Posted: January 13th, 2008 - by: Andy Brown

WVU women nearly blew big lead to get by the Irish

WVU fans arriving for the men’s game against Syracuse treated themselves to a near heart attack as the Notre Dame women’s team nearly came back from a 22 point deficit to cut the lead to a single point with 1:22 remaining but the WVU women’s basketball team made all 8 free throws to barely get by the 14th ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame 56-50.  Meg Bulger led the ‘Eers with 17 points, 13 in the first half, while Yinka Sanni scored 15 points, 12 in the second half.

WVU shot out of the gate very aggressively as they broke out to a 17-4 lead.  Their tenacious defense was by far their best as they held the Irish to 11 points with a frigid 18 percent from the field.  WVU ultimately built their first half lead to 20 with the halftime score of 31-11.

Sanni took charge in the second half scoring WVU’s first 6 points to take the lead to 22 at 37-15 with 16:29 remaining.  Notre Dame tried to make a considerable effort to comeback in the second half cutting the lead down to 14 at 39-25 but LaQuita Owens dropped a 3 from the left baseline to bring it back to 17 with 10:42 left.  Notre Dame’s hard charging full-court in your face D gave the Irish ample opportunity to come back once again cutting the lead to single digits off a Brittany Mallory 3 pointer with 4:20 remaining.  

As the half went on, the WVU women played real tight.  They were playing not to lose as Coach Mike Carey would say afterwards.  Then the Irish, just like that, rained a couple 3s from Charel Allen and Mallory once more to cut the lead to three at 44-41 with 2:26 left in regulation.  Then some free throws were exchanged with the Irish down by a one. Then Sanni posted up at midcourt to catch Chakhia Cole’s inbound baseball pass and took the foul.  A 62% foul shooter heading into the game she calmly hit 2 free throws to lead 52-48 with :25 seconds left.  Notre Dame ran out of steam and the WVU women won the first game of the doubleheader. 

This is only the second win vs the Irish in the series.  Notre Dame still owns a 15-2 record against WVU.  The women’s team will play the Marquette Golden Eagles Wednesday night at The Coliseum.  Alright men’s team let’s sweep this doubleheader and make it a great day to be a Mountaineer!

TAG(s):    CAT(s): Basketball Big East