No. 17 WVU Outlasts Seton Hall in 89-87 Thriller
November 17, 2014 10:53 PM | General
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 17 West Virginia women's basketball team outlasted Seton Hall in an offensive showcase, 89-87, on Monday evening at the WVU Coliseum to advance to the Preseason WNIT semifinals.
The Mountaineers (2-0) trailed by four with nine minutes remaining. Averee Fields’ layup at 7:09 gave WVU a brief 72-70 lead that it would never relinquish down the stretch.
WVU stretched its advantage to nine under four minutes to play, but Seton Hall (1-1) continued to battle back. A pair of free throws from Pirates star Ka-Deidre Simmons cut WVU’s edge to one in the final 13 seconds. Redshirt freshman Teana Muldrow hit a free throw to give WVU an 89-87 lead with six seconds. A last layup attempt from Simmons fell short, as West Virginia secured the win.
On Thursday, WVU will travel to Mississippi State for the Preseason WNIT semifinals at 8 p.m. ET. The Bulldogs (2-0) picked up wins over Mercer (97-66) and Arkansas State (93-83) in the first two rounds.
Holmes, the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, put together one of the most memorable performances in WVU Coliseum history with a career-best 36 points in the win. The New Haven, Connecticut native’s performance tied Kate Bulger (2003) for the second-most points in a single game at the Coliseum. Her effort also tied Bulger for third-most by a WVU junior.
Fields earned her first career double-double scoring performance with 21 points, 15 rebounds and dishing out five assists. Muldrow finished out double-figure scoring for WVU with 19 points and nine boards. The freshman’s six triples tied three others for third most by a Mountaineer freshman with the most recent effort from Taylor Palmer in 2010 versus High Point.
Senior Linda Stepney dished out nine assists and did not commit a turnover in 34 minutes.
Seton Hall had four players reach double-figures as Tabatha Richardson-Smith paced the Pirates with 32 points. Simmons finished as the second leading scoring with 20.
West Virginia connected on 27-of-64 from the field for 42.2 percent, while Seton Hall hit 29-of-67 for 43.3 percent. Both teams knocked down a combined 23 triples. Seton Hall hit 12-of-25 (48.0%) compared to WVU’s 11-of-24 (45.8%). The Mountaineers won the rebound edge 45-43 and slightly captured the assists battle 20-18.
Seton Hall opened the game to a 4-0 lead. West Virginia used a seven-point run midway through the period to take a 24-18 lead at 10:15. Later in the half, Seton Hall’s Simmons knocked down a wide-open trey to tie the contest 29-29.
WVU stretched its lead back to four before the Pirates’ Richardson-Smith connected on a triple and layup, tying the game 38-38 with 3:25 on the clock. The Mountaineers once again went up by four. However, Daisha Simmons hit a layup to cut WVU’s lead to 46-45 at the break.
The junior Holmes led all scorers with 16 points. Fields already had a double-double in the first half with 11 points and 11 boards. Richardson-Smith and Johnson each had double-figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
In the opening half, the Mountaineers went 14-of-36 from the field for 38.9 percent, including 6-of-14 from 3-point range. Seton Hall made 14-of-30 attempts for 46.7 percent, connecting on 5-of-12 from the perimeter. WVU won the rebound column, 29-13, in the opening half.
West Virginia once again stretched its lead to four, but were unable to sustain the momentum. Seton Hall took a, 62-58, lead with 11:58 remaining after a pair of back-to-back layups from Richardson-Smith and Bra’Shey Ali.
A layup by fields at 7:09 put the Mountaineers up by two. They would stretch the lead to nine with 3:36 before Seton Hall road back to within one in the final 13 seconds. Muldrow hit the front end of two free throw attempts to give WVU a slight 89-87 edge. A last second attempt by Simmons failed at the buzzer.
West Virginia returns to action at Mississippi State on Thursday at 8 p.m. CT in the semifinal round of the WNIT semifinals.
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