WVU Falls to Indiana
December 13, 2008 04:58 PM | General
December 13, 2008
| indiana 77, west virginia 73 WVU coliseum morgantown, W.VA. |
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| FG Made-Att | 26-60 | 26-61 | ||||||||||||
| FG Percentage | 43.3% | 42.6% | ||||||||||||
| 3P Made-Att | 6-13 | 2-13 | ||||||||||||
| 3P Percentage | 46.2% | 15.4% | ||||||||||||
| FT Made-Att | 19-26 | 19-26 | ||||||||||||
| FT Percentage | 73.1% | 73.1% | ||||||||||||
| Rebounds | 44 | 35 | ||||||||||||
| Turnovers | 19 | 17 | ||||||||||||
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Despite rebounding from a four point halftime deficit, and building a five point second-half lead, the West Virginia University women’s basketball team could not stop Indiana’s attacking offense in the paint and lost to the Hoosiers (7-2), 77-73, this afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.
The defeat snaps the Mountaineers’ (7-2) six game win streak. Indiana netted its second-consecutive win over WVU and now leads the series, 2-1.
“We worked so hard to get the five-point lead and then just gave it away,” says Coach Mike Carey. “We had them on the ropes and we just didn’t do the job. Overall, our girls played hard. I thought our effort was good.”
The tenacious trio of Takisha Granberry, Sarah Miles and Liz Repella combined to score 61 points, including 39 points in the second half.
Senior Granberry led all Mountaineer scorers with 22 points, her third 20-point game of the season, on an 8-20 effort from the field and a 6-9 showing at the foul line. Granberry also finished with a team-best nine rebounds, including seven boards on the offensive glass.
“I think our guards played extremely well,” says Carey. “Takisha Granberry, I’d like to point her out because she played extremely hard on both ends and I want to give her a lot of credit.”
Sophomore classmates Repella and Miles scored 20 and 19 points, respectively. Repella finished 8-18 from the floor in 36 minutes of play for her second-consecutive, and fourth-overall, 20 point game of the year, while Miles went 10-13 from the foul line. Miles was particularly scrappy on the defensive glass, grabbing eight rebounds. She rounded out her stat line with a team-best three assists, three steals and two blocks in a career-high 40 minutes of action.
Amber Jackson powered the Hoosiers to victory, netting 25 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.
Despite a rebounding disadvantage (44-35), WVU did outscore Indiana in the paint, 36-34.
The Mountaineers and Hoosiers battled for the score-advantage throughout the game, as the lead changed hands seven times and the two teams were tied nine times.
WVU quickly made up for lost ground at the onset of the second half, going on a 13-8 score run that was capped off by a Granberry layup at 15:22 that put the score at 43-38. The Mountaineers had a total of four five-point leads throughout the half, including a 53-48 advantage at 12:22 when Miles nailed her first career 3-pointer.
The Hoosiers followed the basket with a 7-2 score run. Whitney Thomas earned the lead back for Indiana at 9:19, 56-55, with two free throws. The Mountaineers tied the score twice more, but another Thomas free throw at 2:31 put the Hoosiers ahead by five points, 72-62.
Repella split two defenders for a three-point play at 1:21 to bring the Mountaineers to within two points, 72-70, but the squad would get no closer, as the Hoosiers’ defense clamped down on WVU and secured the win.
“We gave Indiana more of a game this year than we did last year,” Carey says. “We played a lot harder this year then we did last year. It’s just a shame because if we got just one person to defend in the paint, I think we would have had that game. It is what it is though and it’s going to be like that all year.
“We’re just going to have to keep working hard in practice and I’m going to have to do a better job teaching post defense because we didn’t do well with that.”
The first half saw five lead changes, as both teams went through multiple scoring-runs throughout the period. Though the Mountaineers owned a four-point advantage, 9-5, at 14:51, the Hoosiers were able to steal the lead on a 26-14 run, capped by a Jackson free throw at 2:55 left in the half that pushed the score to 31-23. The Mountaineers closed the period on a 7-3 score run.
WVU hits the road for only the second time this season and travels to the Fresno State on Dec. 20 for an 8 p.m. EST contest.
