Women's Basketball

UC’s Lee Gets 28 points, 9 Rebounds in Win Over State
January 13, 2006

By Doug Smock
Staff writer, The Charleston Gazette

Eventually, there was too much rebounding, too much backcourt pressure and too much Lisa Lee for West Virginia State to handle.

With all that, a game bunch of Yellow Jackets buckled under the maroon wave that is the University of Charleston’s women’s basketball team. The Golden Eagles, ranked seventh in NCAA Division II, won 77-62 Thursday evening at State’s Fleming Hall.

Lee, the UC senior from Capital High, led with 28 points, nine rebounds, hit 10-of-12 from the foul line and racked up eight steals. The latter stat was part of 15 UC steals, 11 in the second half.

Many of those came courtesy of a blistering press that blew the game open. In a four-minute stretch of the second half, UC turned a 47-37 lead into a 64-43 rout. During that span, the Yellow Jackets were forced into four of their 23 turnovers.

UC (12-1 overall, 4-0 West Virginia Conference) also outmuscled State (8-4, 2-2) on the boards 46-32.

"Our press really hurt them in the second half," said UC coach Sherry Winn. "They didn’t really know what was going on. We were able to trap and trap and get them to turn the ball over, and get some easy baskets. We ran the heck out of the press in the second half."

Emily Jones popped in 15 points for UC, including three key 3-point goals. Courtney Thomas added 12 points and eight assists.

State hung around in a not-so-artistic beginning for both teams, leading 16-15 with about six minutes left in the first half. Then the Eagles went on a 13-3 run, punctuated by two Jones 3-pointers.

"We are trying to stress team offense," Winn said, "and what happened is instead of attacking we were passing the ball around the perimeter. You want to move the ball, but at the same time attack."

Laura Kinsler gave the Eagles a 34-24 halftime lead on a putback, the fourth shot of the possession, with 18 seconds left. State never got closer than six points, and that was early in the second half at 36-30.

April Stevenson and Lasha’ Anderson both scored 14 points for the Yellow Jackets, who shot 42.6 percent when they could get to the basket. The Jackets had a dismal offensive first half, shooting 28 percent with just one assist on their seven baskets.

Randi Cary, a freshman from Capital, scored 11 points for State.