Women top Maine

The West Virginia women's basketball team was able to extend its winning streak to five when it defeated Maine, 88-32, Saturday.

Behind an effort that saw every WVU player score and five score in double digits, the Mountaineers turned in an effort that WVU head coach Mike Carey seemed to be pretty pleased with overall.

"I thought we came out and played a lot harder this game," Carey said. "We created turnovers and our top eight took care of the ball, especially in the second half."

WVU started the game off on a 15-2 run and never looked back.

In the first half, the Mountaineers were led by Madina Ali, who Carey said put together her best performance of the season.

"I was glad to see Madina Ali finally got going because we need her to do that," Carey said. "This is the best game she has had."

The junior forward netted 13 first-half points and led all WVU players with a total of 18 points.

"A game like that definitely boosts your confidence, and that's what it did for me," Ali said.

As the Mountaineers took a 39-22 lead into halftime of the game, Carey was displeased with one aspect of his team's game – turnovers.

WVU committed 13 first-half turnovers, and Maine had 14, which made for a sloppy opening half of play.

As the horn sounded for halftime, Carey stormed off the court to the locker room and delivered a clear message to his team.

"Most of it I can't say in here," Carey said in postgame interviews. "We cannot become a good team if we go out there and turn the ball over."

"We bust our butt on defense, get a rebound, push the break, then turn it over, and we can't do that because then we just do it all over again."

Whatever Carey said to his team in the locker room worked.

In the second half, WVU outscored Maine 49-10 in the second half and grabbed a total of 28 second-half rebounds.

The Mountaineers committed just three turnovers in the second half.

"Coach really wanted us to concentrate on boxing out, eliminating the turnovers and work on coming like we did in the first five minutes of the first half," said junior Liz Repella.

"He really wanted us to do those things over the final 20 minutes of the game, and I think we did that.

Repella was one of five WVU players who hit double-digit scoring numbers, as she had 13 points on the afternoon.

Also finishing the game in double digits were forwards Korinne Campbell, who had 14 points, and center Asya Bussie, who had 16 points.

As the game neared its finish, the Mountaineers were able to give playing time to all of its bench players.

Out of that bunch, freshman guard Akeema Richards was the most successful.

Richards finished the game with 10 points off the bench and helped close out Maine.

"I always like to have four or five people in double figures, that way they can't load up against just one person," Carey said.

With the victory, WVU moves to 7-1 and will take on Eastern Kentucky Tuesday.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at the WVU Coliseum.