Women's Basketball: WVU Falls to Iona
November 16, 2008 04:46 PM | General
November 16, 2008
| Iona 52, West Virginia 44 WVU Coliseum Morgantown, W.Va. |
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Box Score
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| Summary | ||||||||||||||
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| Stat Comparison | ||||||||||||||
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| FG Made-Att | 18-44 | 16-56 | ||||||||||||
| FG Percentage | 40.9% | 28.6% | ||||||||||||
| 3P Made-Att | 4-15 | 1-15 | ||||||||||||
| 3P Percentage | 26.7% | 6.7% | ||||||||||||
| FT Made-Att | 12-21 | 11-22 | ||||||||||||
| FT Percentage | 57.1% | 50.0% | ||||||||||||
| Rebounds | 33 | 47 | ||||||||||||
| Turnovers | 22 | 26 | ||||||||||||
| Top WVU Players | ||||||||||||||
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women’s basketball team (1-1) raced out to a first-half 15-4 lead on Iona (2-0), but could not maintain its pace and lost 52-44 to the Gaels this afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.
The defeat is only the second non-conference home loss under Coach Mike Carey. The previous loss came at the hands of Texas A&M – Corpus Christi in 2005-06, a 70-69 overtime finish.
“We’re not going to make any excuses. We jumped to the lead in the beginning when we were moving and hitting some shots, and then we quit playing defense and couldn’t get the break going,” says Carey. “Some of the turnovers we had were unbelievable because they weren’t forced turnovers, we just gave them the ball.”
The Mountaineers had 26 turnovers to Iona’s 22. The Gaels netted 11 points off the miscues, while WVU scored 20.
Three Mountaineers scored in double digits to pace WVU’s offensive attack. Senior guard Takisha Granberry led the team with 12 points, 5-13 from the field, while sophomore Liz Repella netted 11 points, including a 5-8 effort from the free-throw line. Sophomore guard Sarah Miles contributed 10 points on a 4-9 showing from the field.
The Mountaineers dominated the boards, out-rebounding Iona 47-33. Granberry grabbed a game-high nine boards, including seven of WVU’s 23 offensive rebounds, aiding in eight second-chance points for WVU. The Gales did not cash-in on a second-chance basket.
Iona’s freshman forward Kristina Ford led all scorers with 20 points off the bench. The Gaels’ bench totaled 27 points, while the Mountaineers’ only netted two. Sophomore forward Anda Ivkovic also contributed 12 points in the Gaels’ winning effort.
The Mountaineers found their way out of a 26-23 halftime hole, as a Repella free throw put the team ahead 32-31 at 15:10. That was WVU’s last lead of the game, as the Gaels strung-together five straight points before another Repella free throw set the score at 36-33 at 12:53.
WVU lost its shooting touch in the second half, going 7-26 (26.9%) from the field. The team went over nine minutes without a field goal.
A Miles lay-up at 2:42 brought the Mountaineers to within three points, 43-40, but Ford countered with a quick bucket for the Gaels, and Iona never looked back.
The Mountaineers looked in control during the game’s first eight minutes, as the team pushed ahead to the contest’s largest lead, 15-4. Repella fueled the early lead, netting six of her 11 points.
The Gaels refused to buckle underneath the Mountaineers’ pressure and put together a 22-8 score streak to close the half.
“We didn’t perform and all we are going to do now is work,” Carey says. “We will go back to work tomorrow and we’ll try to get better – that’s all we can do. We’ll play on Tuesday and see if we get better. We’ll see what happens.”
West Virginia will host its third game in five days as it welcomes Northeastern on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.
