Mountaineers Host High Point
December 03, 2010 04:05 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The 10th ranked Mountaineers will play host to High Point on Saturday evening at the WVU Coliseum, with tipoff set for 6 p.m.
Playing in their sixth out of seven straight road games, the Panthers will be facing more than just a long road game schedule. The Panthers come into Morgantown to face an undefeated team that put up 90 points against Elon on Thursday night, with three players breaking personal records in the process.
Madina Ali, Liz Repella and Asya Bussie all had outstanding games against the Phoenix, with Ali collecting her third double-double of the season as she scored 20 points and pulled down ten boards, all within only 20 minutes of play. Bussie joined the co-captain with her own double-double, marking the third of her career and first on the season. In scoring ten points and putting up 11 rebounds, Bussie also recorded season highs.
Adding to those performances, Repella put up 17 points and shot 80 percent (4-of-5) from the three-point range, a statistic good enough to place her in the WVU Coliseum single game leader record book.
Strong performances also came from the bench, as redshirt-sophomore Ayana Dunning contributed ten points and eight rebounds in the first double-digit scoring game of her career. True freshman Taylor Palmer also added nine points, and Vanessa House put up seven.
“Our bench has been doing a good job,” coach Carey said after the Elon game. “I haven’t had all five of them in there at the same time, and that’s when you get a little risky. If you look at our three freshmen, they are playing four minutes a game, so they are getting into the game a lot more than freshmen usually do here.”
Don’t forget about the Mountaineer defense, either. Through seven games, West Virginia has accrued 281 boards, forced 179 turnovers, grabbed 96 steals and blocked 42 shots.
“Defense is always important. If we play defense and enjoy each other than the offense comes. So defense is very important,” remarked Ali.
The expected starters on Saturday night are once again true freshman Brooke Hampton and senior Liz Repella at guard, Asya Bussie at center, and Korinne Campbell and Madina Ali at forward. Hampton will make her fourth career start in place of Sarah Miles, who continues to recover from a knee injury suffered last week during the Paradise Jam Tournament.
The Panthers (4-4) come into the game off a victory over Campbell, 74-51, on Wednesday night. Before that, High Point lost two tough road games to Arkansas and Idaho State during the University of Texas-El Paso Thanksgiving Tournament.
Expected starters for the Panthers are senior guards Frances Fields, Jurica Hargraves and Amy Dodd, and forwards Shamia Brown and Mackenzie Maier. Maier and Brown led the team in scoring against Campbell, with 22 and 15 points on the night, respectively. Maier was only one rebound away from a triple-double, as she accumulated ten blocks and nine rebounds to go with her 22 points. In addition, Hargraves scored 13 points in the Panthers win over Arkansas on Nov. 26, to go over 1,100 points in her career, only the second High Point player to ever do so.
Fields, Maier and Brown are also expected to lead the defense, as they combined for 26 rebounds, ten blocks and three steals against Campbell. Maier has also recently become just the fifth player in High Point Division I history to pass the 500 rebound mark, with 502 rebounds so far in her career.
The game marks the first meeting between the two teams, with High Point holding a 1-1 record against opponents from the BIG EAST. The game will be streamed live on MSNsportsNET.com.
Playing in their sixth out of seven straight road games, the Panthers will be facing more than just a long road game schedule. The Panthers come into Morgantown to face an undefeated team that put up 90 points against Elon on Thursday night, with three players breaking personal records in the process.
Madina Ali, Liz Repella and Asya Bussie all had outstanding games against the Phoenix, with Ali collecting her third double-double of the season as she scored 20 points and pulled down ten boards, all within only 20 minutes of play. Bussie joined the co-captain with her own double-double, marking the third of her career and first on the season. In scoring ten points and putting up 11 rebounds, Bussie also recorded season highs.
Adding to those performances, Repella put up 17 points and shot 80 percent (4-of-5) from the three-point range, a statistic good enough to place her in the WVU Coliseum single game leader record book.
Strong performances also came from the bench, as redshirt-sophomore Ayana Dunning contributed ten points and eight rebounds in the first double-digit scoring game of her career. True freshman Taylor Palmer also added nine points, and Vanessa House put up seven.
“Our bench has been doing a good job,” coach Carey said after the Elon game. “I haven’t had all five of them in there at the same time, and that’s when you get a little risky. If you look at our three freshmen, they are playing four minutes a game, so they are getting into the game a lot more than freshmen usually do here.”
Don’t forget about the Mountaineer defense, either. Through seven games, West Virginia has accrued 281 boards, forced 179 turnovers, grabbed 96 steals and blocked 42 shots.
“Defense is always important. If we play defense and enjoy each other than the offense comes. So defense is very important,” remarked Ali.
The expected starters on Saturday night are once again true freshman Brooke Hampton and senior Liz Repella at guard, Asya Bussie at center, and Korinne Campbell and Madina Ali at forward. Hampton will make her fourth career start in place of Sarah Miles, who continues to recover from a knee injury suffered last week during the Paradise Jam Tournament.
The Panthers (4-4) come into the game off a victory over Campbell, 74-51, on Wednesday night. Before that, High Point lost two tough road games to Arkansas and Idaho State during the University of Texas-El Paso Thanksgiving Tournament.
Expected starters for the Panthers are senior guards Frances Fields, Jurica Hargraves and Amy Dodd, and forwards Shamia Brown and Mackenzie Maier. Maier and Brown led the team in scoring against Campbell, with 22 and 15 points on the night, respectively. Maier was only one rebound away from a triple-double, as she accumulated ten blocks and nine rebounds to go with her 22 points. In addition, Hargraves scored 13 points in the Panthers win over Arkansas on Nov. 26, to go over 1,100 points in her career, only the second High Point player to ever do so.
Fields, Maier and Brown are also expected to lead the defense, as they combined for 26 rebounds, ten blocks and three steals against Campbell. Maier has also recently become just the fifth player in High Point Division I history to pass the 500 rebound mark, with 502 rebounds so far in her career.
The game marks the first meeting between the two teams, with High Point holding a 1-1 record against opponents from the BIG EAST. The game will be streamed live on MSNsportsNET.com.
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