No. 10 West Virginia 57, Virginia 43

No. 10 West Virginia 57, Virginia 43

Published Nov. 26, 2010 11:19 p.m. ET

Facing a tight game, West Virginia turned up its defensive pressure to remain unbeaten.

Liz Repella scored 14 points and the No. 10 Mountaineers used a strong defensive effort to beat Virginia 57-43 on Friday at the Paradise Jam.

West Virginia (5-0), which led 27-26 at halftime, held the Cavaliers without a basket for nearly the first 10 1/2 minutes of the second half.

The Mountaineers weren't fully able to capitalize on their stellar defense, building only a 10-point lead as they forced Virginia into eight turnovers and six missed shots during its drought. The Cavaliers' Paulisha Kellum finally hit a jumper with 9:38 left that made it 38-33.

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The Mountaineers then went on a 10-2 run over the next four minutes to put the game away.

''We locked down in our zone and even in our man to man,'' West Virginia head coach Mike Carey said. ''We came down here to win all three games, but you have to win the first two to win the third one and we've been able to do that. We are right on track in doing what we need to do.''

It was the fourth time this season that West Virginia has held an opponent under 50 points. The only team to get over that mark was Duquense.

The Mountaineers will face No. 19 Iowa State on Saturday in the first meeting between the teams. The Cyclones are also undefeated after beating 21st-ranked TCU on Friday.

''Iowa State is a very good basketball team, so we're going to need to play better than we have the last two days,'' Carey said.

Chelsea Shine scored 12 points and Kellum added 10 for the Cavaliers (3-3).

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