Women's Basketball: WVU Falls at Villanova
January 06, 2007 11:04 PM | General
January 6, 2007
BOX SCORE
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Stacie Witman hit all six of her free throw attempts in the final minute to lead Villanova to a 70-64 double-overtime victory over West Virginia Saturday night at the Pavilion in Philadelphia, Pa.
Villanova began the game with a 7-0 run capped by a Jackie Adamshick jumper with 15:36 to play in the half. West Virginia responded with a 9-0 run of their own to take a 9-7 lead when Lateefah Joye capped a three-point play with a foul shot with 11 minutes to play in the half.
With the game tied at 17 with 3:27 left in the first half, the Mountaineers ended the period on 9-4 run, taking a 26-21 lead at intermission.
West Virginia shot 35 percent from the field in the first half, making 9 of their 26 shots from the floor. The Mountaineer defense continued its stellar play, holding the Wildcats to just 24 percent shooting in the first period.
West Virginia began the second half with a scoring drought that lasted more than nine minutes. Meanwhile, Villanova took full advantage, starting the half on a 14-0 run that gave them a 35-26 lead on two Adamshick free throws with 11:56 to play in the game. Olayinka Sanni ended the drought on with a lay up to cut the lead to 35-28 with 10:45 left in the game. Villanova enjoyed their largest lead of the contest at 40-28 on an Adamshick jumper with 9:51 to play.
The Mountaineers were down but not out. WVU exploded on 21-3 run capped by a Sparkle Davis free throw that gave West Virginia a six point lead at 49-43 with just 38 seconds to play.
Maria Getty made a lay up on the ensuing possession to cut the Nova deficit to 49-45 and after Davis missed the front end of a one and one, Tia Grant hit a jumper to pull the Wildcats to within two at 49-47 with 21 seconds left. After a West Virginia turnover, Getty made a clutch jumper with four seconds left, sending the game to overtime tied at 49.
Nova held a 56-53 lead on a Lisa Karcic lay up with just 15 seconds to play in overtime. West Virginia would not quit. Cole converted a lay up with nine seconds remaining and was fouled. She calmly sank the free throw to tie the score at 56. Joye stole the ball from Tia Grant on the final possession of overtime to send the game into double overtime.
The second overtime belonged to the Wildcats. Villanova took a 64-59 lead on a Karcic lay up with 53 seconds to play. WVU responded with a Davis 3 to pull within 64-62 with 36 seconds left but Witman was up to the challenge at the foul line and sealed the Mountaineer’s fate.
For the game West Virginia (8-7, 0-3) shot 38 percent from the field. Villanova (7-8, 1-1) shot 38 percent as well but made nine 3s, three more than the Mountaineers. The game was decided on the glass where the Wildcats held a dominate 50-36 edge on the boards.
All five Villanova starters finished in double figures led by Karcic with 18 points.
West Virginia was led by Cole with 23 points. Sanni and Joye each added 10.
The Mountaineers return to action on Jan. 9 when they travel to DePaul. Tip-off against the Blue Demons is set for 8:00 p.m.
