Windy City Upset
January 09, 2007 10:04 PM | General
January 9, 2007
BOX SCORE
CHICAGO - LaQuita Owens scored a career-high 26 points and Olayinka Sanni added 22 points and eight rebounds to lead West Virginia to a 74-63 upset victory over No. 24 DePaul Tuesday evening at McGrath Arena in Chicago, Ill.
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| West Virginia's Chakhia Cole, right, drives to the basket against DePaul's Holly Medley during the first half of a basketball game, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007 in Chicago.
AP photo |
The Mountaineers dug a hole early, falling behind 23-9 with 8:16 left in the first half. The Gold and Blue proved resilient, ending the half on a 20-11 run to cut the deficit to a more manageable 34-29 margin at halftime.
Sanni scored 11 points during that run to single-handedly keep the Mountaineers in the game. The Chicago Heights, Ill., native was on fire in her homecoming game, scoring 19 of her 22 points in the first half and shooting a perfect 9 of 9 for the game from the field.
In the second half Owens took over where Sanni left off, scoring 18 of her 22 points to rally the Mountaineers.
With DePaul leading 39-34 less at the 16-minute mark, West Virginia responded with a 10-0 run to take a 44-39 advantage on a Lateefah Joye rebound and stick back with 12:30 left in the contest.
The Blue Demons battled back to take a 53-52 lead on two Allie Quigley free throws with 8:14 remaining. From there the Mountaineers took total control, exploding on a 12-0 run that was capped by an Owens 3 to make the score 64-53 with just 4:07 left to play.
DePaul pulled to within seven, 64-57, on two Quigley free throws but that was as close as the home team could get. Owens calmly sank both of her foul shots on the ensuing possession to push the Mountaineer advantage to 66-57 with 3:43 left.
West Virginia (9-7, 1-3) enjoyed its largest lead of the game at 71-58 on two Chakhia Cole free throws with just over two minutes left in the contest.
For the game, the Mountaineers shot 47 percent from the field, connecting on 24 of their 51 shots. They held DePaul to just 32 percent. WVU out-rebounded the Blue Demons 40-34. Cole pulled down an impressive 14 rebounds to go with her seven points.
Jenna Rubino led DePaul (11-5, 1-2) with a career-high 27 points in the losing effort. Caprice Smith added 16 points and 13 rebounds.
The victory marked the Mountaineers’ first road win over a ranked opponent under head coach Mike Carey.
The loss snapped DePaul’s 58-game home winning streak against unranked opponents. The Mountaineers are now only the third Big East team to win in McGrath Arena since the Blue Demons began Big East Conference play.
West Virginia returns home this Saturday to host Providence in a key Big East game. Tip-off from the WVU Coliseum is set for 2 p.m.
