Post by elp525 on Feb 23, 2011 8:38:20 GMT -5
February 22, 2011
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - West Virginia's women's basketball team lost yet another game Tuesday night - the sixth in eight games since the team was 19-1 - and the reason for this one was pretty simple.
The Mountaineers allowed No. 8 Notre Dame a lot of easy shots. And the Irish made a ton of them.
In fact, Notre Dame managed to shake off a staggering 30 turnovers by shooting 58 percent from the field and handled West Virginia rather easily, winning 72-60 in front of a crowd of 2,593 at the Coliseum.
For No. 19 West Virginia (21-7, 7-7 Big East) the loss was another in a string of mostly-futile performances since the team began the season 16-0 and then 19-1 and were regularly ranked in the Top 10. In fact, despite that strong start the Mountaineers are in danger of finishing in the bottom half of the Big East standings and not earning a first-round bye in the league tournament.
Notre Dame (23-5, 12-2), meanwhile, continues to cruise along against any Big East team not named Connecticut. The Irish lost by 21 at UConn over the weekend, but bounced back by working constantly for layups and making 30 of 52 shots from the field. The Irish, the second-best 3-point shooting team in the league, had to attempt just three Tuesday night.
With Natalie Novosel scoring 22 points and three other in double figures, Notre Dame built leads as big as 14 points in the first half and 18 in the second. West Virginia never got closer than nine points in the final 20 minutes.
Sarah Miles led West Virginia with 16 points, five assists and six steals, but she also shot just 8-for-21 from the field. The Mountaineers as a team shot only 35 percent, were outrebounded 40-31 and had trouble taking advantage of all those Notre Dame turnovers because of 23 of their own.
By halftime Notre Dame led by 13 and how it wasn't more was rather remarkable in itself. Notre Dame shot 65 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes and West Virginia could get almost nothing to fall, going 0-for-4 on 3-pointers and shooting 33 percent overall.
The only thing that saved WVU in the first half were those turnovers. When Notre Dame wasn't making shots, it was turning the ball over - a lot. The Irish nearly matched themselves turnover for point early (they had six turnovers and seven points at one juncture) and by the break had lost the ball 15 times.
Of course, to compound West Virginia's 33 percent shooting, the Mountaineers also turned it over 12 times in the first half, so could never take advantage of Notre Dame's bumbling ways with the ball.
Notre Dame was the last ranked team on West Virginia's regular-season schedule, but that doesn't mean the Mountaineers get much of a break in the final two games. On Sunday comes an afternoon game at traditional powerhouse Rutgers (15-11, 8-5), then just two days later - on Monday night at the Coliseum - WVU hosts St. John's (18-8, 7-6) in the final game for the team's five seniors.
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - West Virginia's women's basketball team lost yet another game Tuesday night - the sixth in eight games since the team was 19-1 - and the reason for this one was pretty simple.
The Mountaineers allowed No. 8 Notre Dame a lot of easy shots. And the Irish made a ton of them.
In fact, Notre Dame managed to shake off a staggering 30 turnovers by shooting 58 percent from the field and handled West Virginia rather easily, winning 72-60 in front of a crowd of 2,593 at the Coliseum.
For No. 19 West Virginia (21-7, 7-7 Big East) the loss was another in a string of mostly-futile performances since the team began the season 16-0 and then 19-1 and were regularly ranked in the Top 10. In fact, despite that strong start the Mountaineers are in danger of finishing in the bottom half of the Big East standings and not earning a first-round bye in the league tournament.
Notre Dame (23-5, 12-2), meanwhile, continues to cruise along against any Big East team not named Connecticut. The Irish lost by 21 at UConn over the weekend, but bounced back by working constantly for layups and making 30 of 52 shots from the field. The Irish, the second-best 3-point shooting team in the league, had to attempt just three Tuesday night.
With Natalie Novosel scoring 22 points and three other in double figures, Notre Dame built leads as big as 14 points in the first half and 18 in the second. West Virginia never got closer than nine points in the final 20 minutes.
Sarah Miles led West Virginia with 16 points, five assists and six steals, but she also shot just 8-for-21 from the field. The Mountaineers as a team shot only 35 percent, were outrebounded 40-31 and had trouble taking advantage of all those Notre Dame turnovers because of 23 of their own.
By halftime Notre Dame led by 13 and how it wasn't more was rather remarkable in itself. Notre Dame shot 65 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes and West Virginia could get almost nothing to fall, going 0-for-4 on 3-pointers and shooting 33 percent overall.
The only thing that saved WVU in the first half were those turnovers. When Notre Dame wasn't making shots, it was turning the ball over - a lot. The Irish nearly matched themselves turnover for point early (they had six turnovers and seven points at one juncture) and by the break had lost the ball 15 times.
Of course, to compound West Virginia's 33 percent shooting, the Mountaineers also turned it over 12 times in the first half, so could never take advantage of Notre Dame's bumbling ways with the ball.
Notre Dame was the last ranked team on West Virginia's regular-season schedule, but that doesn't mean the Mountaineers get much of a break in the final two games. On Sunday comes an afternoon game at traditional powerhouse Rutgers (15-11, 8-5), then just two days later - on Monday night at the Coliseum - WVU hosts St. John's (18-8, 7-6) in the final game for the team's five seniors.
