Orange and Mountaineers to Battle in Morgantown
1/25/2005 1:54:08 PM | Women's Basketball
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The Syracuse women's basketball team (10-7, 2-4 BIG EAST) will play its second straight BIG EAST road game when it travels to West Virginia (11-7, 2-4 BIG EAST) on Wednesday, Jan. 26. Tip-off at the WVU Coliseum is set for 7 p.m.
The Orange has lost its last two games, a home game to Notre Dame and a road tilt at St. John’s. SU has not lost three consecutive games this season. In fact, the last two times the Orange has lost two straight games, it has responded with two consecutive victories. In its last 10 games, Syracuse has gone two losses, two wins, two losses, two wins, two losses. SU will have its hands full on the road versus the Mountaineers. West Virginia is 7-1 this season at home and owns a two-game winning streak versus SU in Morgantown.
In its most recent contest against the Red Storm, Syracuse was led by senior Chineze Nwagbo. Nwagbo recorded her sixth double-double of the season with a career-high 22 points and 12 rebounds. Nwagbo has been on fire of late, hitting for 17.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in the last three games. She is the team’s leading scorer and ranks 20th in the BIG EAST with 12.2 points per game. Nwagbo is also the Orange’s leading rebounder with 8.6 per game which ranks third in the conference. In BIG EAST play, she is averaging a near double-double of 12.7 points and 9.0 rebounds. Freshman Jessica Richter was SU’s other player in double figures with 14 points. She has scored at least 14 points in each of the last five games and is SU’s leading scorer in BIG EAST play at 15.0 per game. Richter has raised her overall scoring average to 9.6 points per game, second-best on the team. Richter’s 1.65 three-pointers per game is the best average among BIG EAST rookies, while her 2.33 three-pointers per game in league play is tied for the confernce lead. Senior guard Rochelle Coleman is SU’s other double-digit scorer during conference play. In SU’s six BIG EAST games, Coleman is averaging 10.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and a team-high 6.3 assists per game. Coleman is fourth on the team overall at 8.4 points per game and leads the squad in both assists (58/3.4) and steals (37/2.1). Sophomore guard Lauren Kohn is SU’s third-leading scorer at 9.2 points per game. She is the Orange’s leading three-point shooter with 31 makes and a 37.8 percentage.
West Virginia and Syracuse both enter Wednesday’s game with 2-4 league records. West Virginia has wins against Providence and Seton Hall and losses to Boston College (twice), Seton Hall and Villanova. The Mountaineers boast the league’s leading scorer in Meg Bulger. Bulger is the only player in the BIG EAST averaging more than 20 points per game (21.1). Bulger also averaging 5.2 rebounds and leads the team with 39 steals. WVU has two more players averaging in double figures. Sherell Sowho is second on the squad at 12.8 points per game and Yolanda Paige is scoring at 11.3 points per game. Paige is the nation’s top ball distributors. She leads the nation with 9.4 assists per contest. That trio accounts for 66.7 percent of West Virginia’s total offense. Chakhia Cole paces the Mountaineeers at 7.1 rebounds per game. As a team, WVU is scoring 67.7 points per game, while giving up only 58.2 points. West Virginia is the BIG EAST’s third-best shooting team at 46.4 percent from the floor, while its 36.2 three-point percentage is fourth in the league. The Mountaineers are also one of six BIG EAST teams with an assist/turnover ratio of better than 1.0 (1.07; 4th).
The Orange and Mountaineers are deadlocked at 7-7 in 14 all-time meetings. West Virginia leads the BIG EAST regular-season series, 7-5, including two victories last season. WVU has won three straight against the Orange, including the last two meetings at The Coliseum. SU assistant coach Mandy Ronay played for West Virginia from 1996-2000 and her 11 assists against the Orange on Feb. 10, 1999 is the highest single-game total in the series history.
WORKING OUT THE KINKS
• SU is shooting 36.7 percent in the first half this season (185-504) and 41.7 percent (196-470) after halftime.
• The Orange has shot better in the second half in 11 of 17 games.
• Syracuse has outrebounded its opponents 342-318 in the second half, while being outrebounded 320-380 in the first half.
• SU has held the rebounding advantage in the second half 10 times, while only five times has Syracuse had more rebounds heading into the locker room.
• Syracuse has come back from halftime deficits four times this season and seven times in Keith Cieplicki’s 44 games as SU head coach. SU had four second-half comebacks in its previous 83 games. SU is 9-2 when leading at halftime under Cieplicki. The Orange’s largest second-half comeback this season was at Sacred Heart (down 12). Cieplicki’s largest comeback at SU is 15 points versus Rutgers last season.
• SU has trailed by double digits during the second half of each of its last two games, but has mounted comebacks. Against Notre Dame, the Irish led 47-32 with 18:30 left, but Syracuse went on a 22-12 run to get within five at 59-54 with 5:20 remaining. At St. John’s, the Red Storm held a 41-29 lead with 15:59 remaining, but the Orange used a 13-2 run to make it a one-point game, 43-42, with 7:58 left.
SCORING DEFENSE AT A 25-YEAR LOW
