After a first-round playoff loss, two 20-point defeats and more than 11 months, West Virginia’s women’s basketball players still sting every time they think about Syracuse.

In last year’s Big East tournament first-round game against the Orangewomen, the Mountaineers lasted 10 minutes before SU blew the game open and won, 80-60.

The loss came one week after Syracuse defeated WVU, 74-46.

“We remember how Syracuse knocked us out last year,” West Virginia shooting guard Kate Bulger said. “We thought we should’ve gone further than the first round. That gives us motivation.”

And if that’s not enough motivation for tonight’s game at 7 at WVU Coliseum, SU and WVU (14-10, 3-10 Big East) are battling to make the Big East tournament. Whoever wins tonight clinches a spot.

The Orangewomen are 10th and the Mountaineers 11th in the conference, and the 13th- and 14th-place teams miss the conference tournament.

“We need this one,” SU guard Shannon Perry said. “We’re trying to get to the Big East tournament and win a few games there. (West Virginia) is like a championship game for us.”

Said SU point guard Julie McBride: “We have to come out with a lot of enthusiasm and let them know that we want this win.”

To do that, Syracuse (9-15, 4-9) must control Bulger. The junior leads the Big East in 3-point percentage (47.2). That’s bad news for the Orangewomen, whose 2-3 zone defense has difficulty stopping outside shooting.

Boston College shot 58.3 percent from beyond the arc in its 82-63 win over SU on Feb. 1. One week later, Villanova shot 16 of 35 from 3-point range to down SU, 71-44.

To combat Bulger’s shooting, SU head coach Marianna Freeman has warmed to the idea of switching defenses. The Orangewomen will play man-to-man after they miss a shot and 2-3 after scoring, McBride said.

“We’ve let some people have some pretty good shooting percentages from the outside,” Freeman said. “We’ve been working on getting out on shooters better, and certainly Kate gives us the ultimate challenge. We’ll work on containing her in the defense with some man and some zone.”

West Virginia’s 10-0 start this season is now forgotten. The Mountaineers began the season piling up blowouts over nobodies Coppin State (82-53), Delaware State (69-38) and Robert Morris (114-45), leaving them underprepared for the Big East schedule.

“We were definitely excited about the start,” Bulger said. “But we knew the out-of-conference games we played were nothing like Big East games.”

After Thursday, Bulger may be West Virginia’s only threat. Guard Sherell Sowho was suspended indefinitely for unspecified reasons and will likely miss tonight’s game, according to reports. Sowho is West Virginia’s second leading scorer with 12.3 points per game.

Still, Freeman warned her team about guard Yolanda Paige. Paige’s seven assists per game ranks eighth nationally and leads the Big East, just ahead of McBride’s 6.3.

But stopping Bulger’s shot remains SU’s main focus.

“Katie does make the challenge more enjoyable,” Freeman said. “Can you stop the leading 3-point shooter in the conference? We should be excited about that. But we have to remember that we’ve got to get a win.”

Published on February 25, 2003 at 12:00 pm