Wildcats Climb over Mountaineers 75-59 :: Suez-Karni has career-high 28 points in loss

Jan. 18, 2006

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Senior forward Liad Suez-Karni (Even-Yehuda, Israel) shot 10-of-17 and scored a career-high 28 points, leading Villanova (11-5, 2-3 Big East) to an efficient 75-59 victory over visiting West Virginia (10-5, 3-2 BE) on Wednesday night at The Pavilion. The Wildcats shot 52 percent and dished assists on 23 out of 28 baskets in the win.

Villanova never trailed in the game and Suez-Karni scored 17 of her points in the second half to help extend what had been a 34-27 halftime advantage. As a team, the Wildcats shot 60.0 percent (15-of-25) in the second half and led by as many as 18 points before settling on the final margin.

Senior guard Jenna Viani (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) converted a three-point play just over a minute into the second half that stretched the Villanova lead to 10 points, and the Mountaineers never got closer than eight points the rest of the way. A 9-2 run in a span of 2:12 extended the margin to 48-33 with 14:51 remaining in the game. The Wildcats then pushed their lead to 58-40 with 10:40 showing before the teams mostly settled on trading baskets the rest of the way.

Suez-Karni led four players in double figures for Villanova and added to her career-best scoring total with eight assists and seven rebounds. Viani finished with 12 points and four assists on the evening and senior center Kate Dessart Mager (Media, Pa.) chipped in 15 points and nine rebounds. Junior forward Jackie Adamshick (Allentown, Pa.) added 10 points.

West Virginia was led by Meg Bulger with 19 points, while Chakhia Cole tallied 10 points and five assists. The meeting was the first of two this season between the teams, who will meet in the final regular season game on February 28 in Morgantown.

Suez-Karni drained a three-pointer in the first minute of the game and the Wildcats led 12-2 with 15:33 left in the first half before the Mountaineers closed the gap. West Virginia twice got the Villanova lead down to one point, but an 8-0 run late in the half moved the lead back to 24-15 with 6:19 left before intermission.

Villanova returns to action on the road when they take on St. John's on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The game will be played at Madison Square Garden and is the second game in an afternoon doubleheader.

NOTES: Suez-Karni scored at least 20 points for the third straight game, marking the first time she has accomplished that feat in her career ... She now has 16 career 20-point games ... Over her last three games, Suez-Karni is averaging 24.7 points per contest ... She moved into 15th place on the team's all-time scoring list with her 28 points tonight ... Suez-Karni also made 2-of-2 free throws and has now hit 22 straight from the charity stripe ... Viani has scored 74 points in her last six games, averaging 12.3 points per game in that span.