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West Virginia women’s basketball team extended its winning streak to 14 games and continued its program-best start, defeating Villanova 45-41 Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum.
Despite the win, the Mountaineers were held to their third-lowest field goal percentage of the season as they shot just 36 percent. It’s the fourth consecutive game West Virginia hasn’t shot more than 40 percent in a game.
"We had some good looks, but we just aren’t hitting our shots," said WVU head coach Mike Carey. "We’re just not scoring. We just have to really work on that.
"Even if we haven’t shot well the last couple of games, we’re getting good looks – that’s all we can do."
West Virginia (16-1, 4-0 Big East) and Villanova (10-5, 0-3 Big East) went back and forth until with 25.1 seconds left when junior Korinne Campbell hit two free throws to give the Mountaineers a 45-41 lead.
On Villanova’s next possession, Sarah Miles blocked a Villanova layup to secure the win.
The Wildcats were held scoreless for the final 3:24 in the game.
"I was just thinking, ‘please don’t let her shoot a three,’" Miles said of VU’s Maria Getty who previously hit two 3-pointers to bring the Wildcats within two.
"When she drove by I just wanted to go for the ball, and I got the ball. I was just thankful I didn’t get a foul."
To go along with five points, Miles had four assists, three steals and two blocked shots.
West Virginia held a 21-17 lead at halftime, but Villanova fought back to take a 23-21 lead with Getty’s 3-point shot at the 18:21 mark in the second half.
The Mountaineers would fight back, taking a six-point lead following a Vanessa House 3-point shot and an Asya Bussie layup and foul shot with 5:16 remaining in the game.
But Villanova refused to go away.
With 3:24 remaining, Getty hit her second 3-point shot on consecutive possessions to pull the Wildcats to within two, 43-41.
Villanova head coach Harry Perretta, who left the sidelines briefly in the second-half due to illness, was happy with the way his team played despite the loss.
"We gave ourselves a chance to win, but we didn’t get it done in the end," Perretta said. "We got to playing defense as well as we were playing early in the game. We tried to control the tempo of the game."
Getty finished with nine points shooting 3-for-5 from 3-point range while Villanova forward Laura Sweeney would finish with a career-high 19 points and eight rebounds.
Junior Liz Repella, who is averaging 15.2 points per game, finished with a season-low seven points as she shot 3-for-14 from the field.
Carey said it is important for his team to start hitting shots to open up the post play. Along with Repella, Bussie was double-teamed by Villanova and went just 2-for-8.
"Liz (Repella) has got to start hitting some shots," Carey said.
Campbell finished with a team-high 10 points. Junior Madina Ali had a career-high 13 rebounds to go along with eight points.
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