Providence Preview
February 07, 2006 10:00 AM | General
February 7, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia completes its two-game New England swing with a Tuesday night game at Providence that will tip off at 7 pm. The Mountaineers are coming off a 58-50 loss at Connecticut on Saturday, and need a victory against the Friars to remain in the hunt for a Big East tournament berth.
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| Junior Britney Davis-White is averaging 9.0 points per game and is now second on the team with 22 3-point baskets.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“This is a very important game for us just to get into the Big East tournament,” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey. “We’ve told our players that we need to win two or three more games just to get into the Big East tournament. That’s our goal right now: we have no expectations beyond getting into the Big East tournament.”
West Virginia (12-8, 4-5) is now 1-1 following the season-ending knee injury to junior guard Meg Bulger suffered in the road loss at St. John’s on Sunday, Jan. 29.
“Our other players have responded and have come out and continued to play hard,” said Carey. “I’ve been very happy with our effort.”
The Mountaineers upset No. 11-rated DePaul 82-70 in Morgantown before falling to No. 4 UConn by eight last Saturday night. LaQuita Owens has filled in nicely for Bulger, scoring 20 points in back-to-back games against DePaul and Connecticut.
The 5-foot-9-inch sophomore has made 15 of 30 field-goal attempts including 10 of 23 from 3-point distance. Owens has now boosted her season scoring average to 6 points per game.
Sophomore center Olayinka Sanni leads the Mountaineers with a 13.2-points-per-game scoring average. Sophomore forward Chakhia Cole is averaging 10.8 points and a team-best 7.3 rebounds per game.
Junior guard Britney Davis-White is averaging 9 points and 2.8 rebounds per game, while 6-5 senior center Yelena Leuchanka is coming off the bench to average 8.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
Tonight, West Virginia is facing an improved Providence team led by Phil Seymore, who moved over to coach the women after serving as an assistant coach on Tim Welsh’s men’s staff. Seymore, who played for West Virginia men’s coach John Beilein at Canisius, operates a similar motion offensive system.
“He’s a very good guy and he’s very knowledgeable about the game of basketball,” Carey said of Seymore. “It’s funny because he runs a lot of Coach Beilein’s sets. When we started to scout them they looked very familiar to Coach Beilein’s offense.”
The Friars have three players averaging double figures led by junior guard Shauna Snyder’s 13.2 points per game. Six-one senior Gayle Nwafili is averaging 12.4 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, while freshman guard Chelsea Marandola is averaging 12.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
“They’re very patient on offense,” said Carey. “They run a spread and they shoot a lot of 3s. When they hit their 3s they’re pretty good.”
Providence (6-15, 1-9) has lost eight straight heading into tonight’s game. Most recently, the Friars dropped a 66-48 decision at Notre Dame last Saturday. Providence’s only Big East win came at home against Cincinnati on Jan. 7, a 58-57 decision.
“They have a lot of confidence at home and we’re really going to have to play hard and play one of our better games in order to beat them,” said Carey.
West Virginia has won 11 of 14 meetings against Providence including a sweep of the Friars last year. The Mountaineers are 5-2 against Providence at Alumni Hall/Mullaney Gymnasium.
Tonight’s game will be televised in Rhode Island on Cox Sports. Fans in West Virginia can listen to MSN’s live radio coverage. Stations carrying the broadcast include WAJR AM (Morgantown), WAJR FM (Clarksburg), WHIS (Bluefield), WSWW (Charleston), WTCS (Fairmont), WDNE (Elkins), and through the Internet at CSTV All-Access.
