West Virginia head coach Mike Carey earned his 500th career win on Wednesday following a 72-30 victory over Bucknell at home.
“I have had a lot of great players and a lot of great coaches and you can’t win without great coaches and great players,” said Carey. “I have been very fortunate. I have been fortunate enough to get all 500 wins in the state of West Virginia. I didn’t have to leave the state to get 500 wins. I feel very fortunate. A lot of coaches have to move around to different places, but I feel very fortunate that I was able to do it in my home state of West Virginia.”
In his 24th season, Carey reached 500 with a 212-120 overall record in his 11th season at West Virginia and a 13-year record of 288-102 at Salem.
On the court, Ayana Dunning paced the Mountaineers (9-3) in scoring and rebounding with 15 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore guards Brooke Hampton and Taylor Palmer each recorded 13 points, including three treys from each.
Elsewhere around the league, No. 3 Notre Dame (12-1) destroyed Longwood 92-26 at home before a sellout crowd of 9,149. The Irish have had a pair of sellouts so far this season. Devereaux Peters had 19 points and 10 rebounds in just 18 minutes to lead the way. Skylar Diggins added 11 points, 10 assists and five rebounds in 18 minutes as well.
No. 14/13 Louisville (12-2) knocked off Tennessee-Martin 70-57 at the KFC Yum! Center. Cierra Warren had 14 points in 16 minutes off the bench. Ten different players recorded a field goal for the Cardinals, including guard Shoni Schimmel who had 16 points, six assists and six rebounds.
Cincinnati (8-5) beat host Virginia Tech 66-55 in the Hilton Garden Inn Hokie Classic in Blacksburg. Dayeesha Hollins netted a season-high 26 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 2-of-2 from behind the arc and 10-of-11 from the free throw line. Hollis transferred from Michigan and sat out 2010-11.
“The first thing I said to my team when we met after the game was ‘Day’s back,’ and everyone gave a rousing applause to her,” said head coach Jamelle Elliott. “The one game she played after she came back from her shoulder injury, you could tell she was a little tentative with her left shoulder, but today she came out and she was the aggressive Day that we love. She was able to get to the basket, made a couple threes, and the thing that’s the most under rated is her defensive efforts – especially with helping guard (Virginia Tech’s) best player.”
Providence (7-6) won its second in a row with a 78-65 victory at Akron. Teya Wright recorded her conference-leading 10th double-double of the year with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Alicia Cropper matched her career highs of 16 points and five rebounds to lead the effort. Cropper hit 6-of-7 shots from the field and added three assists on the day.
Seton Hall (7-7) lost to Howard 63-44 at home. Jasmine Crew led the SHU offense with 13 points, while Tajay Ashmeade had 14 rebounds.
Pittsburgh (7-6) lost to a gritty Duquesne team (11-2) by the score of 70-57. Earlier in the month the Dukes beat West Virginia. Ashlee Anderson led the Panthers with 16 points last night.
Material from interviews, school websites, the Associated Press wire service as well as league and team sources was used in this report.
