Unbalanced scoring doomed the LadyCats to defeat tonight. Roberts, Leer and Pearson maganged to shoot a combined 17-26 (10-14 on threes) but the rest of the team was dismal 4 of 30 and 1 of 13 on threes.
An 11-0 run by WVA early in the first half put us down by eleven but we managed to regroup and only be down 29-28 at the half. A three ball by Roberts with 7:30 to go tied up the game at 48 all, but we couldn't convert a few opportunities to get a lead and eventually fell behind by nine on a long three to beat the shot clock with 2:14 to go.
Two more threes by Roberts got us to within four with 1:29 to play and after a tie-up turned the ball over to Nova, Pearson was fouled on an inside move but could only convert the first half of the two foul shots to leave us down three with 47 ticks left on the clock. WVA milked the clock and their center missed a layup but Leer was called for a foul and the two shots were converted with 21 seconds left to ice the game.
Sweeney was held to only four points and was kept out of the inside flow the whole game and she actually put up four three point attempts, more in frustration I think rather than good shot selction. In both halves, Nova had WVA in foul trouble five minutes in but could never capitalize by drawing any more fouls and would up only shooting four free throws the entire game.
Although Leer scored 14, most were on threes and the whole game Nova's offense was playing on the perimeter and WVA did a good job of denying the ball inside and at the same time pressuring the ball out front. We shot just well enough to keep us in the game but missed on numerous opportunities to get out in front. On several occasions it appeared that we were getting out-hustled to loose balls or rebounds and Holeman had an especially poor game inside against their two bigs. Roberts finished with 18 and Pearson had 13 with three assists and once again, no turnovers.
The game was there for the taking. Nova can't afford to lose to many of these kind of games if they expect to finish in the top half of the Big East this year.
An 11-0 run by WVA early in the first half put us down by eleven but we managed to regroup and only be down 29-28 at the half. A three ball by Roberts with 7:30 to go tied up the game at 48 all, but we couldn't convert a few opportunities to get a lead and eventually fell behind by nine on a long three to beat the shot clock with 2:14 to go.
Two more threes by Roberts got us to within four with 1:29 to play and after a tie-up turned the ball over to Nova, Pearson was fouled on an inside move but could only convert the first half of the two foul shots to leave us down three with 47 ticks left on the clock. WVA milked the clock and their center missed a layup but Leer was called for a foul and the two shots were converted with 21 seconds left to ice the game.
Sweeney was held to only four points and was kept out of the inside flow the whole game and she actually put up four three point attempts, more in frustration I think rather than good shot selction. In both halves, Nova had WVA in foul trouble five minutes in but could never capitalize by drawing any more fouls and would up only shooting four free throws the entire game.
Although Leer scored 14, most were on threes and the whole game Nova's offense was playing on the perimeter and WVA did a good job of denying the ball inside and at the same time pressuring the ball out front. We shot just well enough to keep us in the game but missed on numerous opportunities to get out in front. On several occasions it appeared that we were getting out-hustled to loose balls or rebounds and Holeman had an especially poor game inside against their two bigs. Roberts finished with 18 and Pearson had 13 with three assists and once again, no turnovers.
The game was there for the taking. Nova can't afford to lose to many of these kind of games if they expect to finish in the top half of the Big East this year.