West Virginia Routs Glenville
November 08, 2009 09:09 PM | General
By Steve Stone for MSNsportsNET.com
November 8, 2009
BOX SCORE | HIGHLIGHTS | PHOTOS
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The efforts of five double-digit scorers lifted the West Virginia University women’s basketball team to a 123-65 victory over Glenville State in an exhibition contest on Sunday evening at the WVU Coliseum.
Junior forward Korinne Campbell led the Mountaineers with 25 points and 17 rebounds, while freshman center Asya Bussie posted 24 points in her collegiate debut. Redshirt junior Madina Ali made an impact in the paint with 21 points on 10 of 12 shooting, as well as six rebounds.
Sophomore center Natalie Burton added 13 points and returning all-Big East second team performer Liz Repella chipped in with 11 points.
WVU was forced to play at a breakneck pace throughout the contest, showing off its athleticism against a Glenville State team that ran a full court press. The Mountaineers scored a majority of their points in the paint, shooting 62.2 percent.
“This is what we needed,” said WVU coach Mike Carey. “We needed someone to pressure us and throw us in the fire, especially with our freshmen.”
The Mountaineers forced 39 turnovers, but committed 27 themselves. Glenville State’s constant trapping dictated a transitional tempo that prevented WVU from running many structured offensive sets.
“In a game like this we didn’t get to run any sets for our offense – it was mostly 2 on 1’s, 3 on 1’s, that type of stuff,” Carey added. “My biggest disappointment is our defense, rebounding and turnovers. Those are three areas that we will really concentrate on going into Friday.”
Freshman guard Akeema Richards led the team with eight assists in 26 minutes of action. Vanessa House added nine points on 4 of 6 shooting in 25 minutes.
Up 65-32 at halftime, WVU consistently broke the Glenville State press to the tune of 25 of 33 shooting from the field for 75.8 percent. Campbell led all scorers with 16 points on 6 of 10 shooting with five rebounds. Ali had 15 points and was a perfect 7 of 7 from the field with a game-high four assists and three steals. Bussie had 10 points.
At the half, WVU had forced 19 Glenville State turnovers and held the Pioneers to 21 percent (9 of 31) shooting from the field.
WVU raced out to an 11-0 advantage by the first media timeout and never looked back, shooting a blistering 5 of 7 (71.4 percent) from the field, while holding the Pioneers to 0 of 8 shooting from the floor. The Mountaineers led 25-14 with 11:58 left in the first half.
Although tonight’s contest was just an exhibition, Carey believes the high-scoring output shows just how many offensive options WVU could have this season.
“I think Korinne Campbell, Madina Ali, Asya, Liz and Sarah (Miles) can score for us this year,” Carey added. “Naturally, we have more scorers and we have some players who are bigger and stronger this year. We had only two girls who played today that played last year.”
WVU opens up its regular season against Towson on Friday evening at 6 p.m. at the Coliseum. The contest is the first round of the Women’s Preseason NIT.
