West Virginia State dominates Bluefield State in the paint to win final non-conference game

Anysa Jordan

West VIrginia State's women's basketball team won their first game of the 2023 portion of their schedule on Monday against the Bluefield State University Big Blue, 101-93. WVSU (9-2, 4-2 MEC) dominated the paint, scoring 64 points inside, compared to just 38 for Bluefield State (7-8, D-II Independent). Destiny Fields led the Jackets with 20 points and nine rebounds. Anysa Jordan (6'1''-F) collected her third double-double in her last four games with 11 points and 16 rebounds. Shelby Harmeyer scored 15, and Ashley Davis and Hannah Shriver added 12 points each. State shot 45.3 percent from the field, hitting 39-of-86 field goal attempts and 17-of-23 from the charity stripe. State also outrebounded Bluefield State, 56-47. Bluefield State's Rori Cox led all scorers with 22 points in only 25 minutes due to foul trouble. WVSU started the game hot, hitting the first nine points of the game with Shriver contributing five, and Anysa Jordan and Destiny Fields each hitting a layup. Bluefield State finally broke through almost four minutes into the game, 9-2. Latifat Olatunji scored the next six points for the Jackets with a couple of layups and two free throws, 15-7. The shots went cold for the Jackets over the next four minutes with WVSU going 0-for-7 from the field allowing the Big Blue to claw their way to within a point, but Imani Reid and Ashley Davis both hit a bucket, giving State the 19-14 lead after the first. The two teams were almost even through the first two minutes of the game, WVSU then put together a quick mini-run of 6-0 over a minute with a Harmeyer layup, a Jordan foul-shot and a Davis bomb. The Big Blue then put together a 9-0 run to get within one of WVSU but it was broken by Harmeyer. Bluefield State came within one point twice more in the quarter, the last time off of a three with 2:35 to go, 41-40. Destiny Fields scored the final seven points of the quarter for State to take a 48-44 lead into the locker room. State shot 46.5 percent from the field on 20-of-43 shooting, but only 3-of-13 from behind the arc. Bluefield took their first lead of the game 30 seconds into the third quarter, 50-48. Shortly thereafter, State went on an 11-1 run over the next two minutes capped off with a converted and-one opportunity by Ashley Davis with 6:22 to go in the third quarter, 61-54. The Jackets shot 5-for-6 during the stretch. The only miss was an Ashley Davis trey attempt. Bluefield State tied it up four more times in the quarter, at 63-all, 67-all, 69-all, 71-all. Harmeyer stroked a shot from another zip code at the horn to break the stalemate and give the Jackets a 74-71 lead after three quarters. Bluefield State took the lead again at 75-74 a minute into the final quarter. State went on an 11-2 run that lasted just over three minutes with Davis contributing four, Shriver scoring three, Fields adding two and Jordan and Reid adding a foul shot each. Bluefield State, however, went cold from the field, going 0-6 with only two foul shots to show for their efforts. Bluefield State got as close as three with 2:26 to play, but WVSU hit both of their field goal attempts and two foul shots, securing the first win of the new year.
Courtesy of: wvsuyellowjackets.com

Tags : ANYSA JORDAN, EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY, USA BASKETBALL