.
The Mountaineers are also 1-3 without star guard Meg Bulger, who suffered a season-ending knee injury at St. John’s on Jan. 29. Bulger was averaging a team-best 19.8 points per game when she went down in the second half against the Red Storm. After upsetting DePaul two days later, West Virginia has dropped consecutive games to Connecticut, Providence and Rutgers. The loss at Providence was particularly damaging since the Friars are one of the teams at the bottom of the conference standings.
Sophomore center Olayinka Sanni (13.2 ppg.) and Chakhia Cole (10.6 ppg.) are the only Mountaineer players averaging double figures.
Like West Virginia, Cincinnati (14-8) heads into Wednesday night’s game having lost three straight and sorely in need of a win. After beating Seton Hall 77-58 at home on Feb. 1, the Bearcats have lost consecutive games to Pitt, DePaul and Villanova.
Cincinnati’s loss to the Wildcats on Saturday was its worst offensive performance of the year, the Bearcats scoring just 40 points and shooting 36.4 percent for the game. Cincinnati, like West Virginia, has had a tough time handling the basketball committing 18.1 turnovers per game. The Mountaineers’ young backcourt has turned the ball over 18.7 times per game.
Treasure Humphries, a 5-foot-6-inch guard, is averaging 13.4 points per game to lead the Bearcats. Five-ten freshman guard Shelly Bellman is averaging 10.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
Six-four senior center Anne Stephens, a Parkersburg South graduate, is averaging 8.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest. Stephens has scored 776 career points and pulled down 438 rebounds in 99 career games played.
West Virginia and Cincinnati have played four previous times with the Bearcats winning three, but the last meeting was in 1983.
Tip off is set for 7 pm. MSN will carry the game live on WAJR-AM (Morgantown), WAJR-FM (Clarksburg), WHIS (Bluefield), WSWW (Charleston), WTCS (Fairmont), WDNE (Elkins) and on the Internet though CSTV All-Access.
Following Wednesday night’s Cincinnati game, West Virginia has Big East contests remaining against Pitt, Notre Dame and Villanova at home, and on the road at South Florida. All four of those teams are ahead of the Mountaineers in the league standings and have a combined 60-33 record.
