Published: January 13, 2009 11:40 pm      

Can West Virginia women bounce back against Herd?

Coach Mike Carey readily admits there’s still a bad taste in his mouth from the way his West Virginia women’s team played in last Saturday’s 85-55 drubbing by No. 1 Connecticut.

What’s more, he hopes there’s also a bad taste in the mouths of his players as they try to bounce back at the expense of Marshall in today’s 5:30 p.m. Capital Classic game at the Civic Center Coliseum in Charleston.

“I just think we did not execute well on offense or defense,” Carey said before departing with his team. “Win or lose, that’s not the point for me right now. We’re going to have to come out and execute on both ends. Whether that’s good enough to win, that’s fine.

“I didn’t appreciate the effort and the way we came out and let people drive all he way from the corner and all the way from the top of the key for layups like we did the other night.”

He said the Mountaineers, who have lost their first three Big East games, had a spirited practice Monday. He explained they tried to get some of those mistakes corrected “and learned the way things are going to be from here on out offensively and become a better team.”

West Virginia (10-5) has been highly successful against Marshall (9-6) under Carey’s direction. The Mountaineer have won the last three meetings and six of the last seven. The Herd last won in 2005 by 82-76.

The score last year was 58-51 when WVU was ranked No. 12 in the nation.

Marshall is coming off two road victories against SMU and Tulsa. Defense and rebounding were the Herd’s chief strengths. Despite facing taller teams, it was able to outrebound those squads by an average of 17.5 per outing.

Alysia Hammond led Marshall with 18 points in both games of that trip. She shot 56.5 percent from the floor and made 10 of 23 free throws. The Herd limited Tulsa to 37 points.

Sophomore Liza Repella and senior Takisha Granberry are West Virginia’s leading performers. Repella is averaging 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds, Granberry 16.2 and 7.9.

Carey expects to see a bit of everything from Marshall.

“They’ve got good athletes on the perimeter,” he said. “They will come out and play hard. They play man (defense) and press a little bit and play some zone.”