WVU Women Dominate North Carolina Central
November 20, 2011 05:12 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The West Virginia women’s basketball team held North Carolina Central to the lowest point total in the history of women’s basketball at the WVU Coliseum with a 97-24 victory over the Eagles Sunday afternoon.
Sophomores Jess Harlee and Taylor Palmer led a group of four Mountaineers (2-1) that scored in double digits against the Eagles (0-4) each with 20 points on the afternoon. They were followed by junior center Asya Bussie and freshman guard Akilah Bethel, who each scored 12.
Twice during the game, the Mountaineers went on a 38-0 scoring run, with the first scoring run starting when the score was 43-18.
“We still had a lot of easy misses but we just have to keep fighting through it and start building a little bit of confidence in scoring,” coach Carey said.
The Mountaineers were able to force 42 North Carolina Central turnovers, tying for the second-most opponent turnovers in a single game since February 1, 1982 when the team notched 42 turnovers from Davis & Elkins.
More than half of those turnovers came in the form of steals, as West Virginia posted 27, now the highest number of steals under coach Carey. The team previously notched 24 steals against Presbyterian in 2007. Harlee led the team with seven, and was followed by Ayana Dunning and Averee Fields who each grabbed four.
Additionally, West Virginia was able to hold North Carolina Central to the second-lowest point total in program history with 24. The score marks the lowest number of points scored by an opponent since the 1974-75 season when the Mountaineers held Seton Hill to just 26 points. Last year, West Virginia held Marshall to just 21 points.
“You will see on the board that I wrote down one thing, I want to see who has a motor and who is going to play hard,” Carey said. “They just couldn’t handle our pressure. We got sloppy a little bit and I am concerned about them getting a lot of offensive rebounds and that is something we have to work on.”
West Virginia was able to hold North Carolina Central to 19.6 percent (10-of-51) shooting from the field and 21.4 percent (3-of-14) shooting from 3-point range. Additionally, they were able to stay out of foul trouble only allowing the Eagles two shots from the free throw line from which only one was made.
In comparison, the Mountaineers shot 44 percent (37-of-84) from the field and 16.7 percent (3-of-18) from beyond the arc. However, the team made 90.9 percent of its free throws to accumulate 20 of its 97 overall points.
“When we went on a little bit of pressing out of that 1-2-2, I saw some good things there too,” said Carey. They did have some quickness where they would try and bring it down and they did a couple of times but I thought our girls’ rotation was pretty good. Crystal Leary does a great job at the top with those long arms and being very active.”
The Mountaineers also dominated on the boards, bringing down 51 in contrast to just 38 from the Eagles. Of those 51, 30 were offensive rebounds breaking yet another record under Carey’s tenure. The previous high in offensive rebounds under Carey was 26, set last year against Houston in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Harlee and Asya Bussie led the team in rebounding, each with eight boards.
The Mountaineers return to action on Friday, Nov. 25, as they take to the road for the first time this season to face UCLA in the opening round of the Woodland Hills Holiday Inn Thanksgiving Basketball Classic Northridge, Calif. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET.
Sophomores Jess Harlee and Taylor Palmer led a group of four Mountaineers (2-1) that scored in double digits against the Eagles (0-4) each with 20 points on the afternoon. They were followed by junior center Asya Bussie and freshman guard Akilah Bethel, who each scored 12.
Twice during the game, the Mountaineers went on a 38-0 scoring run, with the first scoring run starting when the score was 43-18.
“We still had a lot of easy misses but we just have to keep fighting through it and start building a little bit of confidence in scoring,” coach Carey said.
The Mountaineers were able to force 42 North Carolina Central turnovers, tying for the second-most opponent turnovers in a single game since February 1, 1982 when the team notched 42 turnovers from Davis & Elkins.
More than half of those turnovers came in the form of steals, as West Virginia posted 27, now the highest number of steals under coach Carey. The team previously notched 24 steals against Presbyterian in 2007. Harlee led the team with seven, and was followed by Ayana Dunning and Averee Fields who each grabbed four.
Additionally, West Virginia was able to hold North Carolina Central to the second-lowest point total in program history with 24. The score marks the lowest number of points scored by an opponent since the 1974-75 season when the Mountaineers held Seton Hill to just 26 points. Last year, West Virginia held Marshall to just 21 points.
“You will see on the board that I wrote down one thing, I want to see who has a motor and who is going to play hard,” Carey said. “They just couldn’t handle our pressure. We got sloppy a little bit and I am concerned about them getting a lot of offensive rebounds and that is something we have to work on.”
West Virginia was able to hold North Carolina Central to 19.6 percent (10-of-51) shooting from the field and 21.4 percent (3-of-14) shooting from 3-point range. Additionally, they were able to stay out of foul trouble only allowing the Eagles two shots from the free throw line from which only one was made.
In comparison, the Mountaineers shot 44 percent (37-of-84) from the field and 16.7 percent (3-of-18) from beyond the arc. However, the team made 90.9 percent of its free throws to accumulate 20 of its 97 overall points.
“When we went on a little bit of pressing out of that 1-2-2, I saw some good things there too,” said Carey. They did have some quickness where they would try and bring it down and they did a couple of times but I thought our girls’ rotation was pretty good. Crystal Leary does a great job at the top with those long arms and being very active.”
The Mountaineers also dominated on the boards, bringing down 51 in contrast to just 38 from the Eagles. Of those 51, 30 were offensive rebounds breaking yet another record under Carey’s tenure. The previous high in offensive rebounds under Carey was 26, set last year against Houston in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Harlee and Asya Bussie led the team in rebounding, each with eight boards.
The Mountaineers return to action on Friday, Nov. 25, as they take to the road for the first time this season to face UCLA in the opening round of the Woodland Hills Holiday Inn Thanksgiving Basketball Classic Northridge, Calif. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET.
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