Seven in a Row
January 31, 2007 10:33 PM | General
January 31, 2007
BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – LaQuita Owens tied her career high with 26 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead West Virginia to a 67-49 victory over the Syracuse Orange Wednesday night at the WVU Coliseum.
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| West Virginia's Ashley Powell scores a basket during the first half of college basketball in Morgantown, W.Va., Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Owens connected on 10 of her 19 shots from the field and was 5 of 10 from 3-point range. Owens’ double-double was the third of her West Virginia career. Sparkle Davis chipped in 13 points and Sanni scored 10 to round out the Mountaineers in double- figures.
West Virginia led 32-22 at the half despite shooting just 38.9 percent. Much of that was due to the fact that WVU held the Orange to an ice-cold 25 percent in the first period on 8 of 32 shooting from the field.
Owens hit a 3 to begin the second half, which sparked much crisper play offensively for the Mountaineers. The Gold and Blue shot 44 percent in the second half and continued to hold the Orange down at the other end.
West Virginia (15-7, 6-3) scored 23 points off 19 Syracuse turnovers while holding the Orange to only 29.3 percent shooting for the game. West Virginia never trailed at any point and Syracuse got no closer than 11 after Owens’ 3 to begin the second half.
Despite his team’s seventh win in a row and sixth straight in the Big East play, West Virginia coach Mike Carey was not pleased with the effort.
“It was a very sloppy game,” Carey said. “We won and we’re happy that we won but I am very disappointed in our effort and very disappointed in our execution. We seemed two steps slow tonight.”
Syracuse (8-14, 2-7) was led by Fantasia Goodwin’s 15 points, while Vaida Sipaviciute posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards. The Orange have now lost five straight and seven of their last eight contests.
West Virginia improved its home record to 10-1 and has now won six straight times against Syracuse.
Lateefah Joye sat out the game with a knee injury sustained in practice on Tuesday. Carey said she has an MRI scheduled for Sunday.
West Virginia returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 4, when it travels to South Bend, Ind., to take on Notre Dame. Tip-off from the Joyce Center is set for 5:30 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
“We’re going to have to play a lot better than we did tonight if we want to have a chance against Notre Dame,” Carey said. “They are a very good basketball team. I told the girls there are no easy games from here on out.”
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