Pit Stop
March 22, 2008 11:40 PM | General
March 22, 2008
BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Chakhia Cole’s foul line jumper with 17.5 seconds left in the game lifted fifth-seeded West Virginia to a 61-60 victory over No. 12 seed New Mexico Saturday night in first round NCAA Tournament action at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M.
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| Chakhia Cole looks for a teammate during West Virginia's 61-60 victory over New Mexico Saturday night in Albuquerque, N.M.
Brian Persinger photo |
"Give our girls a lot of credit, they didn’t fold or take quick shots," said West Virginia coach Mike Carey. "They continued to work, continued to play defense."
West Virginia (25-7) closed the first half on a 7-0 run and held a 36-29 advantage on the strength of 13 points from Cole. Olayinka Sanni committed two early fouls and was forced to sit out the last 16:50 of the first half.
The Mountaineers twice had leads of seven points or more in the second half but the Lobos, energized by a partisan crowd on their home floor, refused to go away. West Virginia led 48-41 after Sanni scored just her second field goal of the game down low with 10:53 to go.
New Mexico responded with a 10-4 run to cut the deficit to one, 52-51, following two Angela Hartill free throws with 5:14 to play. After Sanni missed a pair of free throws on the ensuing West Virginia possession, the Lobos took a 53-52 lead on two Dionne Marsh charity shots with 4:02 to play
After an empty trip for both teams, Sanni picked up her fourth foul on a moving screen at the 2:50 mark. On the Lobos’ next possession, Ashley Powell swatted the ball from New Mexico’s Brandi Kimble. As the two players dove to the floor in an apparent tie-up situation, Powell tripped over Kimble and was inexplicably called for a technical foul. The resulting free throws from Amy Beggin gave New Mexico a 55-52 lead with just 2:35 to go.
"When we got behind and got the technical, the crowd got into it a little bit more," Carey said.
Staring elimination from the tournament and the departure of seven seniors, Cole calmly put the Mountaineers on her back and refused to let this night be her final game. A Cole 3 from the top of the key as the shot clock wound down tied the game at 55 with just 2:02 to go.
Marsh and Cole each made a pair of free throws on consecutive trips to tie the game at 57 with 1:23 to play. Cole then grabbed a huge defensive rebound on a missed 3 by Hartill. Following a Carey timeout, Meg Bulger found Sanni down low for two to put WVU up 59-57 with 45 seconds to play.
Hartill answered with a clutch 3 from straight away to give the Lobos a 60-59 lead with 27 seconds left setting up Cole’s game-winner.
“We were trying to back-pick - trying to get Olayinka Sanni down at the block and bring Meg Bulger off," Carey said of Cole's 3-point shot. "Meg wasn’t open and we always go back into our four out.
"Chakhia popped out and she is right, she was going to try and penetrate and bobbled the ball and then the girl didn’t come out on her," Carey explained. "When she has her feet set she is a pretty good three-point shooter. Even if she didn’t make that I wouldn’t have said a word."
After Cole made it 61-60, the Lobos still had one final chance after Georonika Jackson dribbled the ball off Kendra Goodley’s foot with 4.9 seconds to play. Kimble got a good look at a baseline jumper but the shot hit off the back rim and Marsh’s follow at the buzzer wouldn’t go.
Cole led WVU with 22 points and 11 rebounds while Owens pitched in 13 points. Bulger was held to just nine points and Sanni scored only eight in 20 minutes of action.
Kimble led New Mexico (20-13) with 19 points. New Mexico had won 40 straight games at The Pit when scoring at least 60 points.
For the game, WVU shot 41 percent (23 of 56) and connected on just 5 of 19 shots from 3-point distance. The Mountaineers did cash in on their free throws, sinking 10 of 13, and outrebounded the Lobos 41-28.
On a night when the offense wasn’t there, West Virginia played great defense, holding New Mexico to just 36.5 percent shooting (19 of 52) and just 34 percent from three-point land (9 of 26).
Carey admitted the large New Mexico crowd gave West Virginia problems.
"First of all I have a headache, so that should tell you about the environment," Carey said. "It was hard to communicate. We looked confused out there at times. We didn’t do a good job with our hand signals. We were not communicating and didn’t know what we were in at times, and that’s to their credit."
West Virginia advances to the second round on Monday night and will play the winner of the Vanderbilt/Montana game.
