Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Women Look for Second Straight Win Over Mountaineers
1/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 24, 2006
Marshall-West Virginia Game Notes
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The Marshall and West Virginia women's basketball teams will renew their Mountain State rivalry when the two schools meet for the Toyota Capital Classic on Wednesday at the Charleston Civic Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., with the men's game beginning at approximately 8 p.m.
Marshall (10-6, 5-1 Conference USA) had its five-game win streak snapped and was dealt its first Conference USA loss of the season in its last outing when Southern Miss handed the Thundering Herd a four-point loss in Hattiesburg, Miss. Royce Chadwick's squad still sits alone atop the C-USA standings, a half game ahead of Tulsa, SMU and Southern Miss. After its final non-conference game of the season versus West Virginia, Marshall will play host to Tulsa and SMU this weekend at the Cam Henderson Center in a pair of key league battles.
Marshall features two double-digit scorers in senior guard Sikeetha Shepard-Hall (15.3 points/game) and junior center Modupe Ishola (10.2). Shepard-Hall, an All-America candidate, averaged 20 points per game in the Herd's road swing last weekend while Ishola remains the C-USA leader in field goal percentage at 64.0 percent.
Shepard-Hall will become the most prolific 3-point shooter in Marshall history with her next trey of the season. She tied Natal Rosko (1994-98) for the all-time lead with her lone 3-pointer at Southern Miss to give her 136 in her career.
Since getting out-rebounded at Virginia on Dec. 20, no Marshall opponent has seized a rebounding advantage on the Herd (seven games). All three of MU's 50-plus rebound games have come in that stretch, including a season-high 52 at Memphis. Marshall has grabbed 73 more rebounds (320-247) for a +10.4 rebound margin in the past seven games, including a 115-83 edge on the offensive glass.
West Virginia (10-6, 3-3 BIG EAST) is coming off a heartbreaking loss at home to Marquette in which it held a 20-point lead in the second half. The Mountaineers allowed 55 second-half points to Marquette for its second straight loss.
Junior guard Meg Bulger, who scored a then career-high 36 points versus Marshall last season, is averaging over 20 per game. She leads the country in 3-point field goals per game (3.7), converting 43.7 percent of her long-range attempts. The Mountaineers rank in the top 10 in the NCAA in scoring offense (75.2 points/game), field goal percentage (49.0 percent), rebound margin (+8.9) and 3-point percentage (39.2).
West Virginia returns three starters from its WNIT championship game team from a year ago. Sophomore center Olayinka Sanni is among the national leaders in field goal percentage (67.7), joining Bulger and guard Chakhia Cole as WVU's double-digit scorers. WVU has topped 80 points in a game five times this season (75.2 points/game).
Marshall and West Virginia will meet for the 45th time on Wednesday and for the 15th straight time in Charleston. Marshall snapped its three-game slide to WVU with last season's 82-76 win. The schools have split the last six meetings, with the Herd last winning two straight in the series from 2000-2001.
The Marshall-WVU game will be broadcast live on the Capital Classic Network (West Virginia Public Television) and can be heard live WRVC 930-AM and on Marshall's student station, WMUL 88.1-FM, which will also utilize a web broadcast at www.marshall.edu/wmul.
