Brawl Ball
February 13, 2008 10:07 AM | General
February 13, 2008
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Two emerging Big East powers collide tonight when West Virginia takes on Pitt in the women’s version of the Backyard Brawl at the WVU Coliseum.
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| West Virginia's Olayinka Sanni goes up for a shot over Pitt center Marcedes Walker in a 2006 game in Morgantown. West Virginia won the game 62-58.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
West Virginia has risen to No. 11 in the polls following key conference home victories over Notre Dame and Rutgers and is currently a ½ game behind Connecticut and Rutgers for first place in the Big East standings.
The Mountaineers (19-3, 8-1) have already been ranked for more weeks this season than during their entire history spanning 35 years. West Virginia is closing in on its fifth-ever NCAA tournament appearance and the third under seventh-year coach Mike Carey.
Meanwhile, Pitt heads into Morgantown with an impressive 18-5 overall record and an 8-2 mark in Big East play. The Panthers dropped an 81-66 decision at Notre Dame last Sunday, but that hasn’t put a damper on one of the finest seasons in Pitt history.
Fifth-year coach Agnus Berenato steered Pitt to its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance last year and the Panthers are following that up with another strong campaign that has featured wins so far over Arizona, DePaul, Syracuse and Louisville.
Pitt’s five losses this season have come against traditional programs: Penn State in State College, at Maryland, against Duke in New York City, at home versus Rutgers and on the road at Notre Dame.
Tonight’s game will be the first time in 34 meetings that both teams will face each other while nationally ranked. Pitt dropped three spots to 18th this week following its loss to Notre Dame. WVU has remained in a holding pattern at 11th.
“They remind me a lot of us. They have a post presence. They have a lot of athletes out on the perimeter and they have some shooters,” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey.
Carey also sees many similarities in the way the two programs have grown over the last five years.
“I can remember coming in here and their program was about like West Virginia’s program,” Carey said. “She’s done a great job and got them to the status that they are right now and they’re playing with a lot of confidence.”
West Virginia senior guard Meg Bulger probably knows the two programs best, having grown up in Pittsburgh and was once recruited by both schools.
“I remember when I was being recruited I was looking at both schools and they were very similar in that they were kind of getting there, kind of getting better players, kind of winning and just getting new coaches,” Bulger said. “To see how far those programs have come … I think it goes back to how far women’s basketball is evolving. It’s not the same couple of teams anymore. There are teams competing against them.”
Because of the success of both teams, tonight’s game has a little more buzz to it than usual. Bulger admits that this is the first time she has ever heard the women’s game also being mentioned as the Backyard Brawl - a term usually reserved for the WVU-Pitt football game.
“This year everyone has done a great job of really hyping the women’s team and promoting us,” Bulger said. “More than ever everyone on campus is like this is our Backyard Brawl now. We consider it that but I’ve never heard outside people talk about women’s basketball being called the Backyard Brawl. You never really hear that.”
West Virginia has performed well against Pitt in recent meetings, claiming five of the last six games since 2004 including last year’s 57-46 win at Pitt.
“We’ve been able to play pretty good defense on them and then our fast break we’ve been able to get up and down the floor a little bit and get some easy ones at the other end,” Carey said of his team’s recent success against Pitt. “They do a good job with (Marcedes) Walker. They try to contest the outlet pass to give Walker time to get down the floor. If we can get that outlet pass and make her run a little bit and then their guards have to cover the blocks and that gives us some wide open 3s.”
Walker, a 6-foot-3-inch senior center, averages 14.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.
“She can give you a double-double on any given night and last year Yinka (Sanni) got in foul trouble against her and really didn’t get to play a whole lot in the first half,” Carey said. “Hopefully we can keep her out of foul trouble and get Walker into foul trouble.”
Pitt’s leading scorer Shavonte Zellous is also one of the top players in the Big East Conference. The junior guard is averaging 19.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. She ranks 12th in the country in scoring and has exceeded 30 points in a game four times this year including a career-high 32 at Cincinnati. Zellous has taken 389 shots – nearly 200 more than the next closest Panther player.
Pitt’s best 3-point shooter is senior point guard Mallory Winn who has made 40 of 112 3-point tries for 35.7 percent. Winn is averaging 7.7 points per game.
“They are a very good basketball team,” Carey remarked. “They have some athletes out on the perimeter.”
The Mountaineers are coming off a three-point win at Providence last Saturday afternoon after recording impressive back-to-back victories over Rutgers and Seton Hall. Sanni led West Virginia with 20 points and five rebounds against Providence and is averaging 16.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
Senior guard LaQuita Owens has stepped up her scoring since Meg Bulger’s knee injury by averaging 20.8 points in her last four games. Owens shows averages of 13.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
Senior forward Chakhia Cole is averaging 10 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and will tie the school record for career starts with 120 against Pitt tonight.
Bulger returned to action against Providence after missing the last three games with a knee injury. She scored five key points, handed out three assists and grabbed a pair of rebounds in 18 minutes of action against the Friars.
Carey says Bulger was not close to being 100 percent against Providence but she did have a good practice Monday.
The last two times WVU-Pitt games were played before crowds of more than 2,000. West Virginia is expecting another outstanding turnout for tonight’s game, which will also be televised locally on WVPBS (Tony Caridi and Warren Baker).
Tip off is slated for 7 pm.
