West Virginia Opens Tournament Play
March 07, 2010 09:46 AM | General
March 7, 2010
WEST VIRGINIA GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 7 West Virginia women’s basketball team looks to get back on the winning track when it hosts DePaul today at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Big East Women’s Basketball Championship at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.
The Mountaineers received a bye as the No. 2 seed and will open tournament play facing the Blue Demons who are coming off a 64-54 win over Marquette on Saturday night in the second round.
West Virginia (26-4, 13-3) heads to the XL Center looking to get on a roll heading into NCAA Tournament play. After winning 8 of 9 from Jan. 27 to Feb. 27, the Mountaineers dropped their final contest of the season at Syracuse, 67-48. The same happened two seasons ago when West Virginia also fell at Syracuse in the regular-season finale, 73-51. That season saw WVU win their quarterfinal game against South Florida and then losing to Louisville in the semifinals.
“We were very slow mentally and physically,” coach Mike Carey said. “Mentally, we weren’t talking like we normally do. I don’t know what the reason for that is. We’ll get it corrected. There’s no doubt in my mind the next game we’ll come out and play hard like we’ve done all year.”
Like West Virginia, DePaul is an extremely young team that is led by junior Sam Quigley. Quigley averages 13.2 points and 5.3 assists per game. Sophomore Keisha Hampton and freshman Anna Martin also both average double-digits, while freshman Katherine Harry controls the glass pulling down an average of 7.9 rebounds per game.
The Blue Demons never trailed in their win over Marquette and received 17 points from Harry, 16 from Quigley and 15 from Martin. Harry and Martin each pulled down eight rebounds. DePaul shot 43.1 percent from the floor and held the Golden Eagles to just 35.7 percent from the floor and 18.8 percent from 3-point range. DePaul has now won five consecutive games.
“They’re playing very well right now,” Carey said. “They’ve won a lot of games down the stretch and they’ve probably put themselves in position to go to the NCAAs now.”
Early in the season, the Mountaineers narrowly deflected a DePaul upset by winning 64-57 in overtime at the WVU Coliseum. It was West Virginia’s defensive pressure that made the difference on a day where not many shots were falling. The Mountaineers forced 25 turnovers against what is usually a sound DePaul offense; all while committing just 10 fouls throughout the contest.
In that game, juniors Korinne Campbell, Madina Ali, Liz Repella and Vanessa House all scored 10 points apiece, while freshman Asya Bussie led all scorers with 16 points. Quigley and Hampton were the only two that were able to get any offense generated with Quigley contributing 15 points and Hampton knocking down 14.
“I remember talking after that [last] game and saying this is a special season brewing in Morgantown. I think they have made that statement come true,” DePaul coach Doug Bruno said after beating Marquette. “They are so much better. We weren't looking ahead but, because West Virginia played Marquette we were forced to look at their game tape and boy oh boy this is such a different West Virginia basketball team than was the team we played on Jan. 9th.”
Tonight’s game will be televised on ESPNU with Justin Kutcher and former Mountaineer great, Meg Bulger on the call. The game will also be on MSN radio with Travis Jones and Jay Jacobs calling the game.
