BOX SCORE

CINCINNATI - After back-to-back single digit scoring games, junior Liz Repella led all scorers with 20 points, while junior Korinne Campbell scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, as the No. 8 West Virginia University women’s basketball team defeated Cincinnati, 64-43, on Tuesday night at Fifth Third Arena.

	Coach Mike Carey led the Mountaineers to their 25th win of the season. AP photo

Repella had her 16th career 20-point game on 8-of-13 shooting, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Campbell recorded her sixth career double-double and also registered three blocks and one steal.

A total of eight players recorded points with freshman Asya Bussie tallying nine points along with four rebounds and three blocks. Redshirt junior Vanessa House continued to be a sparkplug off the bench, playing 29 minutes and shooting 3-of-5 from beyond the arc totaling nine second half points.

Junior point guard Sarah Miles showed why she is the BIG EAST leader in assist-to-turnover ratio with six assists and only one turnover. Miles also scored six points and had two steals.

West Virginia (25-3, 12-2) finished the game shooting 47.1%, their highest since a Dec. 30 win over Santa Clara, while managing to hold Cincinnati (11-15, 4-10) to 37% shooting.

On the glass, West Virginia outrebounded the Bearcats, 34-29, making the team 21-0 this season when outrebounding its opponent. Defensively, the Mountaineers forced 15 Bearcat turnovers, while only committing eight turnovers themselves, a season low.

Up by two points at the start of the second half, the Mountaineers relinquished their advantage early, as a Kahla Roudebush fastbreak layup put the Bearcats ahead, 26-25, at 18:23.

A quick 3-pointer by Repella put the Mountaineers back up two at the 18:08 mark and the Mountaineers held the lead for the remainder of the game. West Virginia broke the game open with a 13-2 run following two made free throws from Campbell. House also hit three consecutive 3-pointers in the run in which redshirt junior Madina Ali was forced to the bench because of foul trouble.

UC would use a Roudebush jumper to pull within 10, 53-43, at 5:39, but the Mountaineers went on an 11-0 run to end the game.

A low-scoring first-half affair was expected as West Virginia has recently struggled in the first half playing against a zone defense. Cincinnati used a strong 2-3 zone defense to hold the West Virginia lead to two at halftime.

A Bussie layup put the Mountaineers up 24-19 with only 25 seconds remaining in the first half, however a 3-pointer from Shanasa Sanders, her first of the season, with three seconds on the clock cut the lead to 24-22, favoring West Virginia.

Roudebush led all UC scorers with 15 points, while Shareese Ulis had 12 points.

For West Virginia, Bussie also continued her way through the freshman record books as her first block with 11:41 remaining in the first half gave her 56 total this season, passing Georgeann Wells for most blocked shots by a freshman in a season. Bussie is also only two free throws away from tying Olivia Bradley for most free throws made by a freshman.

This win matched the school record for regular-season wins that was set by the 1992 team. The 1992 team also owns the school record for most wins with 26. With only two regular season games left, West Virginia will clinch the No. 2 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament with two wins.

The Mountaineers will be going for a perfect 17-0 record at home this season when they host Marquette in the home finale on Saturday, Feb. 27. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m. and will be televised by WVPBS.

GAME NOTES: Cincinnati became the 23rd opponent to score 60 or less on the season, 11th BIG EAST opponent...Korinne Campbell has posted three straight double-doubles (1st Mountaineer since Takisha Granberry had three straight from Nov. 22 to Nov. 29, 2009)...WVU's 12 BIG EAST wins tie the 2007-08 team for most in a season. WVU's 12-2 BIG EAST record is the best 14-game league start in school history.