Mountaineers Drop Close Contest
November 18, 2011 10:21 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The West Virginia University women’s basketball team dropped a close contest to St. Bonaventure, 56-48, on Friday night at the Coliseum.
West Virginia came out of halftime trailing the Bonnies (3-0) by three points, 26-23. With 14:35 remaining in the second half, Brooke Hampton sank a three to give the Mountaineers (1-1) some energy and bring them back into the game. Her basket was immediately followed by a steal and fast break layup from Jess Harlee that brought West Virginia within two points of the lead at 32-31.
A foul called on St. Bonaventure’s Jessica Jenkins with 13:03 remaining gave West Virginia the opening it needed to get ahead. A quick jumper from Hampton gave the lead back to the Mountaineers, 33-32.
Costly turnovers and fouls would eventually cause West Virginia to lose the lead, however, and the team would be unable to battle back into the game after that point.
“It is one thing not to finish, it’s another thing to draw a foul and it’s another thing that when you do draw a foul, you need to go hit a foul shot,” coach Carey said. “We will get better and it was good to see when we were down who was going to play hard and who wasn’t. Some players on our team are not scoring and it kind of affects them defensively and we can’t let that happen.”
Defensively, the Mountaineers held the Bonnies to just 32.7 percent (16-of-49) shooting for the game, and to only 31.3 percent (5-of-16) shooting from beyond the arc. St. Bonaventure would make 90.5 percent (19-of-21) of its free throws, however, taking advantage of WVU’s foul trouble by scoring 21 of their 56 total points from the charity stripe.
“With all of Mike (Carey’s) teams, you know they are going to defend you and you know they are going to play really hard,” said St. Bonaventure coach Jim Crowley. “We just prepared for that and fortunately for us we were able to find success.”
West Virginia won the rebound battle, taking down 46 boards to St. Bonaventure’s 37. Harlee led the team in rebounding by grabbing 12 boards, six offensively and six defensively. For the second game in a row, Ayana Dunning had a double-digit rebounding performance, with 10 boards on the night.
Hampton paced the Mountaineers in scoring, posting 13 points and pulling down four boards in 35 minutes of play. She was followed by team co-captain Harlee, who had her first career double-double against the Bonnies, tallying 12 points in addition to her 12 rebounds.
“Jess Harlee came in and played extremely hard,” Carey said. “I told them in the locker room that I am going to play people who play hard. Jess Harlee is about 5’11 and had 12 rebounds, a charge, three blocks and a steal at the times she played. We have got to play people who are going to play hard.”
While the Mountaineers were able to earn 13 turnovers of their own, compiling nine blocks and four steals, the Bonnies came back and forced 16 turnovers.
Although the Mountaineer defense did well holding the Bonnies to just over 30 percent shooting, the Bonnies in turn held West Virginia to just 28.1 percent (16-of-57) from the field and 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from 3-point range.
“Shoot 28 percent from the floor and 52 from the foul line, and you are probably not going to win,” said Carey. “There is a good chance you are not going to win. We fouled them at the end and put them at the line, without that, we probably would have held them in the 40’s. Again, if you hold a team to 32 percent from the floor, that is pretty good as a team. They sagged on us and didn’t press us and we shot 28 percent.”
The Mountaineers return to action at the Coliseum at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 20 to take on North Carolina Central.
Live video and stats for Friday’s game will be provided by MSNsportsNet.com.
West Virginia came out of halftime trailing the Bonnies (3-0) by three points, 26-23. With 14:35 remaining in the second half, Brooke Hampton sank a three to give the Mountaineers (1-1) some energy and bring them back into the game. Her basket was immediately followed by a steal and fast break layup from Jess Harlee that brought West Virginia within two points of the lead at 32-31.
A foul called on St. Bonaventure’s Jessica Jenkins with 13:03 remaining gave West Virginia the opening it needed to get ahead. A quick jumper from Hampton gave the lead back to the Mountaineers, 33-32.
Costly turnovers and fouls would eventually cause West Virginia to lose the lead, however, and the team would be unable to battle back into the game after that point.
“It is one thing not to finish, it’s another thing to draw a foul and it’s another thing that when you do draw a foul, you need to go hit a foul shot,” coach Carey said. “We will get better and it was good to see when we were down who was going to play hard and who wasn’t. Some players on our team are not scoring and it kind of affects them defensively and we can’t let that happen.”
Defensively, the Mountaineers held the Bonnies to just 32.7 percent (16-of-49) shooting for the game, and to only 31.3 percent (5-of-16) shooting from beyond the arc. St. Bonaventure would make 90.5 percent (19-of-21) of its free throws, however, taking advantage of WVU’s foul trouble by scoring 21 of their 56 total points from the charity stripe.
“With all of Mike (Carey’s) teams, you know they are going to defend you and you know they are going to play really hard,” said St. Bonaventure coach Jim Crowley. “We just prepared for that and fortunately for us we were able to find success.”
West Virginia won the rebound battle, taking down 46 boards to St. Bonaventure’s 37. Harlee led the team in rebounding by grabbing 12 boards, six offensively and six defensively. For the second game in a row, Ayana Dunning had a double-digit rebounding performance, with 10 boards on the night.
Hampton paced the Mountaineers in scoring, posting 13 points and pulling down four boards in 35 minutes of play. She was followed by team co-captain Harlee, who had her first career double-double against the Bonnies, tallying 12 points in addition to her 12 rebounds.
“Jess Harlee came in and played extremely hard,” Carey said. “I told them in the locker room that I am going to play people who play hard. Jess Harlee is about 5’11 and had 12 rebounds, a charge, three blocks and a steal at the times she played. We have got to play people who are going to play hard.”
While the Mountaineers were able to earn 13 turnovers of their own, compiling nine blocks and four steals, the Bonnies came back and forced 16 turnovers.
Although the Mountaineer defense did well holding the Bonnies to just over 30 percent shooting, the Bonnies in turn held West Virginia to just 28.1 percent (16-of-57) from the field and 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from 3-point range.
“Shoot 28 percent from the floor and 52 from the foul line, and you are probably not going to win,” said Carey. “There is a good chance you are not going to win. We fouled them at the end and put them at the line, without that, we probably would have held them in the 40’s. Again, if you hold a team to 32 percent from the floor, that is pretty good as a team. They sagged on us and didn’t press us and we shot 28 percent.”
The Mountaineers return to action at the Coliseum at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 20 to take on North Carolina Central.
Live video and stats for Friday’s game will be provided by MSNsportsNet.com.
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