Women's Basketball: WVU Falls at UConn
February 04, 2006 11:59 PM | General
February 4, 2006
STORRS, Conn. – Charde Houston scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead No. 4 Connecticut to a 58-50 victory over West Virginia Saturday night at Gampel Pavilion.
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| West Virginia's Ashley Powell is covered tightly by Connecticut's Mel Thomas, center, and Renee Montgomery during the second half of their Big East basketball game in Storrs, Conn., on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006. Uconn won the game, 58-50.
AP photo/Fred Beckham |
West Virginia, looking to knock off a nationally ranked team for the second straight time without its leading scorer Meg Bugler, got 20 points from sophomore LaQuita Owens and 11 from Olayinka Sanni.
Despite Owens’ 20 points, West Virginia coach Mike Carey thought Owens was fatigued.
“She had a lot of good looks -- her and Britney Davis-White,” he said. “We had a lot of open 3s and we just couldn’t hit them. We had no legs because they’re all playing a lot of minutes right now.”
Neither team had much success shooting the basketball: Connecticut was 18 of 56 for 32.1 percent and West Virginia was 19 of 52 for 36.5 percent.
“We were playing a game where their number one player is hurt, and physically we’re not 100 percent coming out of our road trip,” said Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma. “If you put all of those things into the mix, it made for one pretty lousy game. I think West Virginia helped a little bit in that they were aggressive.”
The difference came from 3-point rage where UConn made 8 of 26 while West Virginia was able to convert only 4 of 17.
The Huskies held a narrow 38-36 advantage on the boards. Chakhia Cole grabbed a game-high 11 for West Virginia.
Mel Thomas contributed 11 points and Barbara Turner added 10 for Connecticut, now 21-2, 10-0.
“Connecticut is a great team, and we’re just shorthanded,” said Carey. “They were coming off the bench with All-Americans; we were coming off the bench with trainers. It’s a big difference but our girls didn’t quit. We had to make it a sloppy game because it was the only way we could play right now. Our girls didn’t quit. I was proud of them, they had a lot of heart -- they just didn’t take care of the basketball.”
West Virginia (12-8, 4-5) has now lost all 16 meetings to Connecticut since joining the Big East in 1996.
“These are the same kids that made it to the final rounds of the WNIT last year, minus a few players,” said Auriemma. “I think Mike Carey has done a great job recruiting down there. They don’t go away easy.”
The Mountaineers remain on the road to face Providence on Tuesday night.
