WVU Women Travel to Pitt
February 18, 2011 04:21 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – There’s no question that the No. 21 West Virginia women’s basketball team has struggled this year. Despite having been picked to finish the season in second place behind Connecticut in a pre-season conference coaches poll, the team now finds itself occupying ninth place in the conference standings.
Yet it’s not as though the team isn’t playing hard or giving it their all on the court. True, they have dropped three out of their last four games, but in those contests the Mountaineers (20-6, 6-6 BIG EAST) have outrebounded their opponents, controlled their turnovers and taken care of business from the charity stripe.
“Practice hasn’t been our problem, we have good practices and the girls go hard,” detailed coach Carey. “I’ve looked at a lot of film and I’d like to say we aren’t playing hard but we are. The last three or four games we’ve outrebounded opponents by almost ten and we’re shooting a higher percentage from the foul line. Turnovers haven’t been that much of an issue. We’re just not scoring from the floor.”
West Virginia only shot 26 percent (13-of-50) from the field in its most recent loss to Louisville and only 29.6 percent (16-of-54) in the game against No. 2 Connecticut almost two weeks ago. While the team’s defense continues to hold opponents to low scoring numbers, the offense has not been able to produce enough points to win games, an issue that the team has been aggressively working on during the past week of practice.
“We do have a chance to redeem ourselves in this game,” said Sarah Miles. “We’ve learned a lot. Last time we missed a lot of scoring opportunities by making an extra pass. We just need to be more aggressive and look to score. Instead of going so deep, I need to just pull up and trust my jumper. We need to be more aggressive on offense. We aren’t having too many problems on the defensive end. We just need to score.”
While the Mountaineers have been struggling, the Panthers (13-12, 5-7 BIG EAST) have been quietly working their way up the conference standings ladder. Only one position behind West Virginia, Pitt would love to defeat their rival at home in front of a large home crowd out to support them during their Pink game.
The Panthers will once again look to senior guard and leading scorer Taneisha Harrison to lead them past the Mountaineers. When the two teams met back on Feb. 5, Harrison scored 30 points to help lead Pitt to the win. Now averaging 14.8 points per game, Harrison leads Pitt in 3-pointers made with 38 this season. In addition, she currently ranks in the BIG EAST top 10 for scoring.
“We know she runs to the left corner every time; it’s not like we don’t know where she’s going to be,” said Carey. “She does her shooting from the left side. We didn’t do a good job finding her last time. We went into the game to shut down (Shayla) Scott. There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll do a much better job guarding her in this game.”
Behind Harrison, senior guard Jania Sims and senior forward Chelsea Cole round out the top three scorers with 12.7 and 10.4 points per game, respectively. Cole had 15 points in the last outing against the Mountaineers and also leads in rebounding, averaging 10.1 rebounds per game.
The Mountaineers are looking to end their three game skid and hope to take the second season meeting between the teams after seeing their 31-game home court win streak snapped by the Panthers earlier this month.
In order to take the win, West Virginia will need to improve upon its shooting, a fact that is not lost on any of the team members.
“It’s really important to get off to a good start, especially for the seniors,” Miles said. “We always talked about going out with a bang so we have to start with this Pittsburgh game, then Notre Dame and Rutgers, and end it with St. John’s. We’re going to go in aggressive.
“We always go out with a positive mindset. We get so many good looks, but the ball never falls in. We just need to keep working.”
“If you look at our stats, we’re outrebounding teams the past two games and we’ve been limiting our turnovers,” added Liz Repella. “But we’re only shooting around 25 percent from the field and it’s hard to beat anybody if you’re shooting that bad.”
The Mountaineers will look to senior co-captains Repella and Madina Ali to jumpstart the team’s offense as they continue to remain the top two scorers, averaging 13.7 and 13.3 points per game, respectively. They also continue to come in first and second in steals, with Repella notching 54, and Ali notching 48. In addition, Ali also paces the team in rebounds, averaging 6.9 per game.
Sophomore center Asya Bussie continues to round out the top three in scoring, posting an average of 7.4 points per game. She also leads the team in blocks (44).
West Virginia continues to control the all-time series, leading the Panthers 23-19 since the beginning of the series in 1974.
Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Petersen Events Center, with the Pitt Panthers Network set to broadcast the game on Comcast 188 and 210. WVPBS will air the game tape delayed at 5 p.m. Additionally, live audio will be provided by MSN Radio.
Yet it’s not as though the team isn’t playing hard or giving it their all on the court. True, they have dropped three out of their last four games, but in those contests the Mountaineers (20-6, 6-6 BIG EAST) have outrebounded their opponents, controlled their turnovers and taken care of business from the charity stripe.
“Practice hasn’t been our problem, we have good practices and the girls go hard,” detailed coach Carey. “I’ve looked at a lot of film and I’d like to say we aren’t playing hard but we are. The last three or four games we’ve outrebounded opponents by almost ten and we’re shooting a higher percentage from the foul line. Turnovers haven’t been that much of an issue. We’re just not scoring from the floor.”
West Virginia only shot 26 percent (13-of-50) from the field in its most recent loss to Louisville and only 29.6 percent (16-of-54) in the game against No. 2 Connecticut almost two weeks ago. While the team’s defense continues to hold opponents to low scoring numbers, the offense has not been able to produce enough points to win games, an issue that the team has been aggressively working on during the past week of practice.
“We do have a chance to redeem ourselves in this game,” said Sarah Miles. “We’ve learned a lot. Last time we missed a lot of scoring opportunities by making an extra pass. We just need to be more aggressive and look to score. Instead of going so deep, I need to just pull up and trust my jumper. We need to be more aggressive on offense. We aren’t having too many problems on the defensive end. We just need to score.”
While the Mountaineers have been struggling, the Panthers (13-12, 5-7 BIG EAST) have been quietly working their way up the conference standings ladder. Only one position behind West Virginia, Pitt would love to defeat their rival at home in front of a large home crowd out to support them during their Pink game.
The Panthers will once again look to senior guard and leading scorer Taneisha Harrison to lead them past the Mountaineers. When the two teams met back on Feb. 5, Harrison scored 30 points to help lead Pitt to the win. Now averaging 14.8 points per game, Harrison leads Pitt in 3-pointers made with 38 this season. In addition, she currently ranks in the BIG EAST top 10 for scoring.
“We know she runs to the left corner every time; it’s not like we don’t know where she’s going to be,” said Carey. “She does her shooting from the left side. We didn’t do a good job finding her last time. We went into the game to shut down (Shayla) Scott. There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll do a much better job guarding her in this game.”
Behind Harrison, senior guard Jania Sims and senior forward Chelsea Cole round out the top three scorers with 12.7 and 10.4 points per game, respectively. Cole had 15 points in the last outing against the Mountaineers and also leads in rebounding, averaging 10.1 rebounds per game.
The Mountaineers are looking to end their three game skid and hope to take the second season meeting between the teams after seeing their 31-game home court win streak snapped by the Panthers earlier this month.
In order to take the win, West Virginia will need to improve upon its shooting, a fact that is not lost on any of the team members.
“It’s really important to get off to a good start, especially for the seniors,” Miles said. “We always talked about going out with a bang so we have to start with this Pittsburgh game, then Notre Dame and Rutgers, and end it with St. John’s. We’re going to go in aggressive.
“We always go out with a positive mindset. We get so many good looks, but the ball never falls in. We just need to keep working.”
“If you look at our stats, we’re outrebounding teams the past two games and we’ve been limiting our turnovers,” added Liz Repella. “But we’re only shooting around 25 percent from the field and it’s hard to beat anybody if you’re shooting that bad.”
The Mountaineers will look to senior co-captains Repella and Madina Ali to jumpstart the team’s offense as they continue to remain the top two scorers, averaging 13.7 and 13.3 points per game, respectively. They also continue to come in first and second in steals, with Repella notching 54, and Ali notching 48. In addition, Ali also paces the team in rebounds, averaging 6.9 per game.
Sophomore center Asya Bussie continues to round out the top three in scoring, posting an average of 7.4 points per game. She also leads the team in blocks (44).
West Virginia continues to control the all-time series, leading the Panthers 23-19 since the beginning of the series in 1974.
Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Petersen Events Center, with the Pitt Panthers Network set to broadcast the game on Comcast 188 and 210. WVPBS will air the game tape delayed at 5 p.m. Additionally, live audio will be provided by MSN Radio.
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