WJU Rallies, Wins in OT
Sanderson nets eight in extra period

By JIM ELLIOTT

Wheeling, WV, Jan. 9, 2010---Wheeling Jesuit's Cassy Sanderson scored eight of her 28 points in overtime, leading the Cardinals to an 84-74 victory against West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday at the McDonough Center.

Imagine what she could have done if she'd practiced.

Sanderson suffered a concussion when the team was in Florida and wasn't cleared to practice until Friday.

''I thought she was going to be drowsy,'' Wheeling Jesuit coach Katie Hine said. ''She was making them drowsy. She really stepped up.''

Things did not start out well for the West Virginia Conference-leading Cardinals (7-2 overall, 4-0 WVC), who trailed by as many as 19 points with 5:39 left in the first half.

They were handling the ball as if it were a disease on offense and allowed Wesleyan dribblers to trespass in the lane as if they owned it on defense.

''I was pretty disappointed about the way we played starting off,'' Hine said. ''We had 10 days to prepare for this game. We started off shaky; we started off nervous. We did things we weren't supposed to do, but I have to give the girls credit. They dug in deep and they got back.''

Wheeling Jesuit began to cut into it with a 13-2 run to close the half, led by, guess who?

''Cassy Sanderson keyed that,'' Hine noticed. ''She was a big, big help. Cassie's been coming on strong for us of late.''

Sanderson, who dropped in 17 more than her average Saturday, scored five points during that particular spurt, including one of her three 3-pointers. The other two came in overtime.

''All the teams are going to be focusing of Kourtney Booth,'' Hine pointed out. ''When you can have a counter on the other side of the court, that's going to help us out.''

Booth, who had shot 20 more 3-pointers than anyone else in the league coming into the game, hit 3 of 6 from beyond the arc and finished with 17 points and a team-best 11 rebounds.

Still trailing by double digits with 9 minutes left, Wheeling Jesuit finally drew even at 70-70 on a free throw by Kim Mueller with 21.8 seconds left. It was the first time the Cardinals were able to catch up after falling behind 2-0 on a Daria Abros'kina layup 38 seconds into the game.

During the comeback, Wheeling Jesuit switched to a 2-3 zone, something it hadn't played all season, in an effort to cut down on Wesleyan's penetration. That helped shave seven percent off the Bobcats' shooting percentage in the second half.

'' They wanted it more, and I think that's really why we got to overtime, and why we were so successful in overtime,'' Hine said.

In the overtime, Wheeling Jesuit made 4 of 6 shots, while Wesleyan was 1-for-11.

Chrissy Pavlik added 12 points for WJU.

Wesleyan was led by Danae Hill's 13 points.