West Virginia once again raced out to an early lead that it would never relinquish in an 88-38 victory over the visiting Mercyhurst Lakers.
Sarah Miles had the best performance of her young career, recording a double-double by scoring a career-high 27 points on 12-17 from the field and grabbing 10 rebounds. The San Antonio native scored 21 of her 27 points in the first half and left to a standing ovation late in the second frame.
Sophomore guard Liz Repella had yet another good outing, netting 16 points and pulling down six boards. Dominique Dixon tied her career-high in scoring with 11 points, while senior guard Ashley Powell barely missed a double-double with 8 points and 11 assists.
The Mountaineers raced to a 22-9 lead to begin the game and went on a 22-5 run during a nine minute stretch in the first half. WVU extended the lead to 36-14 on a Miles lay-up, and took a comfortable 42-21 lead into the locker-room.
Mercyhurst attempted to make it interesting in the early goings of the second half with a 6-0 run that closed the game to 42-27, but that would be as close as the Lakers would manage to get. After a couple Repella free throws and a beautifully designed inbounds play that led to Takisha Granberry lay-up, the Mountaineers pushed the lead back out to 52-32 with 12:40 left to play and would never seriously be challenged for the rest of the game.
The Mountaineers matched the visitors’ total score by scoring 38 points off 25 Lakers turnovers and held the opposition to a 29.2 percent (14-48) field goal percentage. The Mountaineers shot over 50 percent for the second straight game and out-rebounded the opposition 45-23, including 21 offensive boards.
The Lakers were lead by senior guard Stephanie Prischak with 12 points in the losing effort.
With the victory, the Mountaineers improved to 6-1 on the season and have now won five straight games.
WVU now prepares to host the Duquesne Dukes at the WVU Coliseum on Sunday Dec, 7th, at 2 p.m.