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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It may not have been pretty, but the 13th-ranked West Virginia University women’s basketball team was forced to adapt to Villanova’s style of play and came away with a 45-41 victory on Tuesday evening at the WVU Coliseum.

The Mountaineers (16-1, 4-0) extend their winning streak to 14 games in a manner in which they knew was coming. WVU coach Mike Carey has faced several of Villanova coach Harry Perretta’s teams in the past, and preached to his team that good decision-making and patience were going to be needed on both ends of the floor. Those two keys to success are usually the only ways that teams can come out on top against a Wildcats (10-5, 0-3) squad that milks the shot clock on every possession.

	Korinne Campbell came through once again with two clutch free throws in the final minute. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo

“Your possessions are really cut down and they’re taking time off the clock,” Carey said. “I tried to warn the girls that if you come down and take quick shots and miss them, they’ll come down and try to take time off the clock and if they hit a couple 3’s, all of the sudden you’re behind. My biggest thing was to get the lead with a minute left, because if Villanova has the lead then it’s going to be tough to come back.”

Carey’s West Virginia squad boasts plenty of athleticism to mold it into a team that thrives on pushing the ball and providing intense man-to-man pressure on defense. Although WVU was able to once again make life hectic for its opponent on the defensive end, its offense was faced with limited possessions that caused it to commit 12 turnovers to just six assists.

However, Carey knows that several teams across the country would like to be 4-0 in their conference, let alone the Big East. Having scored their lowest point total of the season against the nation’s third-ranked scoring defense, the ninth-year coach expects his team to start knocking down its point-blank shots.

“We have to improve offensively, but I don’t want to be too negative about that,” Carey insisted. “Our shooters still have to shoot it, and we have to move the ball a little better. I warned them about that because when you get behind against Villanova you don’t get touches a lot.”

West Virginia shot just 32.7 percent, but was able to outrebound the Wildcats, 38-30. Junior forward Madina Ali showed her aggressiveness throughout the evening, grabbing 13 rebounds and adding eight points. After Villanova took its first lead of the game at 23-21 early in the second half, the Williamsport, Pa., native responded with a 3-pointer from the corner to put WVU back on top.

“Madina didn’t score too much but she got 13 rebounds and I thought she did some good things,” Carey mentioned. “We’re just not scoring right now and we need to work on that. We’re getting some good looks; we’re just not putting them in. We’re getting it inside and we’re just not finishing. I don’t know if it’s because we’re tired because we’re not shooting well right now.”

Korinne Campbell led WVU with 10 points and added six rebounds, serving as West Virginia’s lone double-figure scorer. Campbell hit two critical free throws with 25.1 seconds left to give WVU a two-possession lead at 45-41, the game’s final score.

Freshman Asya Bussie was often faced with double teams in the post but came away with eight points, including 4 of 5 shooting at the free throw line.

Junior point guard Sarah Miles registered with the play of the game for West Virginia. After taking a four-point lead on Campbell’s free throws, Villanova guard Maria Getty drove the lane and attempted a layup with 16 seconds left that was blocked by Miles and ricocheted to Campbell to preserve the victory.

It was no surprise to Carey that a defensive play clinched the game for WVU.

“I’ve always said you win a lot of games if you play defense and rebound,” Carey said. “We need it to come pretty soon here. I told them we’ve got some good teams coming up on the road. I’m not going to get too caught up in that we didn’t score a lot, because we never score a lot against Villanova. I’ve been here for nine years and played them around 15 times and we’ve never scored much against them. We have to get around the 70-mark against good teams.”

Defensively, WVU forced 17 Villanova turnovers, and held the Wildcats to 37.8 percent shooting. Heavily reliant on its 3-point shooting, Villanova was just 6 of 19 from long distance , while WVU also struggled at 3 of 12.

An expected low-scoring first half occurred with the Mountaineers leading 21-17 heading into the break. West Virginia expanded to a 19-8 lead on 3-pointer by Liz Repella with 5:27 left, but Villanova countered with a 9-2 run to end the half.

“It was slow, slow, slow,” Carey reiterated. “We did some full-court man to man and we had some good looks and just didn’t hit some shots. They were isolating (Laura) Sweeney and we had to pull our five off her and put our four on her because she was a little more athletic. We didn’t talk on a couple of screens there at the end and Getty hit two 3’s.”

Ali stood above the rest on the glass in the first half, totaling an impressive nine rebounds, including three on the offensive end. West Virginia held its opponent to just 38.1 percent shooting, but struggled even more by shooting 36 percent from the field.

What allowed WVU to lead throughout the half was its ability to capitalize off Villanova’s miscues. The Mountaineers held an 11-4 margin in points of turnovers, looking to get in the open court whenever possible.

Repella led West Virginia with seven points on 3 of 7 shooting at halftime, while Campbell chipped in with six.

Sweeney led Villanova throughout the contest with 19 points on 8 of 18 shooting, while Getty added nine points on 3 of 7 shooting.

The Mountaineers now break from action for five days before traveling to Pitt on Sunday, Jan. 17, for a 4 p.m. meeting. The contest between the squads, the second in 12 days, will be carried by ESPNU.

GAME NOTES: WVU's 45 points are tied for the third-lowest total in a victory in school history ... the Mountaineers have now won three of their first four conference games by 4-point margins ... WVU is riding a 14-game home winning streak dating back to last season ... WVU improves to 3-2 over the Wildcats in the last five meetings, though VU holds an 18-8 series edge ... Campbell's 10 points are the lowest single-game point total for a WVU leading scorer this season ... WVU improves to 96-25 all-time at the WVU Coliseum under Carey ... West Virginia's 4-0 conference mark is its best start in Big East play since beginning 5-0 in 1996-97 ... WVU has now held eight teams this season to 45 points or less.