AUSTIN, Texas – The No. 3 seed West Virginia University women’s basketball team defeated the 14th seeded Lamar Lady Cardinals by a score of 58-43 in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Frank Erwin Center on the campus of Texas.

The Mountaineers will now be advancing to their fifth-ever second round game and third under coach Mike Carey, while looking for their second trip to the Sweet 16 (the first was in 1992).

Junior Liz Repella led WVU with 15 points, while also pulling down 11 rebounds for her 15th career double-double. Junior Madina Ali scored nine points and brought down 11 rebounds. Junior Sarah Miles also had an impressive stat line with 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals. Off the bench, junior Vanessa House finished with nine points and two assists, while freshman Asya Bussie had eight points, six rebounds and one block.

The Mountaineers were able to hold the sharp-shooting Lady Cardinals to only 16-of-52 (30.8 percent) shooting, while shooting 22-of-58 (37.9 percent). West Virginia also controlled the glass, outrebounding Lamar, 48-28, and recorded the most rebounds in school history in an NCAA Tournament contest.

“It was really emphasized, especially the past couple of days, it would be really important for us to control the boards and get out there and push the ball with Sarah at the point,” Ali said. “It was just something we had in our mind, just keep going to the boards and keep going to the boards and keep it at that.”

Kalis Loyd led Lamar with 15 points, while Southland Conference player of the year, Jenna Plumley, was kept in check with nine points and seven rebounds before fouling out. Plumley also record four assists.

West Virginia started the game on a 12-0 run with four points each from Ali and Miles. Ashley Crawford hit a free throw for Lamar at the 15:51 mark to make the score 12-1 in favor of WVU. Brittney Williams followed with a layup off the bench for Lamar with 15:03 for its first field goal of the half.

“I thought we started the game out the way we wanted to,” Carey said. “We got a little tired and started turning the ball over and quit defending. But I thought we did a good job on their point guard Plumley, and she came out there and hit a couple of deep threes.”

West Virginia finished the half on a 7-2 run that started with a made free throw from Repella and ended with a 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining in the half from Repella to take a halftime lead of 33-21.

The Mountaineers were able to get Plumley into foul trouble early as she committed two in the first five minutes. Plumley did not get her first basket until she hit a deep 3 to make the score 19-6 with 11:50 remaining in the half.

Plumley finished the half with three fouls and only three points on 1-of-5 shooting. No player had over five points for Lamar. Darika Hill and Crawford posted five points apiece.

Ali led the Mountaineers with nine points at the half to go along with eight rebounds. Miles and House each had seven points. Miles also recorded three steals, while Ali had two.

“We were able to get some stops and score early,” Carey added. “I will say Madina Ali, she was our energy tonight and got in foul trouble there, but we just didn’t shoot the ball well. As you look at it, 4 for 20 from the three. A lot of them were wide open, and we got to hit some of them on Tuesday to be in the basketball game.”

Lamar opened the second half with a 9-5 run that included four points from Loyd and a deep 3 from Plumley to bring the score to 38-30. Repella then hit a jumper at the 12:23 mark, followed by a layup with 10:10 remaining to bring the score to 42-30. Bussie followed with another layup at the 9:37 mark to bring the lead to 14 at 44-30.

Freshman Akeema Richards hit a running jumper and Miles scored on a layup, before Loyd hit two free throws with 6:58 remaining to end the West Virginia run and bring the score to 48-32.

Lamar then used seven consecutive points from Loyd to bring the game back to 48-37. Repella, however, ended the streak with a layup off an inbound play from under the basket. Lamar was never able to make up any ground and West Virginia broke an impressive Lamar press to seal the victory.

“If you can hit some shots, you’re going to get some confidence,” Repella said. “So I was glad I could hit some so I could have some confidence going into the next game.”

With the win, Carey surpassed the most wins he has ever had in a season with 29. He led Salem to 28 wins in the 1997-98 season. The Mountaineers are now 2-2 all-time in the Erwin Center and 5-5 in NCAA Tournament play.

West Virginia will move on to face the No. 11 seed San Diego State, which upset Texas on its home floor this evening by a score of 74-63. Jene Morris led San Diego State with an impressive 32 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3. Game time for Tuesday’s game is 9:40 ET.

By Grant Dovey
For MSNsportsNET.com

-WVU-

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