Mountaineers Outlast Orange
January 15, 2011 07:39 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Senior co-captain Madina Ali put up a career-high 32 points to once again lead the Mountaineers to a win, defeating Syracuse, 70-61, on Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum.
With her seventh double-double effort of the season and ninth double-double of her career, Ali recorded her first ever 30-point game in the win.
“Madina was everywhere tonight; rebounding, scoring and she hit a three,” said Liz Repella. “She played an awesome game today and really picked us up and put us on her shoulders. She played extremely well and I am so proud of her. She is such a hard worker and deserves it.”
“It feels good knowing that I’m out there helping the team in any way I can,” added Ali. “We need that energy and everyone brings that on different occasions. Today it just happened to fall the way it did. Coach did change up a few things on the offensive end to allow me to have some of the opportunities I did. I’m really happy that we all came out there and performed really well.”
A tough defensive game, neither team could gain a clear advantage over the other, resulting in eight lead changes. With 5:58 remaining in the game and the Mountaineers (17-1, 4-1 BIG EAST) up by only one point, 53-52, Vanessa House hit a crucial 3-point shot to put the Mountaineers up by four. But Syracuse had the answer as Erica Morrow made a two-point jumper to bring the Orange (13-4, 1-3 BIG EAST) back within two.
With 5:06 remaining, true freshman Brooke Hampton sank another crucial three to put the Mountaineers up by five, and Ali, having a career day, followed with a 3-point shot of her own to help West Virginia pull away. While Syracuse continued to threaten, they weren’t able to respond to a final 7-0 scoring run from WVU.
“When Madina has her feet set, I give her the green light,” explained coach Mike Carey. “Brooke Hampton hit a big three, Madina hit a big three and Vanessa (House) hit a couple of threes when we needed them.”
Following Ali, Repella had 12 points and four rebounds in 36 minutes of play. She also led the team in blocks, with three. Asya Bussie rounded out the top three in scoring, putting up eight points of her own while taking down five boards.
Defensively, the Mountaineers held Syracuse to 39.2 percent (20-of-51) from the field, and 27.3 percent (3-of-11) from beyond the arc. West Virginia ran into foul trouble throughout the game, however, allowing the Orange to earn 18 points off of 62.1 percent (18-of-29) accuracy from the charity stripe.
The team continues to hold all opponents to under 50 percent shooting from the field, and to under 27.7 percent shooting from 3-point range, currently the fourth-best average in the BIG EAST.
Syracuse was led in scoring by Elashier Hall, who had 20 points and seven rebounds against the Mountaineers. Hall was followed by Erica Morrow and Iasia Hemingway, who each scored 12 points.
With the win, the Mountaineers extend their consecutive home game winning streak to 29 games at the Coliseum, and their record at home to 111-25 under coach Carey.
In addition, the 19th largest crowd in program history attended the game, with 3,086 fans turning out in support of the team.
“The crowd was great and it makes a big difference,” said Carey. “I think our fan support is getting better and better. It was a great and enthusiastic crowd and it helps us. It is very important to have that. Hopefully we can build on this and keep increasing our crowd because it makes it a tough atmosphere.”
“We had a great crowd today and a great atmosphere,” Repella added. “It's fun to play when there are people in the stands. Any player loves to play in that kind of atmosphere; especially when they're there for you.”
West Virginia next travels to Charleston for a Wednesday evening game against in-state rival Marshall. The first game of a doubleheader with the men’s team, tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. MSNsportsNET.com will provide live audio with Travis Jones on the call. The game will also be aired on WVPBS with Hoppy Kercheval and Warren Baker on the call.
With her seventh double-double effort of the season and ninth double-double of her career, Ali recorded her first ever 30-point game in the win.
“Madina was everywhere tonight; rebounding, scoring and she hit a three,” said Liz Repella. “She played an awesome game today and really picked us up and put us on her shoulders. She played extremely well and I am so proud of her. She is such a hard worker and deserves it.”
“It feels good knowing that I’m out there helping the team in any way I can,” added Ali. “We need that energy and everyone brings that on different occasions. Today it just happened to fall the way it did. Coach did change up a few things on the offensive end to allow me to have some of the opportunities I did. I’m really happy that we all came out there and performed really well.”
A tough defensive game, neither team could gain a clear advantage over the other, resulting in eight lead changes. With 5:58 remaining in the game and the Mountaineers (17-1, 4-1 BIG EAST) up by only one point, 53-52, Vanessa House hit a crucial 3-point shot to put the Mountaineers up by four. But Syracuse had the answer as Erica Morrow made a two-point jumper to bring the Orange (13-4, 1-3 BIG EAST) back within two.
With 5:06 remaining, true freshman Brooke Hampton sank another crucial three to put the Mountaineers up by five, and Ali, having a career day, followed with a 3-point shot of her own to help West Virginia pull away. While Syracuse continued to threaten, they weren’t able to respond to a final 7-0 scoring run from WVU.
“When Madina has her feet set, I give her the green light,” explained coach Mike Carey. “Brooke Hampton hit a big three, Madina hit a big three and Vanessa (House) hit a couple of threes when we needed them.”
Following Ali, Repella had 12 points and four rebounds in 36 minutes of play. She also led the team in blocks, with three. Asya Bussie rounded out the top three in scoring, putting up eight points of her own while taking down five boards.
Defensively, the Mountaineers held Syracuse to 39.2 percent (20-of-51) from the field, and 27.3 percent (3-of-11) from beyond the arc. West Virginia ran into foul trouble throughout the game, however, allowing the Orange to earn 18 points off of 62.1 percent (18-of-29) accuracy from the charity stripe.
The team continues to hold all opponents to under 50 percent shooting from the field, and to under 27.7 percent shooting from 3-point range, currently the fourth-best average in the BIG EAST.
Syracuse was led in scoring by Elashier Hall, who had 20 points and seven rebounds against the Mountaineers. Hall was followed by Erica Morrow and Iasia Hemingway, who each scored 12 points.
With the win, the Mountaineers extend their consecutive home game winning streak to 29 games at the Coliseum, and their record at home to 111-25 under coach Carey.
In addition, the 19th largest crowd in program history attended the game, with 3,086 fans turning out in support of the team.
“The crowd was great and it makes a big difference,” said Carey. “I think our fan support is getting better and better. It was a great and enthusiastic crowd and it helps us. It is very important to have that. Hopefully we can build on this and keep increasing our crowd because it makes it a tough atmosphere.”
“We had a great crowd today and a great atmosphere,” Repella added. “It's fun to play when there are people in the stands. Any player loves to play in that kind of atmosphere; especially when they're there for you.”
West Virginia next travels to Charleston for a Wednesday evening game against in-state rival Marshall. The first game of a doubleheader with the men’s team, tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. MSNsportsNET.com will provide live audio with Travis Jones on the call. The game will also be aired on WVPBS with Hoppy Kercheval and Warren Baker on the call.
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