Women's Basketball: WVU Falls to Louisville
March 04, 2007 03:44 PM | General
March 4, 2007
BOX SCORE
HARTFORD, Conn. – No. 5 seed Louisville jumped out to a 23-5 lead and never looked back, dismissing No. 4 seed West Virginia 68-56 in the quarterfinal round of the Big East Tournament Saturday afternoon at the Hartford Civic Center.
The game started in a similar fashion to the game Monday night at Louisville, only this time the Mountaineers couldn’t dig themselves out of a huge hole a second time. West Virginia started the game an ice-cold 1 of 15 from the field, falling behind by 18 at the 7:09 mark of the first half.
“It all started in the first half. You can’t shoot 17 percent and expect to win,” West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. “We had no energy. They came out and wanted it more than we did. They played harder and took it. We had some good looks but we just didn’t take them. The second half we played a little bit better but they hit some big shots. It’s very disappointing but I give Louisville all the credit. They came out and played harder than we did.”
The Mountaineers showed signs of life as the half wound down, mounting a 9-1 run capped by a Sparkle Davis jumper with 1:15 to play to make the score 24-14 in favor of the Cardinals. Louisville scored the final basket of the half on a jumper by Patrika Barlow to take a 26-14 lead at intermission.
West Virginia made just 5 of 29 shots from the floor in the first half including 1 of 11 from 3-point range. Louisville wasn’t much better connecting on just 9 of 26 shots but the Cardinals did manage to make 4 of 11 from 3.
West Virginia (20-10, 11-6) had reason to be optimistic heading into the locker room. The game was playing out just like Monday night’s contest at Louisville. Despite a putrid first half of basketball, a late run pulled the Mountaineers to within striking distance of the Cardinals.
It wasn’t meant to be this time around for the Gold and Blue. Louisville used six offensive rebounds as well as clutch shooting when they needed it to hold West Virginia at arms length in the second half.
Every time the Mountaineers mounted a run, Louisville responded with a dagger 3 to hold West Virginia at bay. A Lateefah Joye basket cut the deficit to 41-34 with 10:58 to play but Louisville’s Helen Johnson responded with a 3 to push it back to 44-34.
A quick 5-0 West Virginia run made the score 44-39 with 8:54 to play but once again Johnson nailed a back-breaking 3 at the other end to give the Cardinals a more comfortable 47-39 lead with 8:33 to go. The Mountaineers would get no closer the rest of the way.
West Virginia shot 32 percent for the game, compared to 41 percent for Louisville. The Cardinals were an impressive 10 of 23 from 3-point range and held a 43-36 rebounding advantage.
Louisville (26-6, 12-6) was led by Big East Player of the Year Angel McCoughtry’s 26 points and 17 rebounds. Jazz Covington chipped in 11 for the Cardinals.
LaQuita Owens led West Virginia with 28 points, 26 of which came in the second half. She also snared a career-high 13 rebounds. The Charlotte, N.C. native tied her career-high with six 3-pointers and recorded her fourth double-double of the season.
Joye chipped in a career high 13 points.
Olayinka Sanni was held to just four points on 1 of 7 shooting from the field.
The Mountaineers will now wait until next Monday (March 12) to find out where they will be going in postseason play. Carey is confident his team has earned an NCAA Tournament bid.
“If the number four team in the BIG EAST doesn’t get an NCAA bid then they ought to outlaw the NCAA,” Carey said.
