Women Face Marshall
January 22, 2008 12:13 PM | General
January 22, 2008
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It’s not a Big East Conference game but West Virginia coach Mike Carey expects Marshall to provides the same intensity when the two teams hook up for the 2008 Chesapeake Energy Capital Classic Wednesday evening in Charleston.
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| West Virginia's LaQuita Owens drives to the basket during Saturday's 68-44 victory over the Red Storm in Jamaica, N.Y.
AP photo |
“They’re going to come out and take it to us, try and attack us and give us different looks just like any team we play in the Big East,” Carey said. “What our players are learning this year is that everyone is going to give us their best shot. Marshall is going to give us their best shot and they are going to come out and play very hard and we have to be ready for that.”
Marshall, 11-7, is coming off a 22-point home loss to SMU but has won 11 of 14 since opening the season 0-3. The Herd lost by four at home to Pitt earlier this year and also beat Missouri, 77-72 at a neutral site on Dec. 28.
“They’re a much improved team because of their athletic ability and they have people that can score from the perimeter,” Carey said. “Any time you have someone that can penetrate from the perimeter that opens up their post players and enables them to get easy offensive rebounds and score. We’ll have to keep our guards in front of us and make them shoot over top of us.”
Junior college transfer Kizzy Hart leads Marshall in scoring averaging 14.1 points per game. The senior guard has also made a team-best 31 3-point field goals.
“Ironically we signed her out of high school and she didn’t qualify and wound up going to junior college and Marshall ended up taking her,” Carey said. “I’m sure she will have a lot to prove against us tomorrow night. She’s a good, athletic guard out of Michigan. She has really improved her outside shooting based on what I’ve seen on film.”
Guard Casey Baker is another scoring threat. The junior is averaging 12.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while shooting a team-best 48.6 percent from the floor.
“She’s a slasher and not really a 3-point shooter. She really attacks the rim hard,” Carey said.
The West Virginia coach expects his team to see a variety of defenses from Marshall on Wednesday night.
“They pressure you some in the full court and they will pressure you some in the half court. They’ll change up man, use some zone; some trapping. In the past Marshall has played us some triangle and two,” Carey said.
West Virginia, ranked 12th in this week’s AP poll after improving its record to 14-3, is coming off a 24-point win at St. John’s on Saturday. The Mountaineers got a 22-point, 15-rebound game from center Olayinka Sanni and they held St. John’s to just six second-half field goals in a 68-44 victory.
“We played our match up zone a little bit and really took them out of their offense and kept them in front of us and did a good job rebounding,” Carey said.
Sanni is coming off a 43-point, 31-rebound week in games against Marquette and St. John’s to earn Big East player of the week honors. Carey said he has been asking Sanni and Chakhia Cole to be more aggressive on the glass at both ends of the floor.
“It’s very important that Yinka and Chakhia are very active on both ends,” Carey said. “Not only because they can defensive rebound but they get a lot of easy shots on the offensive end by hitting the glass because they’re very athletic and strong and can get to the rim. We’ve got to start rebounding better both offensively and defensively.
Sanni is averaging 17.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, while Cole shows averages of 10.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Senior Meg Bulger is averaging 13.8 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, while senior LaQuita Owens shows averages of 11.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
Last year West Virginia defeated Marshall, 76-54 and the Mountaineers have won five of their last six. Overall, West Virginia leads the series by a 30-15 count.
Tip off is 5:30 pm with the game being televised statewide on WVPBS and nationally on CSTV. MSN’s radio coverage begins at 5:20 pm with the pre-game show.
