Women's Basketball: WVU Rolls Over Seton Hall
February 03, 2008 05:06 PM | General
February 3, 2008
BOX SCORE
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – West Virginia University’s women’s basketball team (18-3, 7-1) ran its winning streak to seven with a convincing 70-42 BIG EAST win at Seton Hall (13-7, 3-5) Sunday afternoon at Walsh Gymnasium.
No. 12/12 WVU has now posted six-straight BIG EAST wins in its best conference start since joining the league in 1995-96.
Senior guard LaQuita Owens tallied 20-points to lead three scorers in double-figures. It marked Owens’ third-straight 20-point effort and she scored her 1,000th career point in the win. Owens became the first Mountaineer since Meg Bulger to tally three-straight 20-point games (Dec. 19, 2005 to Jan. 1, 2006). She also connected on a career-high tying six 3-pointers in the win and is also the 26th Mountaineer in school history to reach 1,000 career points.
Senior center Olayinka Sanni tallied 19 points on 9-16 shooting with nine rebounds while senior forward Chakhia Cole added 11 points, including a career-best three 3-pointers with seven rebounds.
West Virginia raced out to a 7-0 advantage four minutes into the contest and cruised to a 33-16 halftime advantage on the strength of three Owens’ 3-pointers and 11 points.
The Mountaineers forced 11 Seton Hall turnovers and tallied seven steals as its 2-3 zone defense caused trouble for the Pirates. SHU shot just 23.1% (6-26) in the first half, which included a half-court shot at the buzzer by Ebonie Williams.
For the contest, the Mountaineers forced 19 turnovers and tallied 13 steals in holding the Pirates to just 28.6% shooting (16-56). Conversely, the Mountaineers shot 45.9% (28-61). Both teams tallied 41 rebounds.
Williams led the Pirates with 10 points.
It was West Virginia’s first victory at Seton Hall since 1999, and the first time a Mike Carey-coached team has won at Seton Hall in five tries.
West Virginia had one of the most productive weeks in school history by also beating No. 4-ranked Rutgers, 63-54, at the WVU Coliseum Tuesday night.
The Mountaineers are tied with Pitt for third place in the Big East standings ½ game behind 8-1 Rutgers and a game behind 8-0 Connecticut.
West Virginia is also poised to make a jump into the Top 10 for the first time in school history when the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ polls are released Monday afternoon.
The previous high for West Virginia in the national rankings was 11th in the AP poll achieved twice during the 1992 season. The Mountaineers were ranked eight weeks that season, finishing 14th.
WVU returns to the court next Saturday afternoon taking on Providence at 2 pm. The Friars dropped to 11-10, 1-7 following yesterday’s 80-54 loss at Connecticut. Providence’s only victory in conference play came at South Florida on Jan. 15, a 61-49 decision.
