Carey Earns Win No. 500
December 28, 2011 03:12 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Redshirt-junior Ayana Dunning scored 15 points and pulled down eight rebounds to lead the West Virginia women’s basketball team to a 72-30 win over Bucknell on Wednesday afternoon at the Coliseum.
Coach Carey earned his 500th career victory with the win. In his 24th season, Carey reaches 500 with a 212-120 overall record in his 11th season at West Virginia and a 13-year record of 288-102 at Salem.
“I have had a lot of great players and a lot of great coaches and you can’t win without great players and great coaches,” Carey said. “I have been very fortunate. I have been fortunate enough to get all 500 wins in the state of West Virginia.
“It has been a great experience here at West Virginia,” he continued. “I have nothing to complain about. I look back and I don’t think I would change anything.”
The Mountaineers (9-3) originally got off to a slow start, falling behind early as Bucknell junior Rachel Voss jumpstarted the Bison (2-11) offense by scoring four of its six straight points over West Virginia. The Bison led, 6-2, until the 14:45 mark when Dunning scored her first points of the game with a layup, followed by jump shots from redshirt-sophomore Christal Caldwell and junior Asya Bussie.
Four more points from Caldwell and Dunning, along with six points from beyond the arc from sophomore Brooke Hampton, solidified the Mountaineer lead at 18-6. After that point, West Virginia’s defense would take over and stifle any offensive opportunities for Bucknell.
“My philosophy on basketball is play defense, rebound and shot selection,” Carey said. “If I can get kids to do that, then you can win a lot of games with those three phases.”
Behind Dunning, Hampton and sophomore Taylor Palmer each scored 13 points to round out the top three scorers for the Mountaineers. Caldwell and Bussie weren’t far behind, each posting nine points against the Bison.
“Yaya (Ayana Dunning) came out and played well,” said Carey. “Brooke (Hampton) in the first half was especially looking to score and shoot; we need her to do that. Christal Caldwell is getting some confidence now which is good to see.”
West Virginia held Bucknell to just 25.6 percent (10-of-39) from the field and continued its trend of excellent three-point field goal defense by allowing zero buckets from beyond the arc. The Bison were able to shoot 83.3 percent (10-of-12) from the line, with all of those chances coming in the second half.
In comparison, the Mountaineers shot 48.3 percent (28-of-58) from the field, 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from the 3-point line, and 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from the charity stripe.
Hampton shot a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc, while Palmer shot 3-of-7 to bring her season total to a team-leading 38 threes.
The Mountaineers forced 27 Bison turnovers, from which they scored 38 points while only turning the ball over 13 times on their own end. West Virginia also grabbed 11 steals and had eight blocks, four of which were made by Bussie who now has 26 blocks on the season.
The rebounding battle was more even, however, as the Mountaineers grabbed 34 to Bucknell’s 30.
Senior Christina Chukweudo scored nine points for Bucknell. She was followed by junior Alyssa Dunn who had eight.
The Mountaineers return to action on Saturday, December 31st when they host Elon in the last home nonconference matchup of the season. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
Coach Carey earned his 500th career victory with the win. In his 24th season, Carey reaches 500 with a 212-120 overall record in his 11th season at West Virginia and a 13-year record of 288-102 at Salem.
“I have had a lot of great players and a lot of great coaches and you can’t win without great players and great coaches,” Carey said. “I have been very fortunate. I have been fortunate enough to get all 500 wins in the state of West Virginia.
“It has been a great experience here at West Virginia,” he continued. “I have nothing to complain about. I look back and I don’t think I would change anything.”
The Mountaineers (9-3) originally got off to a slow start, falling behind early as Bucknell junior Rachel Voss jumpstarted the Bison (2-11) offense by scoring four of its six straight points over West Virginia. The Bison led, 6-2, until the 14:45 mark when Dunning scored her first points of the game with a layup, followed by jump shots from redshirt-sophomore Christal Caldwell and junior Asya Bussie.
Four more points from Caldwell and Dunning, along with six points from beyond the arc from sophomore Brooke Hampton, solidified the Mountaineer lead at 18-6. After that point, West Virginia’s defense would take over and stifle any offensive opportunities for Bucknell.
“My philosophy on basketball is play defense, rebound and shot selection,” Carey said. “If I can get kids to do that, then you can win a lot of games with those three phases.”
Behind Dunning, Hampton and sophomore Taylor Palmer each scored 13 points to round out the top three scorers for the Mountaineers. Caldwell and Bussie weren’t far behind, each posting nine points against the Bison.
“Yaya (Ayana Dunning) came out and played well,” said Carey. “Brooke (Hampton) in the first half was especially looking to score and shoot; we need her to do that. Christal Caldwell is getting some confidence now which is good to see.”
West Virginia held Bucknell to just 25.6 percent (10-of-39) from the field and continued its trend of excellent three-point field goal defense by allowing zero buckets from beyond the arc. The Bison were able to shoot 83.3 percent (10-of-12) from the line, with all of those chances coming in the second half.
In comparison, the Mountaineers shot 48.3 percent (28-of-58) from the field, 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from the 3-point line, and 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from the charity stripe.
Hampton shot a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc, while Palmer shot 3-of-7 to bring her season total to a team-leading 38 threes.
The Mountaineers forced 27 Bison turnovers, from which they scored 38 points while only turning the ball over 13 times on their own end. West Virginia also grabbed 11 steals and had eight blocks, four of which were made by Bussie who now has 26 blocks on the season.
The rebounding battle was more even, however, as the Mountaineers grabbed 34 to Bucknell’s 30.
Senior Christina Chukweudo scored nine points for Bucknell. She was followed by junior Alyssa Dunn who had eight.
The Mountaineers return to action on Saturday, December 31st when they host Elon in the last home nonconference matchup of the season. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
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