Mountaineers Shut Down St. Francis
December 18, 2010 10:18 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Led by senior co-captain Madina Ali and sophomore center Asya Bussie, the seventh-ranked West Virginia women’s basketball team soundly defeated St. Francis at home on Saturday evening, 83-55.
Ali was perfect on the night, shooting 7-of-7 from inside the arc while also hitting 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. She led the team in scoring, blocks, steals and rebounds in a dominating win over the Red Flash (5-5) with 18 points, two blocks, two steals and seven rebounds. Bussie followed in scoring a season-high 17 points, while collecting one block to go along with seven rebounds. Korinne Campbell pitched in 11 points, while Vanessa House and Natalie Burton came off the bench to add a combined 18 points to help boost the offense.
“Madina Ali has improved a lot over the years,” commented Saint Francis coach Susan Robinson Frucht. “She has really worked on her offensive skills and is aggressive all the time. This team is off to a tremendous start and has great leadership from Liz Repella and Madina (Ali). Those two kids come to play every single night.”
Defensively, the Mountaineers finished the game with eight steals and seven blocks while forcing 18 turnovers. They also held Saint Francis to 38.3 percent (18-of-47) from the field and 31.3 percent (5-of-16) from the 3-point range. In holding the Red Flash to 55 points, West Virginia has continued its streak of holding all opponents this season to under 60 points.
“With a team like West Virginia you just can’t have mistakes because it can go from a tie game or down by four to a 10 or 14 point lead right away,” said Frucht.
The game didn’t originally start out with a defensive pace, the Mountaineers and the Red Flash easily trading points back and forth for the first six minutes of the first half. Samantha Leach and Brittany Lilley accounted for 20 of Saint Francis’ 28 first half points, combining for 6-of-11 from inside the arc, with Leach shooting 2-of-3 from the 3-point line.
The Mountaineer offense got a huge first half boost from veteran seniors Campbell and Ali, as they combined for seven of the first 11 points the team put up on the board. The team really started to pull away after Ali notched a steal and sprinted up the court to make an easy and unanswered layup. She followed that up with another layup to help the team gain momentum, from which it would never look back.
“I thought Madina Ali played with a lot of energy, but she needs to learn to play with a lot of fouls” said coach Mike Carey. “She plays strong under the basket and is very active. We need that physical person down there, so hopefully we can keep her out of foul trouble.”
The first half Mountaineer defense began to take over at around the same time the offense started to heat up. By the end of the first half, the Red Flash had been held to 34.8 percent (8-of-23) from field goal range, and 44.4 percent (4-of-9) from outside the arc.
At game’s end, Leach and Lilley had tallied up the most points for the Red Flash, with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Senior guard Allison Daly came in third on the team in scoring, with nine points on the night.
The Mountaineers return to action on Dec. 21st, as they travel to Durham, N.C., to take on North Carolina Central. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m., with a live radio broadcast being provided by www.MSNsportsNET.com. Travis Jones will be on the call.
Ali was perfect on the night, shooting 7-of-7 from inside the arc while also hitting 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. She led the team in scoring, blocks, steals and rebounds in a dominating win over the Red Flash (5-5) with 18 points, two blocks, two steals and seven rebounds. Bussie followed in scoring a season-high 17 points, while collecting one block to go along with seven rebounds. Korinne Campbell pitched in 11 points, while Vanessa House and Natalie Burton came off the bench to add a combined 18 points to help boost the offense.
“Madina Ali has improved a lot over the years,” commented Saint Francis coach Susan Robinson Frucht. “She has really worked on her offensive skills and is aggressive all the time. This team is off to a tremendous start and has great leadership from Liz Repella and Madina (Ali). Those two kids come to play every single night.”
Defensively, the Mountaineers finished the game with eight steals and seven blocks while forcing 18 turnovers. They also held Saint Francis to 38.3 percent (18-of-47) from the field and 31.3 percent (5-of-16) from the 3-point range. In holding the Red Flash to 55 points, West Virginia has continued its streak of holding all opponents this season to under 60 points.
“With a team like West Virginia you just can’t have mistakes because it can go from a tie game or down by four to a 10 or 14 point lead right away,” said Frucht.
The game didn’t originally start out with a defensive pace, the Mountaineers and the Red Flash easily trading points back and forth for the first six minutes of the first half. Samantha Leach and Brittany Lilley accounted for 20 of Saint Francis’ 28 first half points, combining for 6-of-11 from inside the arc, with Leach shooting 2-of-3 from the 3-point line.
The Mountaineer offense got a huge first half boost from veteran seniors Campbell and Ali, as they combined for seven of the first 11 points the team put up on the board. The team really started to pull away after Ali notched a steal and sprinted up the court to make an easy and unanswered layup. She followed that up with another layup to help the team gain momentum, from which it would never look back.
“I thought Madina Ali played with a lot of energy, but she needs to learn to play with a lot of fouls” said coach Mike Carey. “She plays strong under the basket and is very active. We need that physical person down there, so hopefully we can keep her out of foul trouble.”
The first half Mountaineer defense began to take over at around the same time the offense started to heat up. By the end of the first half, the Red Flash had been held to 34.8 percent (8-of-23) from field goal range, and 44.4 percent (4-of-9) from outside the arc.
At game’s end, Leach and Lilley had tallied up the most points for the Red Flash, with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Senior guard Allison Daly came in third on the team in scoring, with nine points on the night.
The Mountaineers return to action on Dec. 21st, as they travel to Durham, N.C., to take on North Carolina Central. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m., with a live radio broadcast being provided by www.MSNsportsNET.com. Travis Jones will be on the call.
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