Mountaineers Beat Bonnies
December 30, 2010 09:55 PM | General
OLEAN, N.Y. - The No. 6 ranked West Virginia women’s basketball team earned its 13th win of the season by defeating St. Bonaventure, 62-53 on Thursday night in Olean, N.Y.
With the win, the Mountaineers remain undefeated on the season, including spotless record for the month of December. They also continue their defensive streak of limiting opponents to fewer than 60 points.
The game came down to the wire, the Mountaineers unable to put St. Bonaventure away until the final four minutes of the game. Liz Repella sank back-to-back shots 3s with four minutes left in the second half to give the Mountaineers a 56-50 lead. From there, West Virginia would only continue to add to its advantage while holding the Bonnies (9-5) to just one basket (a 3) the rest of the way.
“Liz wants to be in there and we ran some quick hitters for her to free her up,” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey. “Being the senior she is and the leader she is, she came in and hit some threes for us.”
Repella led the team in scoring, tying a season high with 20 points on 6-of-14 shooting, including four 3-pointers, while also pulling down four boards.
Teammate Asya Bussie also had a big game, putting up 13 points and shooting 71 percent (5-of-7) from the floor in only 23 minutes of play. Defensively, Bussie had three blocks and two steals.
Senior guard Sarah Miles, playing for the first time in seven games while recovering from a knee injury in late November, tallied 9 points and four rebounds. She also had a season-high seven assists, three blocks and two steals to add to her performance.
“This was Sarah’s first game back and she was a little rusty and her timing was off, but I’ll tell you, she showed a lot of heart the second half,” Carey remarked.
West Virginia got off to a slow and jumbled first half start, with St. Bonaventure jumping out to an early 8-0 lead, the largest lead any team has had over WVU this season. The Mountaineers wouldn’t put any points on the board until Repella sank a 3 with 13:09 remaining in the first half. Both teams would struggle offensively after that point, St. Bonaventure eventually taking a 20-15 lead into halftime - the first time this season that the Mountaineers entered halftime trailing.
Early foul trouble was also a problem for the Mountaineers. The first four points St. Bonaventure scored came from the charity stripe, with Madina Ali being forced to come out of the game early after having been called for two fouls in the first three minutes. With the Mountaineers’ leading scorer out of the game, the team struggled to find a rhythm to put points on the board, shooting only 18.2 percent (4-of-22), including three 3-pointers.
“This is going to happen a lot in the BIG EAST, so we need to come out and execute better than we did in the first half,” explained Carey. “I was proud of how they came out and did what I asked of them. We spaced out, we moved the ball and we didn’t stand around with the ball above our head.”
The Bonnies were led in scoring by guard Armelia Horton, who had 11 points and two rebounds. She was followed by fellow guard Jessica Jenkins, who put up 10 points while taking down three boards. Forward Chelsea Bowker was just shy of a double-double as she had 8 points and 10 rebounds on the night, and Megan Van Tatenhove, the leading scorer for the Bonnies up until tonight’s game, was held to only 6 points.
West Virginia returns to the Coliseum on Sunday afternoon to take on Central Connecticut State University. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m., with live video being streamed on MSNsportsNET.com.
With the win, the Mountaineers remain undefeated on the season, including spotless record for the month of December. They also continue their defensive streak of limiting opponents to fewer than 60 points.
The game came down to the wire, the Mountaineers unable to put St. Bonaventure away until the final four minutes of the game. Liz Repella sank back-to-back shots 3s with four minutes left in the second half to give the Mountaineers a 56-50 lead. From there, West Virginia would only continue to add to its advantage while holding the Bonnies (9-5) to just one basket (a 3) the rest of the way.
“Liz wants to be in there and we ran some quick hitters for her to free her up,” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey. “Being the senior she is and the leader she is, she came in and hit some threes for us.”
Repella led the team in scoring, tying a season high with 20 points on 6-of-14 shooting, including four 3-pointers, while also pulling down four boards.
Teammate Asya Bussie also had a big game, putting up 13 points and shooting 71 percent (5-of-7) from the floor in only 23 minutes of play. Defensively, Bussie had three blocks and two steals.
Senior guard Sarah Miles, playing for the first time in seven games while recovering from a knee injury in late November, tallied 9 points and four rebounds. She also had a season-high seven assists, three blocks and two steals to add to her performance.
“This was Sarah’s first game back and she was a little rusty and her timing was off, but I’ll tell you, she showed a lot of heart the second half,” Carey remarked.
West Virginia got off to a slow and jumbled first half start, with St. Bonaventure jumping out to an early 8-0 lead, the largest lead any team has had over WVU this season. The Mountaineers wouldn’t put any points on the board until Repella sank a 3 with 13:09 remaining in the first half. Both teams would struggle offensively after that point, St. Bonaventure eventually taking a 20-15 lead into halftime - the first time this season that the Mountaineers entered halftime trailing.
Early foul trouble was also a problem for the Mountaineers. The first four points St. Bonaventure scored came from the charity stripe, with Madina Ali being forced to come out of the game early after having been called for two fouls in the first three minutes. With the Mountaineers’ leading scorer out of the game, the team struggled to find a rhythm to put points on the board, shooting only 18.2 percent (4-of-22), including three 3-pointers.
“This is going to happen a lot in the BIG EAST, so we need to come out and execute better than we did in the first half,” explained Carey. “I was proud of how they came out and did what I asked of them. We spaced out, we moved the ball and we didn’t stand around with the ball above our head.”
The Bonnies were led in scoring by guard Armelia Horton, who had 11 points and two rebounds. She was followed by fellow guard Jessica Jenkins, who put up 10 points while taking down three boards. Forward Chelsea Bowker was just shy of a double-double as she had 8 points and 10 rebounds on the night, and Megan Van Tatenhove, the leading scorer for the Bonnies up until tonight’s game, was held to only 6 points.
West Virginia returns to the Coliseum on Sunday afternoon to take on Central Connecticut State University. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m., with live video being streamed on MSNsportsNET.com.
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