Women's Basketball: Mountaineers Fall in Semis
March 10, 2008 11:39 PM | General
March 10, 2008
BOX SCORE
HARTFORD, Conn. – No. 7 seed Louisville raced out to a 20-3 and then held off a furious Mountaineer rally to defeat No. 3-seeded West Virginia 67-60 in the semifinals of the Big East Women’s Championship Monday night at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.
The Cardinals used full court pressure in the first 10 minutes to force WVU into a slew of turnovers and hurried shots in building a 17-point lead with 13:14 to go in the first half. Down 27-7, the Mountaineers mounted a 7-0 run capped by a Meg Bulger 3 to cut the deficit to 27-14 seven minutes to play.
Louisville responded with an 8-0 run of its own capped by an Angel McCoughtery backdoor lob to push the lead back out to 21, 35-14 with three minutes left in the first half.
The Cardinals cruised to a 41-21 halftime lead on the strength of a 23-12 rebounding edge. Louisville shot 42 percent from the floor in the first half (14 of 33) but more importantly, attempted nine more shots than the Mountaineers who connected at just a 33 percent clip (8 of 24).
West Virginia (24-7) came out in the second half with a far greater sense of urgency. After Louisville got its largest lead of the night on a McCoughtery jumper to make the score 43-21, the Mountaineers responded with a 13-2 run over the next five minutes to cut the deficit to 45-34 on a LaQuita Owens 3.
The Cardinals held WVU at arm’s length for much of the second half, though, with their lead hovering between eight and 12 points.
Trailing 60-48 with 6:38 to play the Mountaineers made one more run. Owens made a pair of free throws followed by a Sanni lay up and another Sanni bucket down low on a gorgeous feed from Bulger that cut the deficit to six, 60-54 with 3:27 to play.
After a Candace Bingham bucket inside, Owens hit another 3 to pull WVU within five at 62-57 with 2:23 left. Bingham then made 1 of 2 free throws at the other end and the Mountaineers had the ball with a chance to cut it to four or two in the final 1:30
However, West Virginia failed to enter the ball into Sanni and Ashley Powell’s open 3-point attempt wouldn’t go. McCoughtry then beat the Mountaineer defense down the floor for an easy bucket after the Powell miss, giving Louisville an eight-point lead with 1:13 remaining.
For the game Louisville shot 39 percent (22 of 56) compared to 37 percent for WVU (18 of 48) but the game was won on the glass where the Cardinals had a 40-27 rebounding advantage and corralled 19 offensive boards which created 16 second chance points.
McCoughtry led Louisville (25-8) with 24 points while Brandie Raddie pitched in 10. While Owens led West Virginia with 23, Chakhia Cole should be credited with keeping the Mountaineers within fighting distance for much of the night. The Marlboro, N.J., native once again displayed her all-around game with 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Sanni scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half.
Louisville will now face Connecticut in the Big East Championship game tomorrow night while West Virginia will await their NCAA tournament seed and destination when the field is picked this Sunday.
