Women's Basketball: WVU Knocks Off USF
February 17, 2007 10:15 PM | General
February 17, 2007
BOX SCORE
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| Olayinka Sanni |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Olayinka Sanni scored 22 points and collected eight rebounds to lead West Virginia to an impressive 73-64 victory over South Florida Saturday evening at the WVU Coliseum.
“That’s a very big win for us against a team that is ranked in the top 40 of the RPI,” West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. “It was a great crowd and a great atmosphere for our girls to play in and I think that really helped us a lot.”
Chakhia Cole added 18 points and Sparkle Davis chipped in 17 in a game that had five ties and nine lead changes.
It was a game of runs early on. With the scored tied at 14 with 13:09 to play in the first half, the Mountaineers mounted a 9-0 run that was capped by an Ashley Powell steal and lay up to give West Virginia a 23-14 lead with 9:28 remaining.
The Bulls responded with a 10-0 run of their own. The Big East’s leading scorer Jessica Dickson got it started with a rebound and put-back basket followed by a 3-pointer on South Florida’s next possession. After a free throw by Stephanie Sarosi and a pair by Rachael Sheets, Dickson capped the run with a jumper from just inside the 3-point line to give the Bulls a 24-23 lead at 5:19.
Dickson helped South Florida to a 31-27 halftime lead. The senior All-America candidate scored 16 points in the first half.
West Virginia (17-9, 8-5) shot 40.7 percent in the first half, led by Sanni’s 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting from the field.
“Yinka got off to a great start and we were able to take it to them inside early,” Carey said.
With the scored tied at 42-42 early in the second half, the trend of scoring runs continued to be a theme in the game. WVU struck first, exploding on an 11-2 run that was capped by a LaQuita Owens 3 to give West Virginia a seemingly comfortable 53-44 lead with 11:01 to play in the game.
The Bulls reeled off seven consecutive points of their own. Sheets started the run with a steal and lay up, followed by a Dickson 3 and a Nalini Miller lay up cut the Mountaineer’s lead to two at 53-51 with 8:47 left to play.
That was as close as the Bulls would get the rest of the way. The 3 by Dickson with 9:32 to go was her last field goal of the game. The Mountaineers ran several different defenders at Dickson and switched well on screens to contain her down the stretch.
“We started switching on Dickson one through four to be honest with you,” Carey said. “We did a good job keeping her in front of us and not giving her any good looks down the stretch.”
Following the South Florida run, Davis hit a clutch 3 followed by a Cole lay up to give West Virginia a more comfortable 59-51 lead with 6:15 remaining. The Mountaineers were never seriously threatened the rest of the way.
For the game, West Virginia shot 49.1 percent from the field, including an impressive 15 of 26 in the second half, while holding the Bulls to just 36.4 percent shooting.
South Florida (18-8, 8-5) was led by Dickson’s 28 points. Sheets added 18.
The win moves West Virginia into a four-way tie for fourth place in the Big East Conference standings with Louisville, Pitt and South Florida. The Mountaineers play at Pitt on Tuesday and finish off the regular season with games against Cincinnati and Louisville.
“I told our girls the magic number for the NCAA Tournament is probably 20 wins,” Carey said. “We need to either win the three we have left or get some in the (Big East) tournament.”
West Virginia improves to 12-1 at home this season.
West Virginia returns to action on Tuesday Feb. 20, when it travels to Pitt. Tip off from the Petersen Events Center is set for 7 p.m.
