Mountaineers Drop Close Contest
February 08, 2011 10:51 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - The No. 17 West Virginia women's basketball team held No. 2 Connecticut to its lowest point total this season, but it wasn't enough to overcome a 57-51 deficit Tuesday night at the Coliseum. The eighth largest crowd in program history attended the game, with 5,855 fans turning out in support of the team and to witness the possible upset.
The Mountaineers (20-5, 6-5 BIG EAST) put forth tremendous effort against the dominant Huskies (23-1, 11-0 BIG EAST) outrebounding Connecticut, 37-29, and forcing 17 turnovers while only giving up 15 of their own. Normally, statistics such as these would be good enough to earn a win, but against Connecticut, only perfection wins games.
“Our girls played hard,” said coach Carey. “It’s the same old story. We struggled to score. Anytime you hold Connecticut to 57 points, you should have a pretty good chance of winning. We just don’t score enough. It’s a shame. Our girls came out and I thought they stayed focused for 30 minutes out of the 40 and with a team like Connecticut you have to stay focused for 40 minutes. We didn’t do it.”
West Virginia played an excellent first half, using 36.7 percent (11-of-30) accuracy from the field and 50 percent (2-of-4) shooting from beyond the arc to twice lead Connecticut by seven points. With an additional 83.3 percent (5-of-6) shooting from the free throw line, they were able to increase their lead to nine points with 8:01 remaining before halftime.
“I do give our girls a lot of credit,” Carey said.
The Mountaineers’ two point lead at halftime, 29-27, marks only the second time that Connecticut has trailed at the half this season. So far, only No. 3 Stanford has been able to beat the Huskies after leading at the half.
Connecticut took its second lead of the game on a 3-pointer from Kelly Faris that put the Huskies ahead 32-29 with 17:39 remaining. The Mountaineers would hang around, never falling more than three points behind, until Maya Moore added two more to make the score 38-36. Moore scored 15 points after halftime, including eight in a row to effectively build a lead that West Virginia would not be able to overcome.
“Maya Moore is a great player; that’s why she’s the best player in the nation,” Repella said. “She really stepped up for her team tonight and had some big shots.”
However, West Virginia’s defense played tough just as the team knew it would have to do if they were going to have a chance at stopping Connecticut’s scoring threats. Overall, the Huskies shot 46.8 percent (22-of-47) from field goal range and 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from the 3-point line, allowing the Mountaineers to continue holding almost all opponents to less than 50 percent shooting from the field and to only 29.1 percent shooting from 3-point range. Only Georgetown and DePaul have had more accurate percentages.
“I guess that’s what you get when you get two pretty good defensive teams,” said coach Geno Auriemma. “They played really good defense. We made a couple of plays here and there and were fortunate to come out of here with a win. This very easily could have been a West Virginia win. Maya (Moore) just happened to make a couple of plays and a couple more shots and that was the difference.”
Moore led the Huskies in scoring, with 27 points in 40 minutes of play. She was followed by center Stefanie Dolson, who put up 10, and guard Kelly Faris, who had eight.
Ali led the Mountaineers in scoring, with 17 points and eight rebounds in 37 minutes of play. Repella followed close behind, putting up 13 points and collecting five rebounds. Sarah Miles rounded out the top three in scoring for West Virginia, with seven points on the night.
With the loss, the Mountaineers have now lost four of their last five games, and drop to eighth position in the BIG EAST Conference standings.
West Virginia returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 13. The team travels to Louisville to take on the Cardinals (15-9, 6-4 BIG EAST) in a 5 p.m. tip with the contest airing live on ESPN2.
The Mountaineers (20-5, 6-5 BIG EAST) put forth tremendous effort against the dominant Huskies (23-1, 11-0 BIG EAST) outrebounding Connecticut, 37-29, and forcing 17 turnovers while only giving up 15 of their own. Normally, statistics such as these would be good enough to earn a win, but against Connecticut, only perfection wins games.
“Our girls played hard,” said coach Carey. “It’s the same old story. We struggled to score. Anytime you hold Connecticut to 57 points, you should have a pretty good chance of winning. We just don’t score enough. It’s a shame. Our girls came out and I thought they stayed focused for 30 minutes out of the 40 and with a team like Connecticut you have to stay focused for 40 minutes. We didn’t do it.”
West Virginia played an excellent first half, using 36.7 percent (11-of-30) accuracy from the field and 50 percent (2-of-4) shooting from beyond the arc to twice lead Connecticut by seven points. With an additional 83.3 percent (5-of-6) shooting from the free throw line, they were able to increase their lead to nine points with 8:01 remaining before halftime.
“I do give our girls a lot of credit,” Carey said.
The Mountaineers’ two point lead at halftime, 29-27, marks only the second time that Connecticut has trailed at the half this season. So far, only No. 3 Stanford has been able to beat the Huskies after leading at the half.
Connecticut took its second lead of the game on a 3-pointer from Kelly Faris that put the Huskies ahead 32-29 with 17:39 remaining. The Mountaineers would hang around, never falling more than three points behind, until Maya Moore added two more to make the score 38-36. Moore scored 15 points after halftime, including eight in a row to effectively build a lead that West Virginia would not be able to overcome.
“Maya Moore is a great player; that’s why she’s the best player in the nation,” Repella said. “She really stepped up for her team tonight and had some big shots.”
However, West Virginia’s defense played tough just as the team knew it would have to do if they were going to have a chance at stopping Connecticut’s scoring threats. Overall, the Huskies shot 46.8 percent (22-of-47) from field goal range and 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from the 3-point line, allowing the Mountaineers to continue holding almost all opponents to less than 50 percent shooting from the field and to only 29.1 percent shooting from 3-point range. Only Georgetown and DePaul have had more accurate percentages.
“I guess that’s what you get when you get two pretty good defensive teams,” said coach Geno Auriemma. “They played really good defense. We made a couple of plays here and there and were fortunate to come out of here with a win. This very easily could have been a West Virginia win. Maya (Moore) just happened to make a couple of plays and a couple more shots and that was the difference.”
Moore led the Huskies in scoring, with 27 points in 40 minutes of play. She was followed by center Stefanie Dolson, who put up 10, and guard Kelly Faris, who had eight.
Ali led the Mountaineers in scoring, with 17 points and eight rebounds in 37 minutes of play. Repella followed close behind, putting up 13 points and collecting five rebounds. Sarah Miles rounded out the top three in scoring for West Virginia, with seven points on the night.
With the loss, the Mountaineers have now lost four of their last five games, and drop to eighth position in the BIG EAST Conference standings.
West Virginia returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 13. The team travels to Louisville to take on the Cardinals (15-9, 6-4 BIG EAST) in a 5 p.m. tip with the contest airing live on ESPN2.
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