Women's Basketball: WVU Falls to No. 25 DePaul
January 31, 2009 10:08 PM | General
By Steve Stone for MSNsportsNET.com
January 31, 2009
| West Virginia 56, DePaul 74 McGrath Arena Chicago, Ill. |
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Box Score |
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| Summary | ||||||||||||||
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| Stat Comparison | ||||||||||||||
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| FG Made-Att | 19-50 | 22-46 | ||||||||||||
| FG Percentage | 38.0% | 47.4% | ||||||||||||
| 3P Made-Att | 6-19 | 6-15 | ||||||||||||
| 3P Percentage | 31.5% | 40.0% | ||||||||||||
| FT Made-Att | 12-23 | 24-30 | ||||||||||||
| FT Percentage | 52.6% | 80.0% | ||||||||||||
| Rebounds | 29 | 38 | ||||||||||||
| Turnovers | 14 | 18 | ||||||||||||
| Top WVU Players | ||||||||||||||
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women’s basketball team lost a competitive battle against No. 25 DePaul, 74-56, on Saturday evening at McGrath Arena in Chicago, Ill.
The Mountaineers (12-8, 1-6 Big East) came out firing at the start of the second half, but were unable to get timely stops on defense as the Blue Demons (17-5, 5-3 Big East) shot 54.5 percent in the final 20 minutes. Sophomore Liz Repella, who scored 13 points in just over eight minutes to start the second half, notched a game-high 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-6 on 3-pointers.
Senior Takisha Granberry tallied 15 points and six rebounds in 33 minutes of action. Sarah Miles followed with 10 points, while Ashley Powell led the Mountaineers with eight rebounds and four assists.
WVU stayed within striking distance for the majority of the game, cutting its deficit to 47-45 on a 3-pointer by Repella with 11:50 left. DePaul followed with a crucial 16-5 run over the next seven minutes to extend their lead to 63-50 with 4:19 left.
The Mountaineers were 19-of-50 (38 percent) from the field, while DePaul shot 47.4 percent (22-of-46). WVU was done in by its free throw shooting, making 12-of-23 attempts while DePaul nailed 24-of-30 attempts from the charity stripe.
Playing with a depleted eight-player rotation, WVU was outscored, 17-1, in bench points. The Mountaineers were also outrebounded, 38-29, in their guard-dominated lineup, but took care of the ball relatively well with only 14 turnovers compared to DePaul’s 18.
A consolidation in scoring plagued WVU as well, with the trio of Repella, Granberry and Miles scoring 44 of its 56 points. The Blue Demons countered with Sam Quigley (17 points), Felicia Chester (14) and Natasha Williams (14) shouldering the scoring for a multi-talented DePaul squad.
WVU dictated the tempo for most of the first half, leading by as many as seven points courtesy of a Miles 3-pointer with 9:20 left. The Blue Demons, however, went on a late-half flurry to take a 32-25 lead heading into the break.
DePaul took its first lead with 3:08 left in the first half when Holly Medley made it 24-23 on a free throw. The Blue Demons were aided by a 3-pointer from China Threatt with 1:54 left to help create a seven-point advantage through the first 20 minutes.
WVU returns to the Coliseum for a matchup with Seton Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 4. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. and will be televised by WVPBS.
