Lights Out
January 29, 2008 11:00 PM | General
January 29, 2008
BOX SCORE | QUOTES | PHOTO GALLERY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – LaQuita Owens scored 20 of her 23 points in the second half to lead No. 12 West Virginia to a 63-54 victory over No. 4 Rutgers Tuesday night in front of a season-high crowd of 3,093 at the WVU Coliseum. The win marks the highest ranked team the Mountaineers have ever defeated.
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| Senior center Olayinka Sanni celebrates West Virginia's 63-54 victory over No. 4 Rutgers Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“I could sit here and say it is just another game for us but it is a big win for us especially with what has happened over the last two or three days, Meg Bulger goes down, Sanni goes out and we have some people to come off the bench that produce,” West Virginia Coach Mike Carey said. “It was a total team effort.”
The Scarlet Knights built a 28-22 halftime lead on the strength of 52.6 percent shooting. The visitors then threatened to pull away for good at the start of the second half when Epiphanny Prince followed her own miss and Kia Vaughn nailed two free throws to give Rutgers its largest lead of the game at 32-22 with 18:52 remaining.
The outlook only darkened a little over a minute later when Olayinka Sanni headed to the bench with her fourth foul as WVU was trailing 33-24 with 17:21 remaining. Mike Carey was then forced to go small, bringing freshman Liz Repella off the bench and sticking with that lineup for the majority of the second half.
Owens, who had missed four of her five shots in the first half, exploded to score 10 straight points. The first bucket came on a hard cut to the basket for a lay up, followed by a 3 from the elbow, a hard drive to the rim for two more and a banked in three at the top of the key that sparked a 10-1 run that pulled West Virginia to within one, 33-32, with 15:30 remaining.
It was all part of a 21-4 Mountaineer run that pushed the home team in front, 43-36 after Repella converted a three-point play on a backdoor drive to the basket with 10:41 to go. Essence Carson quickly responded with a step-back 3 for Rutgers, but for every charge the Scarlet Knights mounted on this night West Virginia had a swift and meaningful response. Sparkle Davis nailed a wide open 3 from the right side on the Mountaineers’ next possession to push the lead back out to seven, 46-39, with 8:48 to go.
RU scored the next five points when six-four center Kia Vaughn scored down low off a high-low feed from Carson - one of the few times the Scarlet Knights took advantage of her size advantage on the night - and Heather Zurich then drilled her only 3 of the night and Rutgers trailed 46-44 with 7:08 remaining.
West Virginia (17-3, 6-1) then used a 9-2 run that was capped by two Chakhia Cole free throws that gave her team a 55-46 lead with 3:50 left. Rutgers got two straight buckets to cut the lead to 55-50 and had West Virginia down to just two seconds left on the shot clock with the ball underneath the Mountaineers’ hoop.
Owens cut to the elbow, received a pass from Ashley Powell and drilled a fadeaway 3-pointer that gave the Mountaineers an eight point lead with 2:08 to go and proved to be the dagger.
“Coach just told us to get any quick shot we could and I made eye contact with Ashley, got the pass and then nailed the shot,” Owens said.
After shooting just 32 percent in the first half, West Virginia shot 52 percent in the second half while only committing four turnovers. The Mountaineers also converted on 12 of 15 second half free throws to seal the game down the stretch.
Rutgers was held to just 33 percent shooting in the first half, including only 3 of 12 from 3-point distance. The Scarlet Knights also committed 19 turnovers. The Mountaineers used an aggressive 2-3 zone with some 1-3-1 mixed in to confuse the Scarlet Knights for much of the night.
“I really think the 1-3-1 bothered them at times and it did a great job for us,” Carey said.
Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer attributed the miscues to a lack of focus and improvisation, settling for outside shots rather attacking the gaps and open areas in the zone.
“We lacked the ability to be creative. It’s amazing what we didn’t see. I think we played scarred and tentative because those turnovers were there all day long,” Stringer said.
Mike Carey improves to 4-5 in his tenure against Rutgers, a team he believes his squad usually matches up well against.
“Vivian and I stress defense and we stress fundamentals,” Carey said. “We have to do the little things to beat a team like that (Rutgers) and they do those little things you need to do to win better than almost anybody, so we’re very similar in that respect.”
Davis was the only other Mountaineer to reach double figures scoring 14, including the team’s first seven points of the game.
The loss snaps Rutgers 12-game winning streak while West Virginia runs its home court winning streak to 15, including 11 straight in league play.
Rutgers (17-3, 7-1) was led by Matee Ajavon and Vaughn, both scoring 12.
Carey praised the crowd and the student turnout which flooded the floor to celebrate with the team as time expired.
“We had a great crowd. I said on TV, too, this is atmosphere that we need to have,” Carey said. “It really helped us down the stretch, and the people who were not here, they missed a (heck) of a game. It was just a great atmosphere and that really helped us.”
West Virginia returns to action Sunday, Feb. 3, when they travel to New Jersey to take on the Seton Hall Pirates. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
“We play Seton Hall on Sunday and we have never beaten Seton Hall at Seton Hall; we have to get focused now,” Carey said. “That has been a tough place to play for us for whatever reason so we have to be ready to go Sunday. This win will mean a lot more to me if we can follow it up on the road.”
