(Morgantown, W. Va.) – Wednesday evening, the Delaware State women's basketball team (3-6, 0-1 MEAC) faced an uphill climb on the road against the West Virginia Mountaineers (9-1), who coming in were winners of eight straight. Unfortunately for DSU, WVU pushed its winning streak to nine with a 109-47 victory over the Lady Hornets.
With this loss, it was DSU's third in a row, while leading scorer (23 ppg) and rebounder (9.4 rpg), Tierra Hawkins, missed her second straight game due to a shoulder injury.
To begin the game, WVU jumped out to a 14-6 lead at the 16:45 mark, as center Asya Bussie scored six points, while guard Raven Bankston drilled all three field goal attempts for DSU.
Later in the period, the Mountaineers continued their strong start to make it a 31-11 ball game after a three-pointer made by guard Bria Holmes with just over 11 minutes to play before halftime.
West Virginia later pushed its lead to 30 and took a 61-26 advantage into the locker room, behind 58 percent (22-of-38) shooting, including 26 points in the paint and 12 second-chance points. The Mountaineers also shot 80 percent (12-of-15) from the charity stripe and 36 percent (5-of-14) from three-point range, in addition to out-rebounding DSU, 23-10.
Dominating down low for WVU was Bussie tallying 18 points on a perfect 6-for-6 output from the field and free throw line, to go along with four rebounds and two blocks in 13 minutes of action. Holmes, meanwhile, added 10 points (4-of-6) while going 2-for-4 from beyond the arc.
In the case of Delaware State, Bankston totaled 12 points (5-of-10), two assists and two steals in the first half.
After intermission, WVU's offensive attack continued to flow as it went up 75-35 at the mark 12:54, as DSU failed to pull within 20 the rest of the way.
To add insult to injury, Bankston went down with an injury at the 11:04 mark and did not return to finish the evening with 16 points (6-of-13), two assists and two steals. Coming in, the Detroit, Mich. native, and reigning back-to-back MEAC Rookie of the Week, averaged 19.4 points per contest.
At game's end, five players reached double figures in the scoring column for WVU, led by Bussie (7-of-8) and Holmes (9-of-13) both ending up with 22 points. Bussie also stayed perfect from the line the rest way to finish 8-for-8.
As a team, the Mountaineers shot 57 percent (39-of-69) from the field, including 46 points off the bench, 56 points in the paint, 25 second-chance points and 26 points off turnovers. At the charity stripe, WVU shot 77 percent (24-of-31), while also winning the battle on the boards, 49-18.
For Delaware State, meanwhile, it was held to 33 percent (14-of-43) shooting, but went 16-for-20 (.800) from the free throw line. Guard/forward Deanna Harmon, on the other hand, totaled 10 points (2-of-4), including a perfect 6-of-6 output from the free throw line.
Coming up, the Lady Hornets will stay in West Virginia to wrap up their three-game road trip as they will face Marshall Saturday afternoon (12 p.m.).
