No. 12 West Virginia 58, Marshall 51

1/23/2008 7:00 PM

By JOHN RABY
AP Sports Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -Olayinka Sanni had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 12 West Virginia past cross-state rival Marshall 58-51 on Wednesday night.

West Virginia (15-3) won for the sixth time in the last seven meetings against the Thundering Herd (11-8).

Kizzy Hart, Marshall's leading scorer, went to the bench due to a sore left thigh early in the second half but returned and made two 3-pointers a minute apart to put the Thundering Herd ahead 35-33 with 13:13 left in the game.

But Marshall was done in by poor free-throw shooting, making just 8-of-18 in the second half, and was held to its third-lowest point total of the season.

Sanni was held to one basket over the final 12 minutes and the Mountaineers turned to Laquita Owens, who scored all 11 of her points in a three-minute stretch. Owens' three-point play put West Virginia ahead 48-42 with 6:19 remaining.

Marshall got no closer than 54-51 after a Casey Baker free throw with 1:11 left. The Mountaineers scored the final four points.

Ashley Powell added 13 points for West Virginia. Meg Bulger, the team's second-leading scorer, went 1-of-10 from the floor and was limited to three points, 11 below her average.

Hart led the Thundering Herd with 18 points. She had signed with West Virginia out of high school in Oak Park, Mich., but opted to attend junior college in Kansas before enrolling at Marshall for her final two seasons.

Marshall led for most of the first half but shot just 24 percent (7-of-29) from the floor before halftime. Sanni's fast-break layup with 32 seconds left put the Mountaineers ahead, 23-22.

West Virginia leads the overall series 31-15.